The Mermaid (2016 film)

The Mermaid
Chinese theatrical release poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese美人魚
Simplified Chinese美人鱼
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinměirényú
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingmei5 jan4 jyu4
Directed byStephen Chow
Written by
  • Stephen Chow
  • Kelvin Lee
  • Andrew Fung
  • Ho Miu-kei
  • Chan Hing-kai
  • Lu Zhengyu
  • Ivy Kong
  • Tsang Kan-cheong
Story byStephen Chow
Based onThe Little Mermaid
by Hans Christian Andersen
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChoi Sung-fai
Edited by
Music byRaymond Wong
Huang Fuhua
Wendy Zhang
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Beijing Enlight Pictures
  • China Film Group Corporation
Release date
  • 8 February 2016 (2016-02-08)
Running time
94 minutes[2]
Countries
  • China
  • Hong Kong
LanguageMandarin[3][4]
BudgetUS$60.72 million[5]
Box officeUS$553.8 million[6][7]

The Mermaid (Chinese: 美人鱼) is a 2016 Chinese-Hong Kong romantic comedy fantasy film directed, co-written and produced by Stephen Chow, which stars Lin Yun, Deng Chao, Zhang Yuqi and Show Lo.[8] The film tells the story of a playboy businessman (Deng Chao) who falls in love with a mermaid (Lin Yun) sent to assassinate him.[9][10][11]

The film was released in China on 8 February 2016, and broke numerous box office records, including biggest opening day and biggest single-day gross through its seventh day of release. The Mermaid had the biggest opening week of all time in China, where it became the thirteenth-highest-grossing film of all time.

A sequel is reported to have completed filming.[12][13] A treatment for an American remake is being written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference THR review mermaid was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Mermaid (美人鱼) – Review". Fmoviemag.com. 6 February 2016. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mermaidreview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Review: 'The Mermaid' Features Stephen Chow Behind the Camera". The New York Times. 19 February 2016. In Mandarin, with English subtitles.
  5. ^ "Distributors' astronomical bet on upcoming film 'Mermaid'". China Internet Information Center. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  6. ^ "The Mermaid (Mei ren yu)". Box Office Mojo.com.
  7. ^ Forbes (31 December 2016). "Stephen Chow Top-Grossing Hollywood Directors". Forbes. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  8. ^ "星爺起碼袋6億人仔". 22 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mermaidreviewpost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Russell, Scarlett (8 March 2016). "The Mermaid takes $505m to become the most successful film in Chinese box office history". Digital Spy. Billionaire man destroys a dolphin preserve. Beautiful mermaid interferes, fighting to protect her underwater land. Mermaid plots to kill man, ends up falling in love with him. Man falls in love with mermaid, too.
  11. ^ "美人鱼 (2016)". stephen chow the mermaid. Archived from the original on 11 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  12. ^ "Headlines from China: Stephen Chow to Make 'The Mermaid 2' and TV Drama 'The Mermaid'". China Film Insider. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  13. ^ 1905.com (3 January 2024). "假消息!周星驰经纪人辟谣《美人鱼2》网传档期". Fun.youth.cn (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 9 January 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)