How Oscar-Shortlisted Thai Family Drama ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ Turned Up in the Awards Season

One of the biggest underdogs of the Oscars international shortlist is a Thai feature debut, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” which has been a huge box office across Asia but has, up until now, been mostly under the radar in the U.S. and Europe.

Directed by Pat Boonnitipat, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is the first Thai film to make the shortlist, even though the country has been submitting to the category since 1984.

The film tells the story of M (Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul), a college dropout who puts aside his dreams to become a game caster to start caring for his terminally ill grandmother (Usha Seamkhum) in the hope of seize her multimillion-dollar inheritance. But winning Grandma’s favor is no easy feat, as she proves to be demanding and exceedingly difficult to please. To make things more complicated, M is not the only one vying for the fortune. He finds himself in a competition, going to great lengths to become the apple of Grandma’s eye before time runs out.

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” first made a splash in Thailand before expanding across Southeast Asia and APAC where it became the highest-grossing Thai film to date in multiple countries, including Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Australia.

According to the movie’s production company, GDH 559, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has grossed Thai Baht 2000 million ($58 million) at the international box office. In the U.S. where it opened at the New York Asian Film Festival in July, it’s been distributed by Well Go USA Entertainment and has grossed an estimated $303,772, according to Box Office Mojo.

But despite the modest box office and lack of a major film festival selection, the film (which also played at Busan) found its way to Academy voters through a strategic campaign spearheaded by Shelter PR and U.S. distributor Well Go USA.

Speaking of the film’s momentum in the Oscar race, Yanisa Hankansujarit, GDH 559’s associate director of business development, tells Variety, the movie may have appealed to voters due to its universal themes, “about love and the bond between family members.”

“There was a screening at a university in LA where a student said she never expected to be so emotionally related to a movie that speaks a language that she doesn’t understand, and it’s set in a country that she’s never been to.”

“We really planned for the members to see it by trying to do a lot of special screenings and bring it in front of them and get people talking about it online,” says Hankansujarit. “This film is very special. It didn’t get a lot of exposure from film festivals, but it’s the audience favorite, and that’s how it became talk of the town – word-of-mouth.”

A key factor in connecting with voters was the presence of Seamkhum, who plays the grandmother, during Los Angeles Q&As. “When Grandma went to LA to do some Q&As and meet with people, she is the magic. She walks into the room and people just light up,” says Hankansujarit.

The producer says that the shortlisting of “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” may also suggest that voters in Western countries can relate to the family dynamics portrayed in the film even they differ from theirs. “After COVID, people became closer together. My family in the U.S., they told me that their children started to come home more often [after watching the film],” Hankansujarit notes.

Over in Asia, the film quickly became a cultural phenomenon, attracting “different generations in the same family go to see this movie together,” said Hankansujarit. “Especially after COVID, where people stopped going to cinema, it’s a big time in Southeast Asia where this film brought people back to cinema together,” she continued.

“During our first week of release in Thailand, it was very successful. And then the next country that we went to was Indonesia,” says Hankansujarit. “Indonesian people really like going to cinema, and when they really like the film, they are so intense with social media.” A social media trend was spawned where viewers posted videos of themselves crying after watching the film. “The crying view went viral on TikTok and Instagram,” Hankansujarit says, noting that the film is now available on Apple TV for wider audience reach.

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was written by Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn and Boonnitipat, drawing on their own experiences and those of friends and family. “When I first read the genesis of the script, it made me think of my own family. During the writing process, my main goal was to keep that feeling so we’re striving for something that could make you feel that it’s your movie, not like my movie,” Boonnitipat tells Variety.

Starting out as a comedy about inheritance, the story evolves into a deeper exploration of family bonds. “The script was originally a comedy, that’s why the name was there. But as we rewrote so many drafts, it changed into what you saw,” adds Boonnitipat. “What I could contribute is the characters. I tried my best to portray persons that I knew from my life, because in that way I could write them better.”

While many shortlisted Asian titles have missed out of being nominated, notably India’s “Last Film Show,” by Pan Nalin, Korea’s “Burning” by Lee Chang-dong and and “Decision to Leave” by Park Chan-wook, and Bhutan’s “The Monk and the Gun” by Pawo Choyning Dorji, others have struck Oscar gold, for instance Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Drive My Car” and Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” “Drive My Car” won best international feature while “Parasite” won an unprecedented four Oscars, including best picture, international feature, director and original screenplay.