Because the critically acclaimed Hong Kong movie “Operation Mekong” was quite long, director Dante Lam was forced to cut some breath-holding scenes when the movie – based on a true event – premiered on Sept. 30.
However, he is bringing back some of the scenes in the extended version of the DVD to be released soon. Proceeds of the sale of the DVD would partly go to a foundation set up by the Ministry of Publication Security of China, said Yu Dong, president of Bona Film Group, a leading studio that financed the production of the 124-minute movie.
More than just a critically acclaimed film, “Operation Mekong” was the highest-grossing movie during the National Day holiday which has earned so far 1.08 billion yuan as of Oct. 23, a month after the action thriller’s premiere, China Entertainment News reported.
The movie is about 13 Chinese sailors who were brutally killed by a drug ring in Myanmar in 2011. Yu said the money earned from the DVD sale would partly be used to help the families of the gang’s 13 victims.
But more than just critics’ approval and box office success, the movie made a breakthrough in domestic police-themed thrillers – an encouraging development for movie makers in China – Huang Jianxin, executive producer of the movie, said.
However, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in late September that the massacre movie would be banned from showing in Thailand if authorities – whom he ordered to check the contents of “Operation Mekong” – would assess it would “damage” the Southeast Asian nation.