In a twisted parenting move that makes Logan Roy look like Father of the Year, a Chinese comedy called Successor continues to blow up screens after its release last year with its wild premise: a billionaire couple who force their son to live in manufactured poverty throughout his childhood.

The film, directed by Yan Fei and Damo Peng, follows wealthy couple Ma Chenggang and Chunlan (played by Shen Teng and Ma Li), who are convinced their fortune will ruin their youngest son as it did, according to them, to their eldest. Their solution? Create an elaborate fake reality where the kid believes he’s desperately poor.

This isn’t just downsizing to a modest neighborhood. We’re talking about parents who relocate their family to a dilapidated 1980s courtyard house and make their son Ma Jiye live a completely fabricated life of hardship—running to school because they “can’t afford” transportation, while carefully budgeting every penny.

Behind the Truman Show-esque false walls and cupboards in their ramshackle home lies a high-tech command center where a team monitors Jiye’s every move throughout the day. It’s surveillance parenting taken to dystopian extremes.

While the film is bundled with lots of laughs, on a more serious note, the film explores extreme parenting methods that have resonated strongly with Chinese audiences. Successor taps into a uniquely modern dilemma: first-generation wealthy parents desperate to instill hard work and humility in their children. The parents in the film believe the best way to raise a capable successor is to develop qualities like perseverance, careful budgeting, and physical fitness through manufactured adversity. But does this mirror real sentiments from real self-made wealthy parents?

The film’s central question—can you program resilience, or must hardship be genuine?—strikes at the heart of contemporary parenting anxieties. Unlike HBO’s Succession, where inherited wealth breeds toxic entitlement, this Chinese comedy asks whether extreme measures to prevent spoiled children are worth the psychological cost.

While the premise might seem outlandish, the film’s continued massive success suggests it resonates with audiences who understand the pressures of ensuring children don’t become soft despite family wealth. It’s helicopter parenting weaponized through elaborate theater. Check out the trailer for Successor below.

Cover image via Global Times.