The film is a romantic comedy that follows a Chinese-Australian tea shop owner in her late twenties and her search for love, family, and cultural connection.
Prime Video today announced that the first Australian Amazon Original movie, Five Blind Dates, was greenlit and is set to commence filming in April.
Created and written by actor and influencer Shuang Hu (The Family Law, Ronny Chieng: International Student) and actor and comedian Nathan Ramos-Park (As We Babble On, Club Mickey Mouse, Bone), Five Blind Dates is a romantic comedy that tells the story of a tenacious tea shop owner who is told by a fortune-teller that she will find her soulmate on one of the next five dates she goes on.
Produced by Amazon Studios and Goalpost Pictures Australia, the feature-length romantic comedy will be Prime Video’s first scripted Australian Amazon Original movie and will be filmed in Townsville and Sydney. Five Blind Dates will launch exclusively to Prime members in Australia and more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Five Blind Dates will feature an ensemble cast fronted by Shuang Hu, with additional cast announcements to follow. Shawn Seet (Baron, Storm Boy, The Code) will direct.
Whilst visiting her family in Townsville for her sister Alice’s engagement festivities, Lia (Shuang Hu) finds herself at a comedically tumultuous family luncheon with her best friend Mason and is gifted an unwelcomed prophecy that she will soon meet her suitor. Her family, unsure of Lia’s ability to discern a partner for herself, decides to set her up on five blind dates. Even though her true passion and current focus lies in saving her tea-shop—a legacy left to her from her grandmother—Lia reluctantly agrees to go on these dates.
Erika North, head of originals, Asia Pacific, at Amazon Studios, said:
“As a melting pot of cultures, traditions and communities, Australia is fertile ground for local stories. With Five Blind Dates, Prime Video Australia’s first feature film, we are celebrating Chinese-Australian culture and its warm family dynamics to full and joyful effect.
“Shuang and Nathan have created an effervescent and lighthearted romantic comedy which we know will be enjoyed by millions of Prime members worldwide. We cannot wait to work with the incredibly talented Goalpost team to bring this heartwarming story to life.”
Shuang Hu, creator, writer, producer, and actor, and Nathan Ramos-Park, creator, writer, and producer of Five Blind Dates, said:
“For Five Blind Dates to be the first Australian Amazon Original Feature is such an honour. The script has been a real labour of love for us both and we can’t wait for production to begin!”
Goalpost Pictures Australia’s Kylie du Fresne said:
“The script for Five Blind Dates was irresistible, as is the creative energy of Shuang and Nathan. We couldn’t be more excited to working with them to produce the first Amazon Australia Original feature film.”
Five Blind Dates will be produced by Goalpost Pictures Australia, with Goalpost’s Kylie du Fresne as producer and Ben Grant and Rosemary Blight as executive producers.
Since 2019, Prime Video has commissioned 15 Amazon Original series in Australia — The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team, Making Their Mark, a series of 10 stand-up comedy specials by some of Australia’s best comedians, LOL: Last One Laughing AU with Rebel Wilson, Back to the Rafters, Luxe Listings Sydney S1 & S2, The Moth Effect, Head Above Water, the award-winning feature-length documentary Burning, and the upcoming Kick Like Tayla, Warriors On The Field, Deadloch, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and Class of ’07.
