The Hong Kong economy grew in 2007, so box office increased. According to the Motion Picture Industry Association, the total box office in Hong Kong for 2007 was HK$1.03 billion. That’s around 9.4% higher than 2006, which saw takings of HK$0.945 billion. In terms of admissions, there was a growth of 9.4% up to HK$19.42 million.
As expected, non-Chinese films still dominated the market. Chinese films (including those from the mainland and Taiwan) could only achieve HK$287.7 million, with a small market share of around 28%. Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution was the top grossing Chinese film with around HK$48m. The gross for Hong Kong films is below HK$200m with Derek Yee’s Protégé coming in first with HK$26.53m.
Three Chinese films grossed over HK$20m, and five films grossed between HK$10m and HK$20m. Nine foreign films grossed over HK$20m, showing that it’s still a case of hard times for Hong Kong cinema. While there were 68 Chinese films released in 2007, 29 of them grossed less than HK$1m and 22 grossed between HK$1m and HK$5m. The Hong Kong industry pushed towards two extremes - large-scale collaborations and small-scale productions. There were corresponding extreme results at the box office.
Traditionally, summer and Christmas are the best times for the local movie industry. But that was no longer the case in 2007. Peter Chan’s The Warlord was able to gross around HK$24m at Christmas, but Pang Ho-cheung’s mid-budget Trivial Matters failed to obtain any help from exhibitors and performed disappointingly. There were limited screenings, and this resulted in a low HK$3.07m. This was even less than Danny Pang’s similarly scaled romantic thriller In Love With The Dead which only grossed around HK$5m.
Most Hong Kong producers tried their best to release their films after mid-August or before late-June to avoid competing with Hollywood blockbusters like Shrek the Third. Fortunately Benny Chan’s Invisible Target – featuring new action stars Jaycee Chan, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue - grossed an encouraging HK$13m.
There were some quality small scale productions like Herman Yau’s Whispers And Moans, Adam Wong’s Magic Boy and Derek Kwok’s The Pye-Dog last year. But these had equally small-scale releases. Distributors and exhibitors were worried about releasing local films with new directors or films about non-mainstream topics. These films were good performers on DVD rental but only grossed HK$0.68m, HK$1.23m and HK$0.25m respectively in theatres. The most extreme casualty was Bar Paradise, directed by Gary Mak and Gregory Hatanaka and featuring Julian Cheung and Gordon Lam. This only had two screenings in one cinema for its theatrical release. This meant it failed to fulfill the requirements for a Hong Kong Film Award nomination.
It’s conventional wisdom that middle or small-scale productions can’t attract audiences. But Patrick Kong’s third film Love Is Not All Around showed that this notion is a myth. Featuring singers Alex Fong and Stephy Tang, the romantic comedy was able to draw the young generation. It ended with an amazing HK$12.2m in the box office. By contrast, despite the star power of Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, their co-directed film Triangle premiered in Cannes but ended up with a disappointing HK$5.5m at the box office.
Exhibitors struggled to stave-off a raise in ticket prices (around HK$55). But expenses like electricity and rent went up. The four main cinema groups - who hold over 90% of the market share -introduced an increase of HK$5 for the Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays. Because of the amazing box office results of the CNY holiday, the ticket price revision became permanent.
As for 2008, Stephen Chow’s CNY blockbuster CJ7 has grossed over HK$50m and showed that Hong Kong films still have the ability to do well. There will be a greater number of Hong Kong films released in 2008, too. But the Beijing Olympics will definitely have impact on the film industry - local distributors are trying not to release anything during the Olympic period. But there is hope as well as anxiety. With the booming economy, the increase in ticket prices, and the first results of the government’s Film Development Fund, it’s expected the overall box office for 2008 will be bigger. Everyone hopes that Hong Kong films will benefit from the good times ahead.
Ryan Law