On the surface, the performance of Hong Kong’s film industry looked good for 2010. According to the Motion Picture Industry Association, a total of 340 films screened in Hong Kong in 2010 which had a total box office of HK$1.539 billion. This was a significant increase of 30% on last year’s figure.
But when assessing the figures in detail, the sharp increase in income was mainly due to an increase in the number of Hollywood 3-D movies which demanded higher ticket prices. This also resulted in minimising the market share of Hong Kong films. Last year only 54 local films were shown. The total box office for local films was HK$335m, i.e. just 22% of the overall box office.
Action films are still the top genre, whether they feature kung fu or bullets. Wilson Yip’s Ip Man 2, which starred Donnie Yen, was the biggest, taking in HK$43.3m. It did better than any Hong Kong film in the previous year, when the best-grossing film took less than HK$25m. But it couldn’t match Toy Story 3 and Inception.
Hong Kong has lacked performers with marquee value for years. But Donnie Yen seems to be able to draw viewers into cinemas. Despite the quality of films like 14 Blades and Legend of the Fist: Return of Chen Zhen, Yen’s movies still managed to gross HK$7.65m and HK$13.69m respectively. That’s considered to be a strong performance these days.
The good box office of All’s Well, End’s Well 2009 increased interest in Chinese New Year comedies, a special genre. Shaw Brothers produced 72 Tenants of Prosperity to compete with Raymond Wong’s All’s Well, End’s Well 2010. These two films generated around HK$50m during the Chinese New Year and ensured that the season was still dominated by Chinese films.
Last year seemed to be a strong year for local film production because many films were made with investment from the Film Development Fund. But box office for these films varied. Mabel Cheung and Alex Law’s Echoes of the Rainbow took an unexpected gross of HK$23.13m, perhaps helped by its Crystal Bear win at the Berlin Film Festival. Based on the love stories of the young generation, Barbara Wong’s Break Up Club took over HK$10m. Pang Ho-cheung’s Love in a Puff was a love story which focussed on the social issues of smoking. It also took over HK$6m.
It’s interesting to note that this year local cinema offered a new type of promotion —guest visits after the screening. Chan Hing-ka and Janet Chun’s La Comédie Humaine had 60 visits to cinemas to thank the support of the film, which had impressed audiences. Despite a relatively unattractive cast combination, it ended up taking over HK$7m. After that success, other films like Jeff Lau’s Fantastic Water Babes, Kenneth Bi’s Girl$ and TVB & Shaw’s The Jade and The Pearl tried to use the same type of promotion. But none of them blossomed at the box office.
Some local productions could not draw audiences despite being good quality films. This is because they were not what local viewers expected. Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng’s Gallants only grossed around HK$4.5m. Heiwak Mak’s Ex and Ivy Ho’s Crossing Hennessy offered romance, local style, but only grossed around HK$3m.
Action films were still strong performers at the box office. Dante Lam’s bullet-ballet The Stool Pigeon and Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee both grossed over HK$10m. But films relying on technological gimmicks performed badly. Wong Jing’s Future X-Cops and Benny Chan’s City Under Siege tried to bring a new era of sci-fi special effects into local cinema. They failed, and bad word-ofmouth meant they grossed below HK$3.5m. The Pang’s Brothers made the first local full 3-D film, The Child’s Eye, in late October. It only grossed HK$8.65m, which was far less than its break-even point.
In terms of mainland cinema distribution in Hong Kong, box office still fell at two extremes. Feng Xiaogang’s disaster film Aftershock grossed over HK$15m, which could be a record for a Chinese film in Hong Kong. But twothirds of Chinese films in Hong Kong still grossed below HK$0.7m. Japanese films have become Hong Kong’s third biggest in terms of distribution, helped by lower distribution costs and digital screenings. Last year there were over 40 Japanese films on show. But only Confessions grossed over HK$10m, and only 8 Japanese films grossed over HK$1m. Only six Korean films were distributed last year. All grossed below HK$1.2m.
Looking forward to 2011, it’s expected that there might be less films on show, but more large-budget collaborations.
While local films have been very successful during the Chinese New Year period, it’s still hard to predict how well they will do in 2011. It all depends on whether large-scale productions can draw an audience.
Ryan Law