Hong Kong cinemas recorded a remarkable increase in box-office takings in 2015. Overall gross went up from HK$1.65 billion in 2014 to HK$1.99 billion in 2015, an increase of 22.8 per cent, compared to the 1.9 per cent increase the previous year. The increase might be due to more 3-D films, which charge higher ticket prices, or a 10 per cent increase in ticket prices.
But whatever the reason, Hong Kong films aren’t benefitting from the increased box office. Although the number of Hong Kong films on show increased from 58 in 2014, to 65 in 2015, the gross has continued to drop, falling from HK$393 million in 2014 to HK$386 million in 2015. This resulted a sharp decrease in the market share, from 24 per cent in 2014, to 19 per cent in 2015.
The difficulty Hong Kong cinema is facing can also been seen in the top 10 Hong Kong films of 2015. Over 60 per cent of the gross came from films released in the first half of the year, which includes the traditionally high-grossing Lunar New Year films.
The number of films which grossed over HK$10 million increased from 13 in 2014, to 18 in 2015, and two thirds of them were released in the first half of the year. Three Lunar New Year films were in the top 10, but the total gross of Lunar New Year films dropped from over HK$100 million to around HK$75 million. The strategy of relying on Lunar New Year films does not seem to work anymore.
While film companies still believe that big-budget productions attract audiences, results are indicating that they are wrong. This was especially obvious during the summer period. James Yuen’s romance Paris Holiday required a large budget for its shoot in France, but weak casting resulted in a low gross of HK$1.33 million. Ringo Lam’s latest film Wild City had A-listers Louis Koo and Shawn Yue, but ended up taking just HK$4.72 million. Dante Lam’s To the Fore, a film dedicated to professional bicycle riders, was too niche for the general audience, and barely passed the HK$ 10 million mark, not even making back its production budget.
Local films dealing with local issues did better. Adrian Kwan’s Little Big Master, a low-budget film about a rural kindergarten principal, took a surprising HK$46.73 million. The humour led to great word of mouth. This was also true of Derek Kwok and Henri Wong’s Full Strike, a comedy based on badminton which took more than HK$16.15 million. Another example was Adam Wong’s high-school film She Remembers, He Forgets, which took over HK$11 million.
In 2015, there were 10 films by first-time directors, which is a lot compared to previous years. Lau Ho-leung’s Two Thumbs Up, a crime comedy with Francis Ng and Simon Yam, hit screens at Easter and grossed around HK$ 12.3 million, making Lau the highest-grossing new director. Due to the declining market, Nick Leung’s vampire comedy Get Outta Here, Benny Lau’s romance Wong Ka Yan, and Luk Yee-sum’s diary-style Lazy Hazy Crazy only took HK$720,000, HK$1.83 million and HK$1.22 million respectively.
As for Taiwanese cinema, after years of low box office returns, Frankie Chen’s director debut Our Times took over HK$44.59 million in Hong Kong. That makes it the second highest-grossing Taiwanese film ever, after Giddens Ko’s You Are the Apple of My Eye. These films fill a gap in Hong Kong releases for films about young people and schools. But no matter how well other Taiwanese films, and other mainland films, did in their original markets, they could not gross higher than HK$2 million in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong cinema’s fortunes were lifted at the end of the year by three films with radically different budgets. Keeper of Darkness, the second film directed by actor Nick Cheung, was a low-budget horror film which grossed around HK$ 17.5 million, after a strong promotional campaign by distributor Edko. At Christmas, Wilson Yip’s Ip Man 3, starring Donnie Yen and Zhang Jin, went head to head with Disney’s blockbusting Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The final box office of Ip Man 3 was over HK$60.2 million, less than HK$81 million for Star Wars. But admission for Yip’s film were actually 10 per cent higher than Star Wars, with the lower gross simply due to a difference in ticket prices.
Finally, the case of the independent short film compendium Ten Years could be considered miraculous. The film was made by five young directors around the theme of how life in Hong Kong will deteriorate over the next 10 years. The dark tone drew audiences and piqued the interest of the media. Despite a very limited release, it was over 90 per cent full from the word go, and ended up taking an unexpectedly high HK$6 million.
Top 10 Box Office Hong Kong Films in 2015
Rank Movie Title Director Release Date Box Office (HK)
1 Ip Man 3 Wilson YIP 24 Dec 2015 $ 58.97m*
2 Little Big Master Adrian KWAN 19 Mar 2015 $ 46.73m
3 From Vegas to Macau II WONG Jing, Amen CHANG 19 Feb 2015 $ 28.41m
4 12 Golden Ducks Matt CHOW 19 Feb 2015 $ 24.30m
5 Triumph in the Skies Wilson YIP, Matt CHOW 19 Feb 2015 $ 21.63m
6 Keeper of Darkness Nick CHEUNG 26 Nov 2015 $ 17.50m
7 Sara Herman YAU 05 Mar 2015 $ 17.44m
8 Helios Sunny LUK, LEUNG Lok-man 01 May 2015 $ 16.15m
9 SPL Soi CHEANG 18 Jun 2015 $ 13.54m
10 Women Who Flirt PANG Ho-cheung 01 Jan 2015 $ 13.33m
* Box Office up to 7 Feb 2016
Ryan Law