2023 in Perspective: New Challenges for Hong Kong Filmmakers

2023 was the first year that Hong Kong cinema had operated for a full 12 months since the pandemic. However, there were new challenges across the board as moviegoers preferred to go overseas for long holidays and return to mainland China at the weekend rather than watch a film.

Films only showed for 8.5 months in 2022, so the number of movies shown in 2023 grew from 217 in 2022 to 268.

The total box office gross increased from HK$1.144 billion to HK$1.433 billion in 2023, an increase of 25.3%. However, it is still some way off from the HK$2 billion mark of the 2000s. There were 50 local films shown in 2023, which is almost double the 27 films from 2022, and more than the 46 in 2021. The total gross of Hong Kong films was a disappointing HK$371m, which is just 6% more than that of 2022. This resulted in a drop of market share for Hong Kong films from the 30.5% in 2022 to 25.9% in 2023, although it was still more than the 20% of 2021.

Despite the falling market share of Hong Kong cinema, it is encouraging to note that 12 films grossed over HK$10m, more than that of previous years. The number of films grossing less than HK$1m remained around one-third of the total titles. Another third grossed between HK$1m and HK$7m. The beginning of the year was helped by scriptwriter Jack Ng’s directorial debut, the courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience, which took a record-breaking HK$121.79m at the box office. Last year’s champ was Warriors of Future (HK$81.95m), which was the highest grossing film of the year. Tin Ho’s second film, the dark comedy Over My Dead Body, released during the Easter holiday, also grossed HK$23.08m, outperforming expectations. A miracle happened at the end of the year, via two films by new directors. Lawrence Kan’s In Broad Daylight successfully drew the attention of the public to the shocking situation inside homes for the elderly.

Despite the bad cinema climate between October and Christmas, it grossed $22.17m. The bigger surprise came from Nick Cheuk’s directorial debut Time Still Turns the Pages, about student suicide.

The film was very well received by the industry with many nominations at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards and an award for Best New Director. It also went down well with audiences, ending up with a gross of over HK$27m — a big success considering its relatively heavy topic.

While action films used to be box-office guarantees, tastes have been changing due to the compromises that have been made for China-Hong Kong co-productions. At the beginning of the year, Donnie Yen’s wuxia novel-based Sakra took HK$3.87m box office, which was a new low point for his films, and local films in general, during the Lunar New Year. Danny Wong’s cyber action film Cyber Heist with Aaron Kwok attempted to scale up the budget but only took HK$5.90m due to its poor script, especially in regards to information technology knowledge. Herman Yau’s bullet ballet action sequel The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell, featuring high-profile actors Sean Lau, Aaron Kwok and Louis Koo, only grossed HK$14.70m in the middle of summer, which showed that audiences are losing interest in traditional action films.

The hard times experienced at the worldwide box office at the end of summer also impacted the Hong Kong market and the audience appreciation for new directors seemed to vanish during this period. Amos Why’s Everyphone Everywhere (FEFF25), released in late August, attempted to repeat the successful formula of Far Far Away (FEFF24) but no such miracle happened.

The film quickly flopped at the box office and ended up grossing only HK$1.83m, making a loss. Nate Tse’s directorial debut Back Home was a very promising horror debut but ended up just passing the HK$5m mark. Mo Lai’s second film Band Four focused on a music band, and cast singer Kay Tse, but it fell on deaf ears with a negative audience reaction.

Despite efforts by the production crew to promote it, the film only grossed HK$2.12m. Both films were underrated.

The Christmas market in Hong Kong showed the lowest box office of the past 20 years and many films postponed their release date to avoid the Hollywood blockbuster Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

When it arrived, that film underperformed and grossed less than HK$23m.

Felix Chong’s anti-corruption production The Goldfinger, which reunited Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau for the first time since The Infernal Affairs series, dispelled moviegoers’ disappointment during the Christmas period, ending up with a gross of over HK$45m.

Japanese films took third place in the market after Hong Kong and Hollywood productions respectively. While the number of Japanese films on release dropped from 69 in 2022 to 56 in 2023, the total box office of Japanese films showed a sharp increase of 80.8% from HK$82.8m in 2022 to HK$149.7m in 2023. It increased its market share from 7.2% to 10.5% in one year.

It is also noticeable that five Japanese films grossed over HK$10m, including four animations, namely The First Slam Dunk (HK$44.28m), Suzume (HK$30.57m), Doraemon The Movie: Nobita’s Sky Utopia (HK$14.77m), The Boy and the Heron (HK$15.03m) and Kore-eda Hirokazu’s drama Monster (HK$10.53m).

On the other hand, Korean movies continued to show less dominance in the Hong Kong market. While the number of Korean films dropped from 15 to 12 in 2023, the total gross dropped more than 45% from HK$24.6m in 2022 to HK$13.2m in 2023, with the market share dropping from 2.2% to 0.92%. The grosses for these Korean films were at two extremes. Five of them grossed over HK$1m each while four of them grossed less than HK$0.2m.

Another obvious change in the Hong Kong market is the increased release of mainland Chinese films, which doubled in 2023 to 30, resulting in a total gross of HK$43.93m, and 3.07% of the market share. Hong Kong actor Andy Lau starred in The Wandering Earth II which grossed HK$11.66m, and audiences praised No More Bets which grossed a promising HK$7.92m. With about one-third of films grossing over HK$1m, Hong Kong audiences seemed to have found a greater acceptance of mainland Chinese films.

For Taiwanese films, the number of movies released exploded from 6 in 2022 to 16 in 2023, with two movies starring Greg Hsu grossing over HK$10m, including the Taiwanese Lunar New Year comedy Marry My Dead Body and the romance Someday or One Day.

2024 started with a relatively silent January as Lunar New Year fell in early February.

While there were three Hong Kong films targeted for the season, it seems the box office is not as hot as in previous years.

Sunny Chan’s comedy sequel Table for Six 2 led the market, grossing HK$2.2m.

After five days on release, it showed big daily box office drops, reflecting the desire of the local audience for films with more substance and rather than brainless seasonal films. With strong competition from Hollywood films, Asian films and Chinese films, Hong Kong filmmakers will have to work even harder to maintain their market share.

Top 10 Box Office Hong Kong Films in 2023