Although the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to affect everyone in 2021, businesses found a way to fight back. For the cinema business in Hong Kong, the start of the 2021 cinema year was mid-February, having been shut down by the government before that. The maximum capacity ranged between 50% at the beginning of the year up to 85% towards the end of the year. The number of films shown in 2021 increased from 218 in 2020 to 278 respectively, and the total gross finished up at HK$1.208 billion. Although that is only around two-thirds of the 2019 take, it’s much better than the HK$530 million result for 2020.
Due to the better atmosphere for cinema in 2021, the number of Hong Kong films shown increased from 34 to 46, recording a total box office take of about HK$244 million, which is more than double 2020’s HK$144 million. While various Hollywood blockbusters were released in 2021, Hong Kong films managed to keep a market share of 20%, the same as that of 2020.
It’s also interesting to note that although the traditional Lunar New Year period at the cinema did not exist last year due to the closures, Hong Kong films performed strongly during the non-prime period. What’s more, they were led by a new generation of directors. Anita, directed by Longman Leung, based on the true story of the popular singer and actress Anita Mui, who died of cervical cancer in 2003, was released in mid-November. With generally positive reviews, and a portrayal that reflected Mui’s character, the film performed strongly even during the Christmas period. It grossed over HK$62m, ranking second for total admissions in 2021 after Spider-Man: No Way Home, which grossed over HK$120m.
Another example is Zero to Hero, directed by Jimmy Wan and produced by Sandra Ng. The film was based on the life of Paralympic Games athletics gold medal winner So Wa-wai, and was released in August, just before the Tokyo Paralympic Games. With strong promotion campaign leaded by Sandra Ng, who made cinema visits, the film ended up grossing over HK$28m, beating the expectations of everyone.
The taste of local audiences veered towards films of a local flavour, and this gave new directors a chance to achieve better box-office results. Director Chiu Sin-hang’s first solo-directed film One Second Champion displayed strong storytelling coupled with good acting by singer Endy Chow, and grossed a better-than-expected HK17m. Films displaying understanding towards minorities, such as Chan Kin-long’s Hand Rolled Cigarette with its portrayal of South Asians, and Jun Li’s Drifting, which focused on the homeless in low-income areas, won the support of local audiences.
Two veteran directors managed to break into the top five list with big-budget crime action co-productions with big name casts. Raging Fire, the final film from Benny Chan, who passed away in 2020, grossed HK$26.64m. Shock Wave 2, another collaboration between director Herman Yau and Andy Lau, released right after cinemas reopened in February, was affected by the 50% occupancy rate restriction, and finished up with a HK$19.5m gross.
But big-budget films do not guarantee box-office success. Dynasty Warriors, an adaptation of a Japanese game set in ancient China by Roy Chow, was a high-budget production with A-list casting from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. It was a complete disaster, receiving negative reviews for its incomplete visual effects and bad acting. It ended up grossing only HK6.51m, compared to a HK$40m plus budget. Soi Cheang’s artistic Limbo, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and played various overseas film events including FEFF, was finally released in Hong Kong in late November, and also fared poorly. Squaring off against Anita, the artistic black-and-white release was not liked by the local audience, and grossed a disappointing HK$2.2m.
Japanese films do well in Hong Kong, after local and Hollywood productions. In 2021, 64 Japanese films grossed over HK$62.6m, which is about 5% of the market share. Animations are still performing strongly, and Stand by Me Doraemon 2, a popular animation series in Hong Kong since the 1980s, grossed around HK$18.76m from a broad audience group. For non-animation, the biggest success was Suzuki Masayuki’s Masquerade Night, which grossed about HK$4.1m. Relatively speaking, Korean films did not perform as well as in previous years. Only 10 Korean films were released in 2021. Three of them grossed below HK$100,000, and only three films grossed over HK$1m, namely Kim Ji-hoon’s Sinkhole (HK$6.01m), Lee Yong-ju’s Seobok (HK$5.04m) and Ryoo Seung-wan’s Escape from Mogadishu (HK$3.49m).
Over 25 mainland Chinese films were released in 2021, and box-office performances were erratic. Nineteen films grossed below HK$1m, and Huang Lei’s Special Couple grossed a staggeringly low HK$900. On the other side of the spectrum, The Battle at Lake Changjin, a large-scale war film co-directed by Chen Kaige, Dante Lam and Tsui Hark, was released in November, just one day before Anita. With the help of inflated film bookings from mainland-China related organisations, and good reviews from critics, it ended up grossing over HK$20m.
Taiwanese films did not perform particularly well in Hong Kong in 2021. With around 15 films on release, only Giddens Ko’s romantic fantasy film Till We Meet Again (HK$7.94m) and Yin Chen-hao’s triad romance film Man in Love (HK$ 5.86m) performed above expectations.
The start of 2022 has not been fortuitous. Due to the Covid-19 Omicron variant, all cinemas in Hong Kong have been closed since 7 January 2022. As the number of Covid-19 cases is predicted to continue increasing until March, and Hong Kong is following mainland China’s “dynamic zero infection” strategy, it is expected that the cinemas in 2022 maybe closed for even longer than in 2020. It’s also expected that the severe quarantine rules will lead to a difficult environment for the industry. Cinema may start to rebound in late 2022, which may be later than other parts of Asia.
Top 10 Box Office Hong Kong Films in 2021
1 Anita, HK$62.41m
2 Zero to Hero, HK$28.24m
3 Raging Fire, HK$26.64m
4 Shock Wave 2, HK$19.48m
5 One Second Champion, HK$17.05m
6 Hand Rolled Cigarette, HK$8.03m
7 Showbiz Spy, HK$7.95m
8 Drifting, HK$6.52m
9 Dynasty Warriors, HK$6.51m
10 Ready o/r Knot, HK$5.86m
Ryan Law