Although cinema bounced back the start of 2022 in most places around the globe, there was a delay in Hong Kong cinema’s resurgence. Due to a surge of Covid-19 at the start of 2022, when the Omicron variant took hold, the government took extreme preventative measures and shut down cinemas from early January until late-April 2022. This was the longest of any of the shutdown periods since the start of the pandemic. The maximum capacity of cinemas was gradually extended from 50% in late April to full capacity at the end of the year.
The number of films shown in 2022 was less than the previous year, going down from 278 in 2021 to 217. But there was a strong comeback at the box office, with the total gross for 8.5 months being HK$1.144 billion, just a small 5.4% drop from the HK$1.208 billion for 10.5 months in 2021. Despite only 27 Hong Kong films showing in 2022, which is far less than the 46 of 2021, there was a total gross of HK$349 million, which was much more than the HK$244 million for 2021. The market share of Hong Kong films in 2022 climbed up to 30.5%, not only more that the 20% of 2021, but also a high point for recent years.
There was also an uneven distribution of the market share for Hong Kong films in 2022. While their market share was only 2% in the first half of 2022, it surged to 42.2% for the second half of the year. This was due to local distributors preferring to release quality local films after the summer.
It is also gratifying to note that two Hong Kong films broke the existing local box-office record held by Cold War, which took HK$66.82m in 2016. Warriors of Future, a sci-fi film directed by Ng Yuen-fai in his directorial debut, produced by and starring leading actor and filmmaker Louis Koo, was released in late August, after delays due to prolonged post-production and the Covid situation in the mainland, which affected release schedules. High-level visual effects and a heartfelt performance by Koo were appreciated by local audiences, and the film ended up grossing HK$81.95m, overtaking the Korean film Train to Busan (HK$68m, 2016) to become the highest-ever grossing Asian film in Hong Kong.
Just two weeks after the release of Warriors of Future, the comedy Table for Six (FEFF24) was released for the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. It was originally scheduled for the Lunar New Year, but pushed back due to cinema closures. Audiences praised the dialogue, and the film grossed HK$77.57m.
It is also interesting to note that all the top five Hong Kong films at the box office were directed by first-time or second-time directors in a variety of genres. The closing of cinemas during Lunar New Year gave the scheduled Hong Kong films different release periods which resulted in even better box office. Another example is Coba Cheng’s debut as director, Chilli Laugh Story, starring Sandra Ng, Ronald Cheng, Gigi Leung and Edan Lui, a member of the hot male group Mirror. The film was released in July and marketed as the “1st Chinese New Year movie to be released in summer”. The film hit the market at a time when local audiences were starved of local comedy, and grossed HK$ 32.71m.
Some films under-performed at the beginning of their run, but ended up doing better, boosted by the positive influence of internet comments. Amos Why’s Far Far Away (FEFF 24), a romantic comedy with scenes from different rural areas of Hong Kong, was released in early August and started with a relatively low box office. It ended up grossing more than HK$10m after many discussions over the internet.
Ho Cheuk-tin’s directorial debut The Sparring Partner, a court case drama based on a real case, and headlined by stage actors Yeung Wai-lun and Mak Pui-tung, started with relatively low returns. Although up against Hollywood blockbusters such as Black Adam, it ended up with HK$41.71m at the box office, far exceeding the expectations of producers, director and actors.
Despite eight Hong Kong films grossing over HK$10m, about one-third of Hong Kong films grossed between HK$1m and 7m, with the remaining grossing below HK$1m. But there remains a tendency for low-budget productions to find their audience during their cinema release.
Japanese films continued to show their domination of the Hong Kong cinema market, following local and Hollywood productions. While the total number of films released in Hong Kong in 2022 decreased, the number of Japanese films released increased from 64 in 2021 to 69. They had a total gross of HK$82.8m, which pushed the market share from 5% of 2021 to 7.2%. It is also interesting to note that out of the 12 Japanese films grossing over HK$2m last year, only Silent Parade was not an animation. Two Japanese animations managed to gross over HK$10m, Jujutsu Kaisen: Zero (HK$13.32m) and Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021 (HK$11.43m).
The number of Korean films released in Hong Kong also increased, from 10 in 2021 to 15 in 2022, with a total gross of HK$ 24.6m for about 2.2% of the market share. While Emergency Declaration and Broker grossed over HK$5m, over one-third of Korean films released in Hong Kong grossed less than HK$0.5m.
In comparison to Korean and Japanese cinema, mainland Chinese cinema in Hong Kong in 2022 was quiet, due to the Covid situation in China. Out of the 15 mainland Chinese films released in 2022, the large-scale war film The Battle at Lake Changjin grossed HK$3.53m, but the rest grossed below HK$1m, with two thirds of them grossing below HK$0.1m. Only six Taiwanese films were released in 2022, and only My Best Friend’s Breakfast grossed over HK$1m.
The beginning of 2023 was a good start for Hong Kong cinema. The Lunar New Year market was absent in 2021 and 2022, due to cinema closures by the government, but the 2023 Lunar New Year market was packed with Hong Kong films. A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut by scriptwriter Jack Ng, and featuring star comedy actor Dayo Wong, performed strongly at the box office, and was the first Hong Kong movie to gross over HK$100m. A number of attractive titles have been directed by filmmakers from the “new generation.” It is now expected that Hong Kong cinema will rebound.
Top 10 Box Office
Hong Kong Films in 2022
1. Warrior of Future, HK$81.95m 2. Table for Six, HK$77.74m
3. Mama’s Affair, HK$43.59m
4. The Sparring Partner, HK$43.16m
5. Chilli Laugh Story, HK$32.71m
6. Detective vs. Sleuths, HK$16.22m
7. Hong Kong Family, HK$12.77m
8. Far Far Away, HK$10.70m
9. The Narrow Road, HK$8.40m
10. Sunshine of My Life, HK$4.65m
Ryan Law