Hong Kong Film Market Trend in 2019

Despite an overall rise in total box office, Hong Kong cinema had a rocky year in 2018 as the industry was becoming increasingly split between relying on the Mainland China film industry for big-budget co-productions and micro-budget, Hong Kong-oriented produc tions by up-and-coming filmmakers.

The first half of 2019 continued that trend. Hong Kong filmgoers largely rejected Ste phen CHOW( 周星馳 )’s Mainland filmed Lunar New Year comedy, New King of Comedy( 新 喜剧之王 ), which grossed only 21.9 million HKD during the holiday period. Not only is that 10 million HKD less than the holiday’s top-grossing local film, Hong Kong-filmed crime thriller Integrity, it’s also less than half of the Hong Kong gross of the comedy superstar’s previous directorial effort, Mermaid( 美人魚 ).

Things did not improve over the following four months, as local films completely shied away from the month of May due to the dominance of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame (now the highest-grossing film ever in Hong Kong). Continuing the popularity of its previous installments, crime thriller P Storm(P 風暴 ) – the fourth film in the franchise – was the only non-holiday success in Hong Kong cinema in the first half of the year, grossing 17.9 million HKD in April.

Just when things had already seemed gloomy in Hong Kong cinema, the film industry was thrown into further uncertainty when the city was rocked by anti-government pro tests in the second half of the year. The government’s insistence on pushing through proposed changes to its criminal extradition law despite widespread opposition led to an escalation of discontent that poured out onto the streets. Large-scale protests and po lice response that led to scenes of uncontrollable chaos have led to malls and street closures across the city over the entire second half of the year. Since most cinemas in Hong Kong are located in malls, cinemas faced sudden closures as well, causing a significant decrease in cinema attendance in the second half of the year.

Even though total box office in 2019 only saw a year-on-year drop of 1.75% - from 1.957 billion HKD in 2018 to 1.923 billion HKD – a more accurate reflection of the protests’ ef fect on Hong Kong’s film industry can be seen during the Christmas holiday. Though traditionally one of the most lucrative periods for cinema-going during the year, box office during the 2019 Christmas public holiday (24-26 December) fell by 28.1%, despite the presence of major blockbusters such as Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker and Ip Man 4: The Finale( 葉問 4： 完結篇 ).

More importantly, the industry downturn drastically affected film productions. Even though post-production process of completed films continued on as normal, local media report that numerous local film companies have halted productions altogether. Not only do film companies feel reluctant to invest in uncertain times, local filmmakers also found themselves at a loss about finding topics that would attract audiences in such tumultu ous times.

The most affected genre is easily cops-and-robbers films. The police’s heavy-handed response to the protests have led to numerous accusations of police brutality, causing the approval rating of the force to plummet in public polls. As a result, the popularity of crime thrillers and action films involving the police have also dipped significantly. WONG Jing( 王晶 )’s Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch( 追龍 II： 賊王 ), the follow-up to the director’s immensely popular 2017 crime thriller, made only 9.15 million HKD at the Hong Kong box office in June – only about half of its predecessor. The same fate was met by Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy( 使徒行者 2： 諜影行動 ), also a sequel-in-name to a popular crime film. The spin-off of a popular TV series, the first Line Walker made 10.9 million HKD back in 2016, while its sequel made only 9.3 million HKD, despite having the same three male lead actors and a bigger budget that included filming in Spain and Myanmar.

The White Storm 2: Drug Lords ( 掃毒 2： 天地對決 ), also a sequel-in-name to Benny CHAN( 陳木勝 )’s 2013 heroic bloodshed thriller, performed better possibly because of star Andy LAU( 劉德華 ) as well as a focus on the action and revenge element of the story. Opening in mid-July, the Herman YAU( 邱礼涛 )-directed film made 24.8 million HKD to become the third highest-grossing local film of the year, though it was far short of its predecessor’s 30.3 million HKD gross.

Despite the chaos in the city, One Cool also went ahead with the release of A Witness Out of the Blue ( 犯罪现场犯罪現場 ), a crime thriller based on an original idea by director FUNG Chi Keung( 馮志強 ), in late-October. The film made only roughly 7 million HKD, failing to break the top ten-grossing local films of the year.

It’s worth noting that all four films mentioned above starred Louis KOO( 古天樂 ), the most prolific and one of the most popular actors working in Hong Kong cinema today. He starred in seven out of 52 films in 2019.

2019’s highest-grossing genre film was Ip Man 4: The Finale, the big-budget finale to the blockbuster martial arts franchise starring Donnie YEN( 甄子丹 ). Despite calls for a boycott from pro-democracy protesters over the political views of YEN and its co-producer, Ray mond WONG( 黃百鳴 ), the film became the second highest-grossing film of 2019, earning 30 million HKD in the city. Yet, it is still significantly lower than the 60.4 million HKD gross made by Ip Man 3 ( 葉問 3) back in 2015, though the decline can partly be attributed to the overall market trend rather than the boycott.

Since most of the top-grossing films in Hong Kong are big-budget co-productions, it’s hard to call most films on the top ten list successes since their grosses were relatively lackluster compared to films of similar budget in the past. However, one local film on that top ten list is a genuine commercial success: Oliver CHAN Siu Kuen( 陳小娟 )’s Still Human ( 淪落人 ), part of the Hong Kong government’s First Film Initiative, made 19.8 million HKD in the spring from a budget of just 3.25 million HKD thanks to a successful run on the film festival circuit and three Hong Kong Film Awards.

China-friendly co-productions’ continuing dominance over the Hong Kong film industry means that genres that are deemed sensitive in Mainland China have become nearly non-existent. For example, triad films that were hugely popular in the mid and late1990s and horror films dealing with the supernatural are nearly non-existent in Hong Kong today. Ultra-low-budget action series Tournament( 極鬪 ) – independently produced and distributed by Thai boxing instruction Sam LEUNG – is now up to its seventh in stallment but have still yet to find a mainstream following. Horror films such as Binding Souls ( 綁靈 ), Malaysian co-production Walk with Me( 雙魂 ) and internet novel adaptation Missing( 失蹤 ) also disappeared from cinemas after very brief theatrical runs. Even Deception of the Novelist( 作家的謊言 ： 筆忠誘罪 ), the sole mainstream Hong Kong erotic thriller of 2019, failed to find audiences in a competitive market after grossing only 3 million HKD.

However, box office figures reveal that Hong Kong audiences still enjoy genre films. Five of the year’s top-grossing films are Hollywood comic book-based films (including cyber punk sci-fi actioner Alita: Battle Angel), and the 37 million HKD gross of Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw prove that action films are still alive and well in the marketplace. It’s just that local audiences primarily prefer to get their genre thrills from Hollywood productions, which are slicker thanks to considerably larger budgets and come without the socio-political baggage of Mainland Chinese films.

Nevertheless, the year’s biggest surprise hit is actually a Chinese-language horror film. Detention( 返校 ), the Taiwanese hit adaptation of a popular video game, made a surprise 11 million HKD in Hong Kong despite a limited release of less than ten cinemas and being released during the protests. Though the film was a huge box office hit in Taiwan (which helped in Hong Kong with romances such as You Are the Apple of My Eye( 那些年 ， 我們 一起追的女孩 ), Our Times( 我的少女時代 ) and More than Blue( 比悲傷更悲傷的故事 ) and won multiple prizes at the Golden Horse Awards just two weeks before its Hong Kong release, most Hong Kong cinema chains rumored to have rejected the film due to its politically sensitive subject matter. Its success proved that horror films can still find an audience in Hong Kong given the right story and the right selling points, but budgetary limits and the small size of the market mean that a horror resurgence is not likely to happen in Hong Kong cinema.

Despite these bright spots, the Hong Kong film industry has sunk even further due to the COVID-19 outbreak that began just before the Chinese New Year holiday in January. Box office gross has fallen even further in the first months of the year, and even Main land China-Hong Kong co-productions that would’ve proceeded during the protests have now been halted due to health concerns. If the devastating effects of SARS had on the industry is any indication, 2020 will be an even more challenging year for Hong Kong cinema.

Kevin MA

Kevin MA was formerly an English editor at internet retailer YesAsia.com, the Greater China correspondent for trade news website Film Business Asia and an entertainment editor at Cedar Hong Kong, which publishes Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon’s inflight magazines. He is the co-founder of Zakkaten Media, providing writing and translation services for film companies and other cultural institutions in the Greater China region, and the founder of Asia in Cinema (www.asiaincinema.com), a website that provides news coverage of the Asian film industry.