by Ryan Law

Hong Kong cinema experienced a small renaissance in 2001. Both box office and quality were up on recent years. The cheerleader was summer hit Shaolin Soccer, which grossed over HK$60m (US$7.7m) and narrowly broke the local box office record set of HK$57.5m (US$7.4) by Jackie Chan’s 1996 actioner First Strike. Overall, box office grosses rose 10.6% on 2001 figures, breaking the psychological barrier of HK$1 billion. Hong Kong films took a 47.1% market share, up from 41.9% in 2000, and up 24% in real box office gross. The average gross of Hong Kong films increased from US$2.5m to US$3.6m per film, suggesting that Hong Kong cinema is on a stable road to recovery.

But while blockbusters starring Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow and Andy Lau performed well, there were still some high-profile casualties. Andrew Lau’s The Avenging Fist recovered just HK$5m (US$645,000) of its HK$40m (US$5m) production costs and Wilson Yip’s 2002, the most expensive local ghost film ever, grossed just HK$8m (US$1.03m). Both films starred the new generation of performers launched by Media Asia in 1999’s Gen X-Cops. The poor box office suggests that they are still unable to carry a movie by themselves.

Some mid-budget films proved to be real success stories — high concept titles La Brassiere and Dummy Mummy Without A Baby performed very well indeed. The former grossed HK$18.5m (US$2.4m) during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival period, while the latter grossed HK$8.5m (US$1.09m) outside of a holiday slot. La Brassiere had an all-star cast, while Dummy Mummy was the first bona-fide hit for local star Miriam Yeung. Yeung has since seen more success with Love Undercover. As for low budget films, only those with a clear target audience — like the Christian movie Life is a Miracle and the horror Horror Hotline ... Big Head Monster — found marked success.

Hong Kong cinema still holds a minor position in the Taiwan market. Hong Kong films are typically released on less than ten screens, and box office is rarely more than 10% of the Hollywood competition. Korean and Japanese films face similar difficulties in this market. Although Hong Kong films have traditionally been dubbed in Mandarin for a Taiwan release, last year a selection of high profile films — including Visible Secret and Love On A Diet — were released in both Cantonese and Mandarin versions. Hong Kong cinema also failed to make a significant impact in other Asian territories, despite some isolated successes like In The Mood For Love in Japan and Shaolin Soccer in South East Asia.

The success of films on their theatrical release at home can, in part, be explained by a successful crackdown on film piracy by the Hong Kong Customs. This has been backed up by a revision of the Copyrights Ordinance which criminalises the selling of pirated product. So pirated products are now less visible on the streets. Also, the window between theatrical and home video release has shortened, to one week for small films and one month for major local productions. This encourages viewers to buy the legitimate product. The growing tendency for pirate discs to be Mandarin-language only hints at the origin of their manufacture — mainland China. ??