To be honest, in 2024 the audience still has not established confidence in Hong Kong films.
2024 is almost halfway through, but only two new Hong Kong films, " Temporary Heist " and " Kowloon Walled City ", have exceeded 100 million in the mainland box office. Although "Kowloon Walled City" has an excellent reputation, the box office is actually not as good as expected.
stopped at 700 million! Why did "Kowloon Walled City" fail to break the box office ceiling of Hong Kong films?
"Kowloon Walled City" is undoubtedly a commercial contradiction. The
movie counterattacked even though it was at the bottom of the May 1st schedule. It even won the daily box office championship after the May 1st schedule. The cumulative box office in the 20 days since its release has exceeded 541 million, surpassing " Peacekeeping Riot Squad " and " No. "What a Hot Pot Can't Solve" and other traffic star blockbusters.
You must know that the box office of the movie on the first day was only 50.68 million. This kind of box office stamina is really outstanding.
But to a certain extent, "Kowloon Walled City" is also an extremely failure. The
movie cost 300 million to produce, starring more than 20 Hong Kong film stars such as Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, and Ren Xianqi. It is already a bit embarrassing to be at the bottom of the May Day pre-sales and popularity. According to the production scale and cast, "Kowloon Walled City" should be He is the top seeded player to win the May 1 box office championship, instead of needing to counterattack and become a dark horse.
The most important thing is that even if it is a dark horse, the movie cannot beat " Thelma and Louise ".
With the current trend, the box office of the movie in the Mainland will stop at 700 million, and the film production budget is 300 million, which means that the film studio’s original intention was to have a box office of more than 1.2 billion, aiming to break the box office record of Hong Kong films in the mainland. Although Hong Kong is included The movie can make back its money by waiting for the box office in the movie market.
For "Kowloon Walled City", this kind of box office performance cannot be considered a success.
2018's " Warriors ", 2019's "Anti-Drug 2", 2020's " Bomb Disposal Expert 2", 2021's "The Fury", Hong Kong films have reached 1 billion in the mainland for 4 consecutive years The box office is a hit, but since "The Fury", no Hong Kong film has exceeded 1 billion in box office for almost three years, even though "Goldfinger" and " Tomorrow " have set the cost record in the history of Hong Kong films. blockbusters released.
plus this "Kowloon Walled City".
These big productions have proved that Hong Kong films have lost a large part of their audiences in the mainland market. Any way to bring them back to the cinema or even attract new audiences is what Hong Kong films need to do next.
has been delayed for half a year and cost 360 million. The summer movie will face Nicholas Tse. Can 70-year-old Jackie Chan save Hong Kong movies?
This summer season may be the key.
Currently Nicholas Tse's " Customs Front " and Jackie Chan's "Legend" have both been scheduled for summer release in July.
The release dates of the two movies are even one week apart. It can be said that it is a showdown between old and new action actors after Jackie Chan and Nicholas Tse. Of course, "Legend" is undoubtedly the most blockbuster Hong Kong film this year in terms of production cost and attention.
"Legend" will be completed in July 2023.
was originally planned to be released during the Spring Festival in 2024. Unfortunately, everyone knows that Jia Ling and Shen Teng grabbed most of the attention during the Spring Festival this year, especially " is hot and hot. " dominates the screen and is a hot search, and its influence is gradually declining. Hong Kong films naturally have to avoid their sharp edges.
"Legend" was delayed for half a year and became a summer release. The
movie cost US$50 million, or 360 million yuan, which is about the same cost as "Hot and Spicy". It is a major Hong Kong film production targeting the world.
The movie was shot in real locations in Xinjiang, and there will be huge scenes of thousands of troops fighting.
From the perspective of action scenes, the cost of 360 million is not unfair. Of course, this 360 million does not include the cost of publicity and distribution. The film studio's global box office expectation for "Legend" is about 3 billion. No matter from any angle, the box office performance of "Legend" cannot be missed.
This makes people wonder: Can 70-year-old Jackie Chan really still save Hong Kong films?
Judging from the current publicity, the film’s trump card is to sell emotions.
The movie will spend a lot of money and use special effects technology to make Jackie Chan younger. According to the film studio, there will be a lot of scenes of 27-year-old Jackie Chan in the movie. This is very attractive to Jackie Chan fans around the world, but the most famous thing about young Jackie Chan is fighting. I wonder if special effects can achieve this in fateful performances. Jackie Chan is already seventy years old. Can special effects make his face look younger and allow Jackie Chan to do difficult action scenes again?
"Legend" is also the sequel to "Myth", which is also an emotional bomb. The return of
director Tang Jili is not a big deal. The movie actually invited 46-year-old Kim Hee-sun to play the role of Princess Yushu again. I wonder if the special effects will make Jin Hee-sun a little younger. If Jackie Chan and Kim Hee-sun recreate the love story of Meng Yi and Princess Yushu, then It is indeed full of emotions.
"Myth" was released in 2005. The global box office exceeded 20.17 million US dollars, of which the mainland market was 13.5 million US dollars, and the overseas market accounted for a high proportion.
This is also the reason why the film studio spent so much money. It is foreseeable that "Legend" will focus its promotion overseas.
Hong Kong films are on the decline in the mainland market. "Legend" is Jackie Chan's key work to use his overseas influence to save Hong Kong films. With the peak influence of 27-year-old Jackie Chan and his masterpiece, if "Legend" still fails at the box office, then I’m afraid Hong Kong films will never dare to have big productions again.
