Earlier, Chen Luochao, the producer of "Kowloon Walled City" broke the news, "Some mainland film companies will suspend investment and distribution of Hong Kong movies" , which was considered to be nothing more than alarmist.
Until Hong Kong media recently broke the news that Nicholas Tse's two new films have been suspended, namely "Infinite Mission" and "New Police Story 2" .
Nicholas Tse has always been hailed as the future of Hong Kong movies, the "Emperor's First Brother", and the man who will inherit Jackie Chan's action movie mantle.
Even his new film has been stopped. It can be seen that there must be a lot of co-productions implicated, but they have not been exposed yet.
All this may be related to the continued downturn of Hong Kong films in the past two years.
Last year’s number one Hong Kong film was “Goldfinger,” which brought together two superstars, Tony Leung and Andy Lau, but its box office result of 574 million was really unsatisfactory.
You must know that the budget of this film is as high as 350 million Hong Kong dollars. According to the simple algorithm of three times the box office to make back the money, plus the box office in other regions, it will still lose money after all.
Not to mention a bunch of cannon fodder Hong Kong movies, those that only sold tens of millions in theaters, such as "When the Wind Rises Again", "Disconnected", "Don't Call Me God of Gamblers", "Assassination Storm" and other movies.
The investment in some films is quite large. For example, "When the Wind Rises Again" costs as much as HK$200 million. With such co-production results, how can investors not be frightened?
The last straw that broke the camel's back may be "Customs Front", which originally had high hopes in the summer release.
investment was also as high as 200 million, and the combination of Jacky Cheung + Nicholas Tse only sold for 129 million.
This result has forced mainland investors to re-examine Nicholas Tse and Hong Kong movies. Can they still make money?
1, Nicholas Tse's "disappeared" new films, one of which has a great background
"Infinite Mission" has been in the preparation stage, a bit like the return of an excellent director from the north to support Hong Kong films.
directed by Lam Chiu-hsien, starring Nicholas Tse and William Chan. This combination looks pretty good. It is a pity that it was stopped, but it is not a regret.
"New Police Story 2" was stopped, which makes people think deeply.
Emperor boss Yang Shoucheng has been planning a big game for Nicholas Tse.
If "Fury·Crime" announced Nicholas Tse's return to Hong Kong films, "Customs Front" is for him to practice and adapt to action scenes.
"Rage", which will be released in the second half of the year, hopes to consolidate his market position in the field of action movies.
The final masterpiece of this game is "New Police Story 2" directed and starred by Nicholas Tse, which also means that Hong Kong movies will complete the replacement of old and new.
The film was promoted with the return of the original cast as a selling point. Actors such as Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Daniel Wu, Charlene Choi were in the same frame again after many years. Just thinking about this scene is exciting.
Especially the two generations of "Emperor's First Brother" are in the same frame. The meaning of inheritance is self-evident. The 70-year-old Jackie Chan is too old to win, while Nicholas Tse is in his prime.
However, this film was actually stopped.
It is rumored that Nicholas Tse's focus next year will be on concerts. If he loses money, he should help his boss to make it back. This is the traditional virtue of an Emperor artist.
However, all the variables may lie in "The Rage Spreads".
Stephen Chow's old partner Kwok Chi-kin is the director, with Nicholas Tse and Andy Lau starring in the film. Two popular action movie actors from the mainland, Xie Miao and Shi Sha, have joined the cast, and there is also "stolen comedian" Xu Guanwen.
Just looking at the lineup, I want to ask, can this action movie be good?
However, even if this movie can be a hit, it can save Nicholas Tse, but it is not enough to save Hong Kong movies.
2. The embarrassing situation of Hong Kong films in the Mainland: sales inventory
The market position of popular Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse needs to be re-evaluated, and the situation of other Hong Kong films will surely be even more difficult.
For a long time in the future, most of the Hong Kong films we can see in theaters will be those "old Hong Kong films", that is, Hong Kong films that have been filmed for a long time and have not had a chance to be released.
For example, "Fenglinhuoshan", which was nicknamed "In My Lifetime", this movie started shooting in 2017, even the music master Ryuichi Sakamoto has not finished the post-production.
The only thing that can be gratifying is that this movie will most likely be scheduled for December and will see the light of day in my lifetime.
There are countless other Hong Kong films in the backlog, such as Stephen Chow's "The Mermaid 2", "The Insider" directed by Mak Siu-fai, and "Two and a Half Dads" starring Andy Lau and Cheng Zeshi, etc...
Among them, Louis Koo is the most popular Representatively, he alone has 7 films to be released.
"Tailgating", "Guardian", "Beyond the Evil Deeds", "A Glimmer of Life", "Looking for Qin", "Fenglin Huoshan" and "Who Changed the Giant Buddha".
Some of these movies have been scheduled, and some "mysteriously disappeared" after filming.
As a fan of "Xun Qin Ji" for more than 20 years, I asked Principal Gu, can I attend it this year?
Louis Koo is a well-deserved model worker in the Hong Kong film industry, there is no doubt about this.
Today he is still the leader of the Hong Kong Film Association and the boss of Tianyi Pictures. His every move affects the development of Hong Kong films.
Hong Kong films led by him are having such a difficult time, so we can't help but worry about the situation of other Hong Kong films.
In the future, we will basically only be able to watch "old Hong Kong movies" in theaters. Selling inventory has become the norm for mainland theaters waiting for Hong Kong films to be released.
Hong Kong movies are facing such a big crisis. It is time to wake up and think: Where is the future of Hong Kong movies?
3, co-productions, or sticking to Hong Kong characteristics
The argument that co-productions have caused Hong Kong movies to lose their soul has been rampant. Many filmmakers who refuse to go north believe that authentic Hong Kong movies are those that stick to Hong Kong characteristics.
However, most of these movies have become a niche, and the result of working behind closed doors is that it is difficult to produce classics.
"The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" is the only masterpiece that has won the market and reputation in the past two years. Its success is of rare significance.
Hong Kong filmmakers seem to have found a balance between retaining Hong Kong elements and winning the market.
This movie proves that telling a story with a Hong Kong background and using sincerity to create a movie can be both a hit and a hit in both the mainland and Hong Kong.
The success of the movie is due to the setting and art. In order to restore history, the crew almost rebuilt the Kowloon Walled City.
The budget is indeed high, but the money is spent wisely.
Sammo Hung, Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Aaron Kwok and other older generation superstars are willing to be green leaves.
Newcomers such as Fu Lam Feng, Liu Junqian, and Ng Yun Lung took over. This move has become a legend in Hong Kong films. It is time to restore the tradition of the old leading the new.
Hong Kong movie stars are getting older collectively, and their market influence is also declining. This is an indisputable fact.
The sky-high remuneration of Hong Kong superstars has restricted the development of Hong Kong films to a certain extent.
If superstars take a back seat or reduce their salaries, the saved salary can not only be used in film production, but also has the potential to make new stars popular, why not?
While integrating into Chinese movies, it should retain the characteristics of Hong Kong movies as much as possible. This road still has a long way to go today.
So we saw "Cold War 1994" and "Chill 1995" two new films, abandoning the previous big names.
Daniel Wu returns, Taiwanese Wu Kangren joins, and local Liu Junqian, this combination seems to be more interesting than the previous Lianliankan veteran actor.
4, Another attempt by Jiang Zhiqiang
It has been a long time since Hong Kong has produced a work that can have an impact on the world.
Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Kong Chi-keung was worried about this. He lamented: Where are the new generation of Yuen Woo-Ping, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen?
He has produced movies such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Huo Yuanjia" and "Hero" that have been popular around the world.
In order to make Hong Kong movies great again, he launched "the furious" project, targeting first-tier Hollywood blockbusters "The Raid" and "The Rescue", and planned to use all Hong Kong funds to create world-class action movies.
The biggest feature of this project is that it will be produced in Hong Kong with Hong Kong funds. It is expected to be launched in mainland theaters as an imported film in the future.
The director of this film is Kenji Tanigaki, the action director of "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City", and the starring role is former "Big Brother in Internet University" and popular action actor Xie Miao.
Boss Jiang loves movies. He will strive to create great Asian movies regardless of cost and market factors, in order to make Hong Kong movies comparable to the world again.
At the same time, try to promote Xie Miao as much as possible, giving him the opportunity to break out of Asia like Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
His attempt may bring different meaning and inspiration to Hong Kong movies. Let us look forward to his new film "Fire Covers Eyes" (formerly known as Fury).
Summary
The production cost of the Taiwanese movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" is about 13 million yuan. Piracy of
was rampant on the day it was released in mainland theaters. However, due to the excellent quality of the film, it still earned a box office of 665 million.
This is the result of Taiwanese filmmakers saving themselves. The remuneration of leading actor Ethan Ruan is said to be a friendship price.
Can this incident give some inspiration to Hong Kong filmmakers, not to mention that in the current downturn of Hong Kong films, it is impossible to reverse the situation without cutting off the brave men.
Nicholas Tse’s suspension of new films is just the beginning. The huge crisis facing Hong Kong films has only exposed the tip of the iceberg.
In recent years, Hong Kong films have been filled with homogeneous and routine narratives. The quality of the films is far behind the times. Many Hong Kong films are more like using the older generation of Hong Kong stars to sell feelings and make money.
It’s time for Hong Kong filmmakers to wake up. If they don’t want to be completely reduced to side dishes in Chinese movies, they have to produce works that are both popular and popular.
Hong Kong movies should stop shouting slogans of immortality, and should show the Hong Kong spirit of fighting for food.
To rise in adversity, we must rely on strength rather than emotion.
Come on, Hong Kong movies! (Written by Mu Weizhou)
