Hong Kong is said to be the third largest base for movies around the globe and also the second largest movie exporter. The glory days of home grown Hong Kong flicks are over -- but there’s a boom in co-produced films in the HK movie industry.
In 2013, 42 HK produced films were shown on HK movie screens, grossing over 350 million HK dollars in box office income. Among the top ten best selling HK produced films, 9 are co-produced films. Each earned an average income of 24 million HK dollars, three times as much as locally- produced films.
When it comes to Chinese mainland market, the income gap becomes wider. Take Jacky Chan’s movie "Chinese Zodiac" for example, the movie earned 10 million HK dollars in the HK market, but grossed a whopping 1 billion HK dollars in the Chinese mainland. The Chinese mainland has become the most important market for HK movies.
"If we only rely on HK local market, nobody could make a profit. In 2013, the average cost of 42 HK produced movies was 30 million HK dollars. Thanks to the Chinese mainland market, we earned our money back. Now if you want to visit any star or director, you could only find them in Beijing or Shanghai, not HK. If you insist on having your work isolated from the Chinese mainland, no one would invest in your movie." Crucind Hung, Chairman of the Federation of Motion Film Producers said.
lthough such collaborations are performing well in the box office, it is still quite clear that they can not compete against Hollywood blockbusters. Last year, the total box office income in HK was 1.6 billion HK dollars, and more than 75% of the revenue came from Hollywood movies. And it is the same case in the Chinese mainland.
Someone argues that HK movies should abandon co-production, and focus on localization to return to the gold age for HK movies in the 1980s. But some industry experts believe that the 1980’s golden age has historical elements, and can not be simply repeated.
"How could you compare HK movies with Hollywood blockbusters? I must say that at the very beginning of the HK movie history, we had never won over Hollywood. The illusion of the golden age was because we just did not know about Hollywood movies at that time." Grdon Chan, HK Movie Director said.
Gordon Chan agrees that HK produced films should respect local audience. But this kind of respect does not mean simple localization, Innovation is still key to HK films’ future success.
"When you use the word localization, it scares me. Hollywood never says I won’t produce this because this is too alien. The concept of localization in their mind is to learn from outside, and turn it in to a holly production. So we must keep this idea in mind to develop our movies." Grdon Chan said.
Look around me, mainlanders, Hong Kongers, speaking Cantonese and Mandarin. The closer ties between the city and Chinese mainland are reflected in the Hong Kong movie scene. More collaborations, more films with complex plots between the mainland, HK and Macao. It’s a case of art imitating life.
Source: CCTV
