Interpreting Hong Kong’s top 10 hit comedies： Why they can defeat Stephen Chow

1905 movie network feature In the second half of 2022, the Hong Kong film market in China will be very lively.After six years, surpassing the results of 66.82 million Hong Kong dollars, it jumped to the box office champion of Hong Kong film history Chinese film, and then surpassed to win the highest box office Asian film in Hong Kong film history. Up to now, the cumulative box office of the film has exceeded 76 million and continues to set new records.

Not only in the mainland box office breakthrough 100 million RMB, since the September 7 release in Hong Kong, 6 consecutive weeks to top the weekly box office champion, while surpassing the "Mermaid" "Shaolin Football" and other comedies, won the first box office of Hong Kong-made comedy films, but also became the second runner-up of Hong Kong film history Chinese film box office.

Together, they have reshaped the box office rankings of Hong Kong film history. This year, the number of viewers of Hong Kong films is also the largest in the past three years. Has Hong Kong film ushered in an explosive recovery?

Four box office hits, Hong Kong films come back?　

"Tomorrow’s War" and "I Still Think You’re the Best" have not only surpassed "Cold War 2" at the box office, but also exceeded one million viewers.

In addition to these two hits, in the summer from July to August, the box office of "Family Spicy" starring Jiang Tao exceeded 30 million Hong Kong dollars. "Superstar" starring Jiang Tao (Hong Kong title "Grandma has a second") is also approaching the 40 million box office.

According to the statistics of 1905 film network, from 1987 to 1995, at least three Hong Kong-made films exceeded the box office 30 million in Hong Kong every year, and the number exceeded ten in 1992. The last time there were four Hong Kong-made films at the box office exceeded 30 million Hong Kong dollars, or frame freeze in 95, respectively: 56.91 million, 45.67 million, 35.23 million, 33.77 million.

Although ticket prices in Hong Kong cinemas are now more than double what they were in the 1990s, and there is inflation compared with the past, these four films still have very important indicative significance when they reappear after 27 years.

At the beginning of the year, Hong Kong cinemas were completely closed for more than three months due to the impact of the pandemic. After resuming business on April 21, the market gradually picked up in May and June, and the attendance rate increased to normal levels. The release of "Family Spicy" on July 14 set off the first wave of "return" movie viewing craze for Hong Kong audiences.

"Tomorrow’s War", "I Still Think You’re the Best" and "Superstar" have all received praise from Hong Kong audiences. All three films have a score of 7 on WMOOV, a well-known online movie platform in Hong Kong. "Superstar" topped the list with 7.9, the best reputation among audiences.

At present, "Tomorrow’s War" has landed in Hong Kong theaters for two months, and "I Still Think You’re the Best" has also lasted for more than a month and a half. The two films continue to make moves to maintain their endurance and boost the box office.

"Tomorrow’s War" adds an animated prequel 30-second prequel trailer at the end of the original film to attract more audiences to watch in theaters. The filmmakers recently announced that from October 20, anyone who buys two tickets to "Tomorrow’s War" in theaters will receive a "prequel Symphony Commemorative Ticket".

"Still Think You’re the Best" took advantage of the victory to launch an extended version on October 15, adding 6 minutes of new clips to the original, including four never-before-seen scenes. At the same time, the film company launched a board game of the same name, a full record book of film creation and screenplay, and held a wide-ranging meeting to help maintain the popularity of the market.

However, the film market cannot just watch a few movies that have achieved good results in the popular schedule, such as "Beauty in the Heart", (Hong Kong title "All the way to the pupil"), etc. The box office is not as expected, and the reputation is also average.

It can be seen that the current Hong Kong film has a rare state of "two superpowers and two strong", but there is still a long way to go before a full-scale revival.

To defeat Stephen Chow and surpass "Chills 2", why?　

As the largest sci-fi blockbuster in Hong Kong’s history, "Tomorrow’s War" created the best opening result of a non-holiday Hong Kong film in the past five years on its first day of release, and also broke the best opening result of a starring film in the past year. The film quickly broke through 20 million Hong Kong dollars in 4 days of release, and broke through 30 million Hong Kong dollars in the first week, galloping all the way to the cinema.

The reason why this film was able to win the box office championship of Hong Kong film history Chinese film from "Cold War 2" is its integration of Hong Kong-style police and gangster films and mecha sci-fi films, the breakthrough of Hong Kong sci-fi film production technology, the observation of Hong Kong’s local stories, and the hard publicity of the producer and star Gu Tianle.

The low-budget production of "Still Think You’re the Best" has succeeded in a small and broad scale. Who would have expected it to overtake Chow’s many comedies all the way, and it is expected to become the first comedy in Hong Kong’s film history to break the 70 million box office.

Why is "I Still Think You’re the Best" the biggest dark horse of the year?As a well-known local comedian in Hong Kong, he has always had a box office appeal that cannot be underestimated. In recent years, he starred in the tenth box office of Hong Kong film history comedies, and "What Generation Grandmaster" also won about 30 million box office. It is the hottest movie in Hong Kong during the Spring Festival in 2020.

The film has a strong "happy event" series of comedy spirit, which has revived the vitality of Hong Kong’s classic star-celebrating comedy, which is also a big factor in its box office surge.

In 1988, the leading 37.09 million broke the box office record of 34.65 million, and then he used this as a model to create "auspicious star" and "97 happy events" in the 1990s to enter the top of the Hong Kong box office, the reputation is good., Zhou Xingchi, starring in the 92 version of "Happy Events at Home" is still one of the top ten hit comedies in Hong Kong.

Since 2010, Huang Baiming has once again reinvented the "Happy Event" sign, launching "The Strongest Happy Event" and "Happy Event at Home 2020" in succession, winning the box office and losing word of mouth. The quality of the film and the cast are not as good as before.

"Still Think You’re the Best" can be described as "full of color and fragrance". It not only brings the old taste of Hong Kong-made New Year’s comedy, but also deeply depicts family conflicts and love relationships between men and women. It also hits the majority of Hong Kong audiences, which is also the key reason why it can break the billion box office in the mainland.

According to data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, in the mainland market, 48.8% of the number of people who wanted to see the film came from Guangdong Province, which also ranked first in the box office contribution. "Still Think You’re the Best" firmly grasps the core tastes of audiences in the Greater Bay Area.

The comedy "Family Spicy", which is close to the family story of local Hong Kong people, also won the resonance of Hong Kong audiences. The film tells the story of a family who started a new business by making and selling chili sauce under the epidemic, and is full of warmth and hope in laughter.

Based on this wave of enthusiasm, the director of "Still Think You’re the Best" has expressed the hope that the original crew can reunite for a new play. It can be seen that in the future, this kind of Hong Kong-style family comedy sketch will continue to be rejuvenated and is an indispensable force in the Hong Kong film market.

The two big winners in Hong Kong this year are Koo Tian-le and Koo Tian-le: In addition to "Tomorrow’s War", Koo Tian-le’s Tiantian One Film Company also participated in "Still Think You’re the Best" and "Family Hot". In addition to "Still Think You’re the Best" and "Cold War 2", Jiang Zhiqiang’s Anle Film Company occupies three of the top four seats in Hong Kong’s film history box office.

"Fight side by side, go down together", they support local stories and support new directors. Just as "Tomorrow’s War" and "Family Hot" jointly thanked the votes, "Still Think You’re the Best" and "Late Night Dodgeball" also did the vote-thanking activities together, from the past to the present, Hong Kong filmmakers have shown the spirit of unity and forge ahead under the Lion Rock.

Overseas blockbuster top the chart Hong Kong film market for many years, "tomorrow’s war" and "still think you are the best" outstanding performance, shows that Hong Kong-made films are returning to the Hong Kong audience’s vision, the two films are far from enough to sell, Hong Kong film market to reproduce the 80, 90’s brilliant scene, but also need more good stories, more new breakthroughs.