2023 is undoubtedly a Waterloo for Hong Kong films in the mainland market.
Whether it is a superstar like Jackie Chan Chow Yun-fat and Mesozoic celebrities like Louis Koo, whether it is a police movie, an action movie or a comedy, mainland audiences will undoubtedly lead to the further decline of Hong Kong films. after all, the mainland is now the biggest vote for Hong Kong films, if mainland audiences are not willing to support Hong Kong films.
Then I'm afraid Hong Kong films will never have a chance to shoot a big production in the future! Therefore, 2024 is regarded as a crucial year by Hong Kong film fans.
In particular, during the Spring Festival this year, Hong Kong films were expected to launch a counterattack against the Jedi, but Hong Kong films did not even have the courage to fight a war.
Andy Lau lost to Shen Teng, Jackie Chow ran away hand in hand, and Hong Kong films lost miserably during the Spring Festival in 2024.
The 2024 Spring Festival is actually an excellent opportunity for Hong Kong films. Wu Jing's Volunteer 2 has not been released, the top seed player Nezhu 2 has not been finished in the later stage, and there is not a single major special effects or action production throughout the program.
What Hong Kong films are good at is this type of film that is extremely entertaining.
When new films are scheduled for the Spring Festival in 2024, fans are eagerly looking forward to Jackie Chan's "Legend", Stephen Chow's "Mermaid 2", Tsui Hark's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: the Master of Chivalry", Shen Teng's "Flying Life 2" and Jia Ling's "Hot" mainland comedy lineup. In fact, we can see that the chances of winning Hong Kong films are very big.
After all, this year's Spring Festival, almost all of the eight new films are family comedies, and the audience will definitely be aesthetically tired.
But did not expect "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: the Master of Chivalry" directly invisible, "Legend"Mermaid 2" warmed up for a period of time, but also dare not release in the Spring Festival.
You know, the Legend was killed in July 2023, and the trailer was exposed early. The initial gimmick was Jackie Chan's return to the Spring Festival after many years, but in recent years he has changed from a box office guarantee to the king of bad movies.
Starting from the "Escape of the Jedi" in 2016, the middle "Railway Flying Tiger", "Kung Fu Yoga", "Machine Blood", "Pu Songling" and "Vanguard", and then to "Dragon Horse Spirit" in 2023, most of the eldest brother's works have failed in recent years, and Douban breaking 6 points is an extravagant hope.
The box office also fell from 1.7 billion at the peak of "Kung Fu Yoga" to more than 200 million in "Dragon Horse Spirit".
In today's era when the mainland market is over 3 billion before it is considered a popular style, it is really very difficult for the eldest brother to have the confidence to compete with Shen Teng and Jia Ling's new film.
But in my opinion, "Legend" still has the power of a war.
The sequel to Jackie Chan's classic film Myth, the return of core creators such as Tang Jili Kim Hee Seon, and popular stars such as Zhang Yixing, Gulinaza, Li Chen, Peng Xiaolan and Dou Kui are attractive in the lineup.
Coupled with the fact that fantasy adventure films are scarce during the Spring Festival this year, audiences who do not like skit-style comedies will certainly choose Jackie Chan.
Mermaid 2 shows Zhou Xingchi's helplessness.
The sequel, once the box office champion of Chinese film history, has not been released to the audience for six years. "Mermaid 2" entered the post-production stage after it was killed in 2018, but there are not many opportunities for the film to be released for various reasons.
Zhou Xingchi has actually been very active in the past two years, supervising the production of Monkey King, helping to promote many new films, and even producing online skits, and the new film Shaolin Women's Football has also begun preparations, indicating that Sing Yeh's focus is no longer on Mermaid 2. I'm afraid it's a long way off if this film can't be released during the Spring Festival this year.
Of course, even if Mermaid 2 can be released, the King of Comedy may not be able to do as much as Shen Teng Jia Ling, the king of comedy at the box office.
Andy Lau has become the only child of Hong Kong film actors during the Spring Festival this year.
"Mr. Red carpet" is certainly not a Hong Kong film, but there are many Hong Kong actors such as Andy Lau, Leung Ka-fai, Yang Qianwei, Wang Jing and other Hong Kong actors, and the plot is a complete allusion to the Hong Kong entertainment industry. & nbsp; "Mr. Red carpet" is also half of a Hong Kong film.
If Mr. Red Carpet does well at the box office, it may prove that the audience is still interested in Hong Kong movies.
Unfortunately, the dismal pre-sale of "Mr. Red carpet" is distressing.
As of 12:00 on February 8th, Shen Teng's "Flying Life 2" had a total box office of more than 100 million, while "Mr. Red carpet" had only 24 million, nearly five times the gap by Shen Teng, and he had not even played "Bear haunted". The result is similar to "We Shake the Sun together" starring a young actor like Peng Yuchang. You know, Mr. Red Carpet costs 260 million to make.
It is one of the most expensive new films during the Spring Festival this year.
The setback in the pre-sale of "Mr. Red carpet" may be a microcosm of the fact that young audiences in the mainland are completely indifferent to the entertainment industry in Hong Kong.
It's no use for Stephen Chow to break the record. Hong Kong films with fried cold rice and feelings have finally lost the Spring Festival file!
The experience of Hong Kong films during the Spring Festival in 2024 is undoubtedly a landmark event.
The Spring Festival in the mainland itself is the hope for the revival of Hong Kong films.
Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West" announced that it will be released on the first day of the Lunar New year in 2013, officially opening the mainland Spring Festival, the box office eventually exceeded 1.246 billion, since then the Spring Festival has become a must for studios.
At that time, Hong Kong films were in full swing, and at one point they regained their glory on weekends.
During the Spring Festival in 2014, Chow Yun-fat brought "Journey to the West wreaking havoc in Heaven" and "the Wind and Clouds of Macau". One film grossed more than 1 billion yuan at the box office and the other won 500 million.
In the 2015 Jackie Chow Yun Fat Spring Festival showdown, Hong Kong films won the top and second place at the box office as a result of the battle between "Tianzhong Xiongshi" and "Macao Fengyun 2".
Stephen Chow's Mermaid swept all records in 2016, grossing more than 3.3 billion at the box office and is now a super popular style. It directly broke the record of Chinese film history, and this is Zhou Xingchi's real divine moment. It proves Sing Yeh's invincible appeal in the mainland market.
What is even more surprising is that during the same period, Chow Yun-fat's "Macau 3" and Aaron Kwok's "Journey to the West three dozen White Bone Spirit" were released, both of which grossed more than 1 billion at the box office.
It can be seen that mainland producers could not compete with the dominance of Hong Kong films over the Spring Festival at that time.
However, the lack of progress of Hong Kong films also began to appear, and the production of fried rice and selling feelings such as "Kung Fu Yoga", "Journey to the West" and "the King of New Comedy" were brought up, and they did not care about the feelings of the mainland audience at all. As a result, mainland production began to surpass after 2017, and finally Hong Kong films were completely swept out of the Spring Festival by 2024.
The revival of Hong Kong films has also become a joke!