Last year, Hong Kong-produced films had a market share of just 13% from 53 releases in their own territory and the highest-grossing title Agent Mr Chan, which took $5.7m, ranked outside the top 10. Under Chinese regulations, co-productions must use one-third mainland cast and a story related to China, but Hong Kong audiences are resistant to films with a strong mainland flavour. However, the focus on mainland China has been at the expense of the Hong Kong market. All five of these films were directed by Hong Kong filmmakers. In 2018, the top five Hong Kong-China co-productions at the China box office were Dante Lam’s Operation Red Sea, which grossed $576m, Raman Hui’s Monster Hunt 2 ($356m), Felix Chong’s Project Gutenberg ($183m), Soi Cheang’s The Monkey King 3 ($114m) and David Lam’s L Storm ($64m).

Launched in 2003, CEPA enables an unlimited number of Hong Kong movies to be imported into mainland China, but as the revenue-sharing arrangements are less favourable than for co-productions, this route is rarely used.Īs co-productions are usually successful at the China box office, all the big Hong Kong production companies have focused on this model for the past 15 years. They have two routes into that market: Hong Kong-China co-productions, which enjoy the same terms as domestic Chinese productions, and as imports under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). Weighing up the optionsĪt the same time, Hong Kong producers can’t ignore the fact mainland China is the biggest and most natural market for their films. While Hong Kong people may sometimes feel overwhelmed by China’s rapid economic growth and rising cultural influence, it would take generations, not just a few boom years on the mainland, for that identity to be erased. In business and regulatory terms, China and Hong Kong are still regarded as separate entities, and in cultural terms, Hong Kong has a distinct identity that goes way beyond speaking a different dialect of Chinese. Most Hong Kong films are co-productions with China, several big Hong Kong directors - including Tsui Hark and Peter Ho-sun Chan - have offices in China, and leading producers spend their time shuttling between the filmmaking hubs of Hong Kong and Beijing.īut the reality is much more complicated. When looking at the Hong Kong film industry in recent years, it’s sometimes tempting to see it as having been integrated into the mainland China industry.

Hong kong movie production companies