[2022.10.21] FAR FAR AWAY PASSES HK$ 10 MILLION ON LUCK

Director Amos Why feels recent Hong Kong film successes each have their own obvious reasons, so he does not feel Hong Kong film has seen the light at the end of the tunnel

WARRIORS OF FUTURE

TABLE FOR SIX

MAMA'S AFFAIR

CHILLI LAUGH STORY

FAR FAR AWAY
courtesy of mingpao.com

Recently many Hong Kong films have had box office success. Louis Koo Tin Lok's WARRIORS OF FUTURE (MING YUT JIN GEI) and Dayo Wong Tze Wah's TABLE FOR SIX (FAN HEI GUNG SUM) even broke Hong Kong Chinese language film box office records. Even the Amos Why (Wong Ho Yin) directed low budget film FAR FAR AWAY (YUEN LO SHAN KA LA) also made over HK$ 10 million, but Director Wong does not feel that Hong Kong film is gradually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel because many Hong Kong films were released in the same period still have yet to be seen or heard from as they left cinemas. For example TALES FROM THE OCCULT (SUT HUNG HUNG GAN) and PRETTY HEART (SUM LUI MEI) both made less than HK$ 1 million. Recently several Hong Kong films have been thriving, very obviously because they had MIRROR members like Keung To, Edan Lui Cheuk On, or "Tze Wah God" Wong Tze Wah as its stars. As for WARRIORS OF FUTURE it spent HK$ 450 million so its over HK$ 7 million box office made sense. Amos Why said that he dared not to be optimistic about the situation, as only when Hong Kong is good would Hong Kong film be good. The soft power and the hard power would have to mutually help each other. Currently the only thing he could do was to improve himself. "When you improve yourself during the poor climate, when the atmosphere improves you would win even if you just lie there."

The Amos Why directed, Jennifer Yu Heung Ying, Kaki Sham starred FAR FAR AWAY (LUEN LO SHAN KA LA) has been in release for over 3 months, and accumulated over HK$ 10 million at the box office. The performance could not be compared to WARRIORS OF FUTURE or TABLE FOR SIX, but FAR only had a HK$ 2.7 million production budget and made HK$ 10 million. Its ratio actually has been better than the two aforementioned films. Amos Why did not dare to say that and would not calculate as such, but for individual show numbers, FAR truly has been very sharp. He said, "This film from only getting 60 shows at its opening to adding shows to its peak of 170 shows. On the other hand WARRIORS OF FUTURE from the opening 600 show and gradually declined."

Amos Hwy disagreed that FAR FAR AWAY was cutting a tree with a small dagger, citing that after all the expenses like cinema cost, marketing cost and distribution cost the film only made a little profit. He joked, "At most it was able to cut was a flower! However I am happy that I have reached the goal of making a profitable film." He felt that this film was a hit purely by luck. He did not study why it was popular with the audience, but from attending many audience appreciation events he discovered a strange phenomenon. Many viewers were older viewers. He said, "I don't make senior stories, the cast were all young people and they even used foul language. However half of the audience were older than me. Some young people even came with their parents, we also had 80 year old grandpas and grandmas; some said that after watching it they felt younger, some said that they had first love and the feeling of love, some understood how young people now act and think. The film was currently in release in England, which also had this phenomenon. In the U.S. and Australia some people have booked shows to watch it." He revealed that the film in Hong Kong would run to early December, because its DVD release would take place then. In mid December it would be released on Disney+.

As for the recent Hong Kong film successes, WARRIORS OF FUTURE broke the Hong Kong Chinese language film box office record, TABLE FOR SIX headed toward HK$ 70 million, MAMA'S AFFAIR and CHILLI LAUGH STORY each made almost HK$ 40 million and over 32 million. How did Amos Why see the current phenomenon, has Hong Kong film seen the light at the end of the tunnel? He said, "In the same period some Hong Kong films still performed poorly, I feel it's nothing worth studying. Unless there is a Hong Kong film release that made over HK$ 10 million without any selling point, like in the 1980s even a rotten Hong Kong film would have higher box office than Hollywood films, then that would be worth studying. However now many Hong Kong films don't even reach HK$ 3 million!" According to data, recent Hong Kong films like the Dior Cheng Yi Kin starred LIFE MUST GO ON (SUM SIU SIM BEI KAU)'s HK$ 2.7 million, LOOK UP and SEPTET's less than HK$ 2 million, Richie Jen (Yam Yin Chai)'s TALES FROM THE OCCULT and Vincent Wong Ho Shun's PRETTY HEART each made HK$ 880,000 and HK$ 570,000.

Amos Why said that the exceptions were MAMA'S AFFAIR and CHILLI LAUGH STORY, because they had MIRROR members Keung To and Edan Lui Cheuk On he knew they would be hits before the movies were even released. As for TABLE FOR SIX it starred Dayo Wong Tze Wa. His two previous films both made over HK$ 30 million at the box office. WARRIORS OF FUTURE cost HK$ 450 million, so making over HK$ 70 million was very reasonable. "They say film is thriving, actually each film's success has been very obvious. They say the audience is supporting Hong Kong film, but I feel it is nothing special because each movie has its reason for success. In addition it was very obvious, very unique. (Is right now a minor rebound or a flash in the pan?) It would have to wait several more years before it could be studied, at least after this year."

Speaking of the rise of many new directors and new actors in the Hong Kong film industry in recent years, was it because of the earlier successor gap? Amos Why felt that the term successor gap was nonsense, because the salary was truly too low. He revealed that he was not paid as a director for all three movies he has made. He said, "Some bosses would spend HK$ 3,000 on a meal, but they would be unwilling to pay a new comer HK$ 3,000 more. This way of course there would be no successor and no one willing to go into the industry!" Now with more new directors in the industry, would they bring a new climate to the film industry? He felt that it was too early to say. "We won't know until two or three more years. Several years ago many directors' debut had box office successes and awards, by logic they would have been in the best shape to make their second films. Yet so far they still haven't had any new movies, how good would an industry and a market like this be? I don't feel it's good. however, new directors indeed have given subjects more variety. Because there is no subject that is 'sure fire', they might as well make different attempts."

Speaking of how to revive the film industry, Amos Why felt that for now it could not be changed. Hong Kong had to be good for Hong Kong film to be good, the soft power and the hard power would then be able to help each. He admitted that the government support for the film industry has truly been to little. He felt that it could study other countries, not just simply giving financial support. "Many people say Korea in the past 10 years has done very well in their computer generated effects, actually some computer special effects companies have worked with universities, studied and innovated together. Financial support alone isn't enough. (How has it been able to persist to now?) That's very hard to answer, I don't operate in an industry format, I make the story I want to make. I have support from friends and companies willing to help me with distribution. The entire operation is different. It's very hard to judge."

Amos Why felt that not only Hong Kong films have not been as popular as before, "When the entire city was successful, stuff that didn't work too well still had people who liked it. Many people say that no matter what Singapore does it wouldn't be able to beat Hong Kong. Actually I feel why do we need to make the comparison with Singapore. Singapore is an independent country, it has its own say. Hong Kong from the past to the present has never had its own say. They are completely different. The entire operation is also different, so no comparison can be made. Why compare a country with a region? The only thing we can do is do our best, we can't control other things; when we prepare ourselves when the climate is bad, when the entire atmosphere improves we would win even if we lie there."