[2024.01.03] 2023 HONG KONG FILM BOX OFFICE IS 25% LESS THAN BEFORE THE PANDEMIC

Veteran filmmaker Tin Kai Man says the poor economy, overseas vacations, how attractive the movies are are all reasons that affected the box office revenue 

The Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Andy Lau starred THE GOLDFINGER has made over HK$ 13.6 million.  Who knows if it will break Hong Kong film out of its slump

A GUILTY CONSCIENCE has made HK$ 110 million and is the highest grossing Hong Kong film of 2023 

TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES comes in second among Hong Kong films

OVER MY DEAD BODY comes in third
courtesy of mingpao.com

The Hong Kong Box Office Co. Ltd. summed up the 2023 Hong Kong film market overall situation. According to film box office total revenue, the 2023 total box office was HK$ 1,433,169,125 and returning to the 2011 level of HK$ 1,392,170,518.

Due to the pandemic in 2022, the 104 day cinema closing and different level of admission restrictions made the situation different from 2023 and could not be compared. Yet in comparison to before the pandemic, the 2019 total box office was HK$ 1,923,194,409, the decline was 25.48%. Obviously last year the film industry box office revenue indeed was not very ideal, conceivably many factors like the increase of overseas vacation after the pandemic, the pandemic production halt that left few film choices, or consumer spending format changes, made the overall film and cinema market poor and unable to return to the before pandemic level. The Hong Kong Box Office Co. Ltd hoped that the audience in the new year would be able to go to the movies more to support the film industry.

Veteran filmmaker Tin Kai Man was not surprised to hear about the brutal 2023 total film box office, feeling that the less than ideal box office could be traced. He said, "Foreign films in recent years have been using hero special effects as their selling points. The audience already felt tired, watching one less wouldn't be a loss. Hong Kong films faced restrictions from minority subjects and co-production formulas and kept the audience away; the poor economy, overseas vacations, the attractive level of the films, they were all reasons that impacted the box office revenue." Some felt that the film releases were lacking. In 2023 267 films were released, 62 less than before the pandemic in 2019. The decrease was also one of the reasons. Tin Kai Man said, "The amount of release isn't short, only the audience has more choices like online streaming platform and their movie viewing habits changed. It is an extremely large alarm for the Hong Kong film market future. I of course don't hope to see Hong Kong's future dim, but at the current level I don't see any breakthrough. I hope the industry and all the stakeholders would focus on this problem."

Although the market forecast remained unclear, the Andy Lau Tak Wa and Tony Leung Chiu Wai starred blockbuster THE GOLDFINGER (GUM SAU JI) performed well. Opening on December 30th, as of January 1st its box office already exceeded HK$ 13.6 million and its mainland box office also passed 220 million RMB. The Lau Tak Wa, Gordon Lam Ka Tung and Eddie Peng Yu-Yan starred I DID IT MY WAY (CHIM HUNG) already opened in the mainland and also made over 220 million RMB. The film would open on January 11th in Hong Kong.

The January 1st to December 31st 2023 top ten highest grossing Hong Kong and non Hong Kong film box office information are as below:

TOP TEN HIGHEST GROSSING HONG KONG FILM 
10 IT REMAINS (August 24-December 6 2023) 10,346,153
9 WHERE THE WIND BLOWS (February 17-May 17 2023) 11,260,914
8 MAD FATE (April 20-July 13 2023) 11,703,729
7 ONE MORE CHANCE (June 29-September 10 2023) 13,016,296
6 THE WHITE STORM 3: HEAVEN OR HELL (July 27-September 13 2023) 14,029,537
5 EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL (January 21-April 29 2023) 16,152,635
4 IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (November 2 2023-Present) 21,124,988
3 OVER MY DEAD BODY (April 4-June 28 2023) 22,694,947
2 TIME STILL TURNS THE PAGES (November 16 2023-Present) 23,456,482
1 A GUILTY CONSCIENCE (January 21-June 16 2023) 115,060,394

TOP TEN HIGHEST GROSSING NON HONG KONG FILM
10 SUZUME (March 2-August 2 2023) 28,810,739
9 THE FLASH (June 15-August 20 2023) 29,208,636
8 FAST AND FURIOUS X (May 18-July 28 2023) 29,753,785
7 JOHN WICK 4 (March 23-July 5 2023) 35,029,431
6 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (January 12 2023-Present) 39,391,757
5 BARBIE (July 20-October 26 2023) 41,166,426
4 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (May 3-July 26 2023) 44,112,143
3 SUPER MARIO BROS. (April 5-August 15 2023) 52,521,301
2 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -- DEAD RECKONING PART I (July 13-November 22 2023) 60,530,153
1 OPPENHEIMER (July 20-December 19 2023) 72,971,282