In the next two years, who can carry Hong Kong movies on their shoulders?
seems to be Louis Koo, and Andy Lau.
On March 16, Louis Koo officially took over as the president of the Federation of Film Workers, Qiwen Tian retired to the position of spokesperson of the Federation of Workers.
is also on this day, the movie "Looking for the Qin" released a trailer, still starring the original cast of the TV series such as Louis Koo, Lin Feng, Xuan Xuan, etc. The film is favored as another Hong Kong movie with a mainland box office of 1 billion+, and it is even expected Hit " bomb disposal expert 2 " as the mainland box office champion of Hong Kong-produced films, but with it, there are also massive doubts about Hong Kong films relying on fried rice and money.
And just before February 20, the official announcement of "Gold Finger" written and directed by Zhuang Wenqiang has been launched recently and is expected to be released in 2022. Tony Leung and Andy Lau have cooperated again since "Infernal Affairs", and the investment cost of this film is as high as 350 million Hong Kong dollars.
From 2018 to 2020, the mainland market has continued to output a 1 billion head Hong Kong movie every year. Among all these heavyweight Hong Kong movies, it seems that there will always be a few familiar ones. Name: Andy Lau, Louis Koo, Liu Qingyun, Zhang Jiahui.
In the controversy between the dead and the immortal of Hong Kong movies, a fact that everyone from the industry to the audience has to admit is: Hong Kong movies have already bid farewell to the golden age, and these box office hits are largely dependent on how many The box office appeal of a heavyweight Hong Kong star is supported.
Prior to this, among the top ten Hong Kong films in the mainland box office, Andy Lau, Louis Koo, and Chow Yun Fat each accounted for three, and as Fa Ge gradually faded out of the movie world, Andy Lau and Louis Koo are increasingly becoming Hong Kong films in the Mainland. The last line of defense in the market.
When we open the list of key Hong Kong films for this year and next, we still see these familiar names. On the one hand, this means a certain amount of box office protection. If these films are released on schedule, there are There are at least nine seeded players who have the opportunity to hit the 1 billion box office.
But a question that everyone is tacitly aware of is: What will Hong Kong movies do when these old Hong Kong stars, whose average age is over 50 years old, eventually age together?
Open the main Hong Kong film list in the next two years, we have found three major box office rules
Hong Kong films seem to be forming a unique law of explosion in the mainland market, and the Hong Kong film seed players in the next two years seem to be the same. The continuation of the Hong Kong film box office law.
First is a crime series film, and it is becoming the last number one Hong Kong film in the mainland market.
From the box office point of view, the current mainland box office champions and runners-up of Hong Kong films, "Bomb Disposal Expert 2" and "Span3span Anti-drug 2 " are also works directed by Qiu Litao and supervised and starred by Andy Lau.
The third place is "Wu Shuang" directed by Chuang Wenqiang and starring Chow Yun Fat and Aaron Kwok , with a box office of 1.274 billion.
Compared with the blooming of Hong Kong movies at their peak, with the gradual shrinking of various types of sellers or the voluntary disappearance of the new market environment, the most guaranteed box office type of Hong Kong movies has been fixed as: criminal action sheet.
In the next two years, this genre will still be the focus of Hong Kong movies. In addition to Andy Lau and Tony Leung's Hong Kong box office top seed "Gold Finger" in the next two years, there will also be back to the original cast of "Anti-Drug 1" Liu Qingyun_ span4span, Zhang Jiahui, Koo Tianle’s "Virus 3" ,Only this time, Chen Musheng can no longer carry the private goods of "Vow to the Sword Mountain" in the film. Qiu Litao will continue to direct this series.
Director Chen Musheng’s posthumous work has a chance to hit the high box office. With a certain sentiment bonus, " anger serious case " should also be likely to hit the 1 billion box office mark.
Another film that is likely to hit the 800 million box office is " anti-corruption storm 5: G storm". The film lineup is like a copy of the third part of the series, still featuring Louis Koo and Zheng Jiaying And Zhang Zhilin's three old faces in the series, but Wu Zun was added.
The more suspenseful is "Chill 3" , this gorgeous lineup combines Aaron Kwok, Liang Jiahui, Peng Yuyan, Andy Lau, and Chow Yunfa's super gorgeous lineup in recent years. With the best lineup in Hong Kong movies, coupled with the solid reputation of the first two movies, the mainland movie market should win 1 billion box office without any suspense.
The question is, when will the finalized film have a chance to be released?
Second, the classic IP of Hong Kong films was reused.
Of course, this reinvention of the IP of classic Hong Kong films does not mean re-consuming everything from "Tang Bohu Dian Qiuxiang" to "Nine Pins of Sesame Officials" like Wang Jing , but the intention of leveraging the classics is still obvious.
One of the masterpieces is "Span3span Searching for the Qin " produced by Gu Tianle himself,The film has been filmed in 2019, but there are problems with post-production funding. Fortunately, Camby and Liu Luanxiong have invested 15 million in his five films. The film has only completed the final stage and is expected to be released in 2021.
Because of the success of the drama version and the original crew assembled by Louis Koo, the film is undoubtedly the most popular Hong Kong film in the next two years, but feelings are also a double-edged sword. If the film’s reputation reaches the standard, it will It is very likely to easily break the 1 billion box office, and even break the box office record of Hong Kong films in the mainland market. However, if word of mouth hits the street, not only will the box office be unsustainable, but it may also deplete Louis Koo’s hard-earned audience in the mainland.
There are also films that do not use the name of the sequel, but they are actually the continuation of classic Hong Kong movies. For example, " Detective Wars " , which was fixed in November, is actually the classic work "The Detective" written by the director Wei Jiahui sequel.
And Liu Qingyun also returned to starring, and with the strong lineup of Lin Feng, Charlene Choi, and Li Ruotong, once the film’s reputation is equal to "Detective", there will also be a chance to win 1 billion in mainland film markets. box office.
Among these seeded players is the "New Yitian Slaying Dragon" directed by Wang Jing. Although this summer film has Lin Feng, Wen Yongshan, Qiu Yinong, Gu Tianle, Yen Zidan and Xu Jinjiang’s impressive lineup, but in recent years Wang Jing has consumed too much audience trust in a large number of bad online movies. Whether the movie can hit the 1 billion box office will entirely depend on the first round of word-of-mouth. Once the word of mouth fails, it will probably stop within 300 million.
The third is the accumulation effect of head stars .
is not difficult to see,Currently, the top three Hong Kong films in the mainland box office use the following lineups: Andy Lau + Liu Qingyun, Andy Lau + Louis Koo, Chow Yun Fat + Aaron Kwok.
And all the non-sequel films in the next two years will all use the above permutations and combinations.
The "Fenglin Volcano" , which is finally tentatively finalized in December this year, is Liang Jiahui, Liu Qingyun, Koo Tianle, and Gao Yuanyuan . The more innovative one is Takeshi Kaneshiro, who has rarely appeared in recent years.
is also the " when the wind is back " , which has been rumored for a long time and finally heard the wind. It is Tony Leung, Aaron Kwok, Tan Yaowen, and the long-lost actress Zhou Wenjian, Mainland actress Cuckoo.
The fight between Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung should be the biggest attraction of this film.
Strong47strong "Tomorrow's War", which has been passed on for a long time among sci-fi fans. is also expected to be finalized this year, starring in the most familiar Hong Kong film troika: Louis Koo, Liu Qingyun, Zhang Jiahui, plus Go to Xie Junhao and Carina Lau.
Of course, the above three films are also expected to hit the 1 billion box office. The most grasped is "Fenglin Volcano", and the most unpredictable is "Tomorrow's War".
Another film that is also expected to be released within this year, and I am afraid it is difficult to win a high box office, but it is worth mentioning is Fa Ge's "Scorching Sun".
This Wei Jiahui scripted literary and artistic film apart from Fa Ge,It also has a strong acting lineup including Anita Yuan, Liao Qizhi, Fang Zhongxin, and a new generation of acting artist Bai Zhi. The theme is also the type of father-son love + sports that is easy to tears. If the Hong Kong film gold medal photographer Pan Yueming does not lose the chain, the film will be It is very likely to become another high-reputation Hong Kong-produced literary film.
Who will prop up the Hong Kong movie's battle of tomorrow?
Even ordinary viewers can find that the box office explosion of Hong Kong-produced movies in the Mainland in recent years is like the permutation and combination of these old Hong Kong stars.
The Mesozoic Hong Kong film directors, Qiu Litao, the "Mai Zhuang" group, Liu Weiqiang, Ye Weixin, Wen Weihong and other Hong Kong filmmakers who have come from the golden age of Hong Kong films have gradually formed a head effect like these veteran stars. , Is increasingly forming a more stable cooperative relationship with these veteran stars.
For example, after the death of Chen Musheng, Qiu Litao has increasingly carried the banner of Hong Kong-made action movies, such as the following " anti-drug 3 ".
Zhuang Wenqiang has increasingly become the director candidate for a new generation of headline Hong Kong films after the success of "Wu Shuang". If "Gold Finger" can make another success, this long-term screenwriter will be hidden in Liu Weiqiang, Mai Zhaohui, etc. The filmmakers behind will truly become the new generation of Hong Kong film magnates.
There are also some Hong Kong film backbones that deserve attention. Although it is difficult to compete with these top directors at the box office, they are highly worthy of attention in the future. For example, , who detonates word of mouth when he returns to the type of crime he is good at, Zheng Baorui, he directed Whether "Wisdom Teeth" can be released in the mainland, and how much box office it can win after it is released, is also worthy of high attention.
It is not difficult to see that Hong Kong movies still have a lot of creative power, but in terms of commercial logic and creation, Hong Kong movies are increasingly forming a certain kind of fixed routine: action crime film familiar director + box office appealing star Combination + Hong Kong film light car familiar road type film routines, such as duo, gunfight, cops, undercover and other elements.
However, as the selling mode of Hong Kong movies is increasingly solidified, these killer features that protect Hong Kong movies are gradually becoming the shackles of Hong Kong movies.
As Jet Li , Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and other kung fu movie stars have grown in age, even Donnie Yen also stated that "Ip Man 4" is his last kung fu movie, and the last genius of Hong Kong-produced martial arts movies The master Tsui Hark began to turn to "Changjin Lake" and other inland war blockbuster creations, making it difficult for the martial arts films that were once popular in Southeast Asia to come out.
The "gambling film" that has repeatedly set Hong Kong box office records has also fallen into a zero new film after the end of the " Macau " series.
Comedy films are also going northward by comedy filmmakers such as Stephen Chow. Traditional Cantonese comedies are facing strong competition from mainland comedy films, and after losing their innate advantages due to language, geography and other factors, they are increasingly losing box office appeal. At its peak, the "Happy Family" series used to be a representative of high-profile Hong Kong-produced comedies across the Southeast Asian market. In recent years, it has gradually been limited to the local market.
So far, the four classic genres that Hong Kong films were once proud of have lost their three main forces. In addition, thrillers, zombie films and other genres have died or the market is sluggish. "The only type of police and bandit action that can continue to achieve good box office results in the mainland market.
As the relatively high investment types of police and criminal actions increasingly rely on the mainland film market, they will inevitably rely more on the insurance box office portfolio. In addition, the core audience of Hong Kong movies is still growing up with Hong Kong movies For the post-80s and 90s audience, only the police action films starring Andy Lau and Louis Koo have sufficient market appeal.
Another problem faced by Hong Kong-produced movies is that the hematopoietic mechanism is blocked and the newcomers are not available. This phenomenon and the status quo of Hong Kong films are mutually cause and effect.
On the one hand, after the millennium, the new generation of Hong Kong film stars failed to succeed. A large number of new actors such as Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Daniel Wu, Feng Delun, Jaycee Chan, Li Cansen, Cecilia Cheung, etc. ,In recent years, either fading out of the film world or moving to Hollywood, Hong Kong films have directly encountered a crisis of fault.
On the other hand, the reality of Hong Kong films has further concentrated high-quality resources on the head. In order to ensure the box office, the film party dare not use newcomers lightly. This has caused the growth of newcomers in the entire industry to grow more slowly, and no one can take the lead.
Another manifestation of the hindrance of the Hong Kong film’s modeling mechanism is that Hong Kong film stars have faded. After the golden generation of actresses have faded out, the new generation of actresses only has a few acting skills such as Lin Jiaxin, Charlene Choi and Wen Yongshan. A female celebrity with both popularity.
Driven by economic factors, dependent on the path to success, and the reality of lack of access to talents, they have jointly created a large number of familiar faces in Hong Kong film explosions. But over-reliance on old subjects and old subjects has also begun to create new difficulties.
In recent years, the Hong Kong film explosions are either policemen or undercover agents, or duo or iron triangle. Hong Kong movies have continuously explored police and crime films over the past few decades. On the one hand, the Hong Kong film industry system has become more effective The quality of crime action movies that are already well-established, with veteran directors + veteran stars + old themes, using different permutations and combinations can usually be basically guaranteed, but on the other hand, they aggravate the audience's aesthetic fatigue.
And the continuous appearance of series of movies has also caused audiences to question the selling feelings of Hong Kong films. "Span3span Chasing the Dragon", "Anti-drug", "Chill" and "Apostle Walker" have all released two, "Anti-Corruption Span3span Storm" "" even filmed the fifth part.
Will Hong Kong movies die? Although the difficulties exist, the advantages of Hong Kong films in genre are still irreplaceable in Chinese films. With the continuous expansion of Hong Kong films in the selection of themes, for example, "Golden Finger" is aimed at economic crime themes, and the vitality of Hong Kong films remains Expanding.
The backbone of Hong Kong films is increasingly becoming the backbone of co-productions. Liu Weiqiang shot " Chinese captain", "Chinese Doctor" has also been completed; Lin Chaoxian is in "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea". After "Emergency Rescue", he and Tsui Hark joined the filming of "Changjin Lake".
For the entire Chinese film, as long as the creative power of Hong Kong films still maintains unique advantages, the future of Hong Kong films depends on whether Hong Kong filmmakers can escape the self-repetition of police and criminals and rely on the old brands. Hong Kong stars also cultivated a new generation of Andy Lau and Louis Koo in the Hong Kong film world. Only with the new generation of creative power can Hong Kong films have a future.
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