Hong Kong seems to want to relight the fire in its film industry and return to its glory days in the industry. The country has struggled to release popular films in recent years, but it seems they are ready to make waves across Asia and beyond once again. The chairman of the Asian Film Awards Academy and chairperson of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, Wilfred Wong, had this to say about the expansion of Hong Kong cinema: “We think that in the future, our movies are not just local. You need to go global and extend to markets within Asia in particular. So, let’s not go so far as to the U.S. and Europe. There, it’s a very different culture. But Asian culture, we are akin to each other. So there is a chance for us here.”
The audience for film in Asia is there. Ne Zha 2, an animated film out of China became one of the highest-grossing films of all time this year, earning over $1.9 billion worldwide, with most of that coming from China. Other films from Asia have put up surprising numbers this year, with Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man-The Movie: Reze Arc both doing very well financially and critically. Additionally, Resurrection, a new drama from prestige Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, topped the Chinese box office this past weekend, overtaking Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. This shows that there is interest for non-blockbuster cinema in Asia, opening up the doors for Hong Kong to expand their industry.
Wong has also expressed interest in bringing film festivals back to Hong Kong and lifting up Hong Kong filmmakers at international festivals. He said, “Previously, when Hong Kong filmmakers showed up at a festival, they brought their own stars at their own expense. Now we’re saying, no, let’s organize the Hong Kong contingent. We’ll pay for it. If there’s a good movie, we bring the top stars. So now, in major festivals, we always have a “Hong Kong Night.” We want people to say, ‘Hong Kong is still here.”
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