Have you seen these movies just now? These meme-worthy classic clips all come from Hong Kong movies of the last century! I wonder if you have ever wondered what happened to Hong Kong movies that were extremely popular 30 years ago but now seem to rarely see new ones ? Today, let us talk about Hong Kong movies! Hiho~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! Before the Internet and streaming platforms became popular, many people grew up relying on television. When I was a child, the movie station often broadcast Hong Kong movies. Some movies had such a high replay rate that some people even called to report and protest . However, for many people, Even if you have watched some movies many times, you can’t help but stop and watch them every time they are replayed. For movie channels, Hong Kong movies are almost a guarantee of ratings. In addition to entertainment value , whether in terms of artistic value or In terms of industrial strength, Hong Kong films at that time were indicators of the global film industry. "Farewell My Concubine" starring Leslie Cheung was hailed as one of the world's top 100 immortal films. Many film production teams would follow the example of Hong Kong films and separate action and martial arts guidance before the 21st century. Hong Kong films are very powerful. If we ask 10 people to name their masterpieces, we may get 10 different answers. However, in the past 1 or 20 years, it seems difficult for us to name many well-known Hong Kong films . What happened in the middle? Why do Hong Kong movies become like this? Before starting today's discussion, let's go into some business service time! [How popular were Hong Kong films in the past? 】 In the past 10 years , Hong Kong has produced an average of about 23 movies per year, and most of the box office has not exceeded HK$100 million . However, in the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong could produce an average of nearly 300 movies per year, making it the second largest film industry base in the world . By 1992, The total global box office even reached 1.2 billion Hong Kong dollars . In fact, Hong Kong was the leader in Asian entertainment as early as the 1950s . Because many Southeast Asian regions were once colonized by the British like Hong Kong , Hong Kong films and talents that developed relatively well were exported to Southeast Asian countries in large numbers . In Taiwan, Hong Kong movies are also very popular! For example, when "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" was released in 1963, the first run ran for more than 2 consecutive months, and the box office revenue exceeded NT$9 million, which was a historical record at the time . Ling Bo, who played Liang Shanbo, came to Taiwan to receive the Golden Horse Award . More than 200,000 spectators poured into the streets to welcome the "Hong Kong flow" even in South Korea, which now has a strong entertainment industry. In the 1990s, two new Hong Kong films were released in Korean cinemas almost every week , which also attracted many Koreans. Before everyone went to Hong Kong to play and learn Hong Kong dialect, South Korea held the "Top 100 Movie Stars" selection. Zhang Guoyuan was selected as the first overseas movie star. Now many Korean police and gangster movies, action movies and gambling movies are also deeply influenced by the Hong Kong movies of that year. Why were Hong Kong movies back then? Can it be so strong? Next, we will discuss [How did Hong Kong films develop from aspects such as talent, production technology investment methods, etc.? 】 First of all, in terms of talents , because the situation in Hong Kong was relatively stable during the two world wars in the 20th century, many people went to Hong Kong to take refuge, including film practitioners such as Mok Hong-shih and Feng Zhigang, who are among the top ten directors in Hong Kong. The "Pioneers of Hong Kong Film and Drama" Lu Dun were all directors or actors who fled to Hong Kong at that time. In the 1950s and 1960s, when most Hong Kong film companies were still shooting and editing films by hand, Shaw Brothers introduced the specifications of the assembly line studio. Moreover, they also have their own Shaw Brothers Cinema, which provides a one-stop service from production to sales , allowing them to be efficient and high-quality. They can also invest more money in large-scale movies. However, after watching Shaw Brothers movies for a long time, the audience began to get tired of them. At that time, Golden Harvest Film Company introduced Hollywood's computer special effects and tried real-life shooting of street scenes in pursuit of realism, allowing the Hong Kong film industry to become professional with specialized professions such as action direction, art direction and editing, special effects, and special makeup . In addition, Golden Harvest opened " The investment model of "independent production" separates "production" and "investment". One side concentrates on investment and the other side concentrates on creation. It has stimulated Hong Kong movies to become more prosperous and attracted investors from outside the film industry. But the subtle thing is that in Hong Kong in the 1990s What happened when a movie reached its peak and then started to go downhill in such a short period of time ? [What is the key to turning from prosperity to decline? 】 There are many different views on the reasons why Hong Kong movies have turned from prosperity to decline. Some film critics believe that this is because the Hong Kong government has not launched a long-term policy plan including cultural promotion and maintenance , nor has it established transparent regulations for industry production or investment. The Hong Kong official Analysts believe that this has something to do with the internal and external environmental situation. First of all, some internal officials believe that this is because too many people are rushing to make movies but the quality is uneven , which makes Hong Kong movies lose their competitiveness in the international market. In addition, in the late 1990s , piracy was rampant and the world also In the midst of the economic crisis, the revenue of Hong Kong films has been hit hard , leading to the exodus of industry talents and giving up making films. However, in the eyes of Hong Kong film practitioners, they have another explanation , which may be related to the gang [Hong Kong gangs harmed Hong Kong films? 】 Many actors said that they were asked for protection money by gangs when filming on the streets. Some practitioners also revealed that Hong Kong gangs kept the protection money, and found out ! It turns out that making movies is so profitable! So they jump into the film industry on their own. Some of them will spend huge sums of money to hire well-known actors, causing the salaries of Hong Kong stars to continue to skyrocket. But in order to make money, they have to cut costs and have to reduce production fees elsewhere. Some mafia companies have no intention of creating from the beginning and just mess around. Filming or directly bringing gang life to the big screen. Some even set up short-selling satellite companies to help launder money. When these gangs were weakened by the government's crackdown , the operation of Hong Kong movies became increasingly difficult to support. By 1999 There are only 300 million Hong Kong dollars left at the box office of Hong Kong films . In addition, some people believe that the reason why Hong Kong films are almost in a state of collapse is inseparable from China. But in fact, at the beginning , many people thought that China would be the dawn of salvation for the Hong Kong film industry [China is Is Hong Kong film the life-saving elixir? 】 We just mentioned that the overseas earnings of Hong Kong films have shrunk. In the past, due to regulations, Hong Kong films were regarded as "foreign films" by China. If they were to be imported into China, they would be subject to "import quotas". But after this restriction was broken, Hong Kong films It can be directly regarded as a "Chinese film" and can reach the market of China's 1.3 billion people , which is very attractive to the industry. At the same time, in order to develop the Chinese market and even compete with Hollywood, the production expenditure of China-Hong Kong co-productions has also been rising. In 2003, the average was only 4,300. By 2010, HK$ 10,000 had soared several times to more than 147 million. Attracted by the huge market and funding, many Hong Kong directors have "drifted north" , such as Tsui Hark, Stephen Chow, Wong Jing , Wong Kar-wai, Chen Kexin and others . Filming started in China one after another. However, judging from the ending, we can know that Hong Kong films did not successfully regain their glory and the global box office of these "China-Hong Kong co-productions" It even decreases year by year [Is the Chinese market sugar-coated poison? 】 Judging from the data, Hong Kong films have not succeeded in making an international comeback. The entire industry is increasingly dependent on the Chinese market. In 2016, the total box office of Hong Kong films in mainland China even approached 12 billion yuan. This dependence has also had many different impacts on the entire industry. Some Hong Kong film critics said that in order to cater to the Chinese market, more and more Hong Kong elements such as Cantonese, Hong Kong street scenes, etc. have gradually disappeared from movie screens. Most of the types of movies that will be shot and released in Hong Kong are "porn, gambling, ghosts", that is, Erotic films, gambling films, ghost films, but as Chinese audiences gradually became tired of films with similar themes , the box office of China-Hong Kong co-productions naturally began to decline, and the revenue fell below 10 billion yuan . At this time, in order to cater more to the Chinese market , it conforms to the official "movie Censorship Standards" More and more people are choosing to shoot "main theme blockbusters" that praise the idea of Greater China or "routine dramas" that are more guaranteed to return their money. In 2018, China established the "National Film Administration" to once again increase the intensity of censorship and control the original The relatively free Hong Kong films and China-Hong Kong co-productions have brought a more severe test. As for when Hong Kong films can be revived, more and more experts have assessed that the answer may be pessimistic. [Our point of view] Before entering the point of view, we would like to express our special thanks to Zhi. To all members of Qiqiqi, it is because of your support and sponsorship that we can continue to operate this channel so that important issues can be seen by more people . Thank you very much! If you are willing to support us to go further, please click the "Join" button on the channel homepage to become our member , or you can also use "Super Thank You" to support us with a small amount . Okay, then again, many people have thought about it for a long time. Various methods have been used to revitalize Hong Kong's film industry. For example, the Hong Kong government has provided the "Hong Kong Film Development Fund" to fund Hong Kong film shooting and implemented the "Passing on the Fire Project" to allow senior directors to lead new directors to shoot together in a similar way to mentoring. However, from 2007 to December 2023, the "Hong Kong Film Development Fund" has only funded a total of 62 films. Among them, several films have only received hundreds or thousands of dollars in box office after receiving subsidies of more than 2 million yuan. Many young people Hong Kong directors also try to shoot Hong Kong social themes under the constraints of small capital, taking everyone into the daily life of Hong Kong's grassroots people and seeing the turbulent situation in Hong Kong . For example, "Ten Years", which premiered in 2015, almost accurately predicted the social situation of Hong Kong 10 years later. "Revolution of Our Times", which premiered in 2021, records precious footage from the front lines of the anti-extradition movement. But unfortunately, Hong Kong movies generally do not do well at the overseas box office. "Revolution of Our Times" cannot even be broadcast locally in Hong Kong. Then we recall The happy memories of watching Hong Kong movies when I was a child really make me feel very sad. Hong Kong used to be the center of Asia’s entertainment culture and the second largest film base in the world . But now it has not only been surpassed by other countries , but has also become the one we are least familiar with. After researching the whole We believe that the main reason why Hong Kong movies have almost failed to revive is the Chinese factor. Hong Kong movies began to decline gradually before 1997 , and China's market dependence and censorship were like the straw that broke the camel's back and even made the future of the entire industry look uncertain. We are even more confused . However, we guess that as streaming platforms become more and more prosperous today, Hong Kong creators may still have the opportunity to bypass the censorship mechanism and obtain funding so that the world can see wonderful Hong Kong works again. May the glory return to Hong Kong , and hope that day can come back soon. ! Finally, let me ask everyone which is the most classic Hong Kong movie in your opinion? Finally, if you like today’s video, please share it to let more people know about the development of Hong Kong films! In addition, you can also click here to watch "Taiwan also has a Hollywood" and "Chinese Main Theme Movies" . So, today's Zhiqi Qiqi comes to an end here . See you tomorrow night!
