Ranked among the top three Chinese films at the box office in China and Hongkong! The new director of Hong Kong has risen.

Special feature of 1905 film network As of press time, Hong Kong films have grossed more than 67 million yuan in five days in mainland China.Previously, the film has made over HK$ 100 million at the box office in China and Hong Kong, surpassing the first place in the history of Hong Kong films made in Asia and Hong Kong. For the first time in a hundred years, the box office of local movies has exceeded 100 million, and a new milestone in the history of Hong Kong movies was officially born.

At present, the top three Chinese-language films in the box office of Hong Kong film history are The Bitch Lawyer and The Battle of Tomorrow.The above three films are the first and second works of directors, and these achievements seem to make Hong Kong film circles present a positive signal — — The rise of the new director has brought another batch of acclaimed and blockbuster new works.

Since the late 1990s, there have been many doubts about the decline of Hong Kong films. The expansion of the mainland market, the northward movement of local directors and the impact of streaming media have all contributed to the decline of Hong Kong films.

Is the Hong Kong film dead? The new directors are searching for the answer on the new road of development, trying to say "no" with painstaking efforts and achievements!

A new director from the transformation

In his early years, the director of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" wrote many classic films.

"I still think you are the best" director worked as a screenwriter for other works before directing his debut;He Juetian, the director of The Cloister of Justice, worked as a screenwriter and deputy director before he gradually waited for the opportunity to shoot The Cloister of Justice.ScreenwriterPainted Skin, The MagicianHe has served as deputy director for many famous directors for more than 20 years.Huang qingxunJust started to create the first director’s work.I’m Livin’it.

He was appreciated and won the Best Visual Effect Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for three times before directing "Tomorrow’s Battle".

Or a screenwriter, or an assistant director, or production designer, or special effects design ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

What they heard on the set made them have a deep understanding of the post of director. In particular, posts closely related to famous directors are more likely to get corresponding guidance and support from communication. This has also created a long-standing "mentoring system" in Hong Kong’s director circles.

Fortunately, the Hong Kong SAR Government has further increased its support for new directors in recent years. As early as 2007, the Hong Kong SAR Government injected HK$ 320 million into the Film Development Fund, serving the First Drama Film Project, the Film Production Funding Plan, the Film Production Financing Plan and other film-related projects.

In an exclusive interview with 1905 Film Network last year, the director specifically mentioned "the first plot film plan". The program is divided into student groups and professional groups, and the winning scripts can be funded.

"Obsolete Festival", which was nominated for the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards earlier, is one of the beneficiaries. By June, 2022, the Fund had allocated a total of HK$ 217 million for 57 Hong Kong-made films, including 17 directorial debuts, such as Wai Lun Ng’s "Bitch Lawyer", "Make a Good Movie" and "Make a Good Movie".

The "first drama film plan" must be escorted by a professional producer. Many experienced directors have thus become "guiding lights" for new directors, continuing the fine tradition of Hong Kong’s directors to bring the old with the new. Like Why Jue Tian produced The Cloister of Justice and I’m Livin’it He produced for Huang Qingxun, Tung shing Yee also produced the first director feature film Diary of Youth for Zhuo Yiqian, one of the screenwriters.

Today, famous directors who used to occupy the forefront of Hong Kong’s box office have taken root in the mainland, so the younger generation of creators can have a wider space to play in the local market. In addition, countless award-winning senior directors are willing to give full play to their own advantages and cultivate fresh blood for the local market. The rise of the new director in Hong Kong can be described as the result of combining the right time and the right place.

Tell the story of China and Hongkong well.

The best director who won the Hong Kong Film Awards the most times once said that winning the award is not her ultimate goal, and it is her concern to gain the trust of investors through winning the award, so as to obtain film investment. Great directors such as Xu Anhua still need to worry about funds, and the situation faced by new directors is even worse. It is not easy to find investment, and it is extremely difficult to find a large amount of investment.

Weng Ziguang spent all the savings he had originally planned to buy a house for the producer "The Cloister of Justice", but he was still one million short of the filming cost. Later, the mysterious man made up the final payment, and the film finally started shooting as he wished.

The director’s first work "Flowing Water Out of Flowers" can be promoted smoothly, which is inseparable from the star’s willingness to join "zero pay".

Two new director’s works, Poisonous Lawyer and I still think you are the best, are lucky to be favored, but they are not high-cost productions. Controlling creative funds is the first threshold that new directors must face, and expensive action movies are often not their first choice.

Although action movies are the golden signboard of Hong Kong movies, some directors have made classic examples at low cost in the past, but the overall consumption of this type is large and the prospect of return is vague, which directly leads to the difficulty for new generation creators to get corresponding opportunities.

Apart from Huang Qingxun’s "Broken Net" and his co-production, which won investment support from the mainland, few new directors’ creations in recent years belong to the type of action crime.

Wai Lun Ng once admitted in a public interview that judging from his past experience, Jiang Zhiqiang knew that he was better at creating action movies, but Mr. Jiang still said that the budget of action movies was relatively high and the prospects were not clear, and asked him if he wanted to make a literary drama first.

Wai Lun Ng is a bit difficult to listen to the call, "really used to writing action movies".Finally, he agreed, and there was a "Poisonous Lawyer" with a legal theme. The director skillfully integrated the rhythm of his own action film into the angry words of the chief prosecutor and the barrister.

Investors are willing to support the creation of new directors, but they are not allowed to "do whatever they want". Therefore, facing the local market and telling the story of Hong Kong well has become the focus of the new director.

They are keen to observe social changes, pay attention to life, tap the memories of the times, and create films that deeply imprint Hong Kong. "Now many new directors are beginning to care about what happens in their lives and regard it as their own creative theme, which the previous directors will never shoot." He has repeatedly supported the creation of new directors.

Dim Lights focuses on the disappearing neon sign culture in Hong Kong. I’m Livin’it revolves around a group of Hong Kong people who are forced to stay in fast food restaurants because of the blow to their lives; I still think you’re the best, and the Hong Kong versions of The Tale of Superstar Cultivation are translated into the names of Fanxi Attack on the Heart and Ama You Yi The Second, which contain a strong Cantonese cultural atmosphere ….. Hong Kong characteristics are integrated into the light and shadow stories, which resonates with local audiences, and the new directors are full of romance and charm.

After several years of polishing a script, many new directors’ works have gained a good reputation.

The 7.7-point Bitch Lawyer, 7.4-point I still think you are the best, and 7.9-point Justice Corridor are all well-known works of Chinese movies in recent years. And many new Hong Kong actors have gradually entered the public’s field of vision with the creation of the new director, including those in "The Bad Tongue Lawyer", "I still think you are the best" and "The Story of Superstars", such as Jiang Tao and Liu Yingting.

Whether it is a director or an actor, it is always a good thing for Hong Kong films to have a rich reserve of filmmakers.

The market cannot be bypassed.

Commercial films have to face the market test, which is cruel and realistic.As of press time, the research institute predicts that the total box office of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" in mainland China is expected to exceed 173 million. Compared with the box office of the film in Hong Kong, this kind of achievement is not particularly outstanding. Being regarded as the "Zihua God"Wong Tze Wah; Dayo WongIt is difficult to show the box office appeal outside Greater Bay Area, and it is difficult for mainland audiences to resonate with a large number of localized expressions in the play.

The cultural difference between the two places is obviously the factor that leads to the completely different performance of the film market, and "Poisonous Lawyer" is not an isolated case affected by this.The Bad Tongue Lawyer, Tomorrow’s War and I still think you’re the best have all experienced a decline in word-of-mouth after being released in the mainland.

The former Douban score has dropped from 8.1 to 7.7, Tomorrow’s Battle has dropped from 6.5 to 6.1, and Still Think You Are the Best with a score of 8.0 was once the highest-rated romantic comedy movie in 2022, but the score was only maintained at 7.4. The longer it is released, the more comments it gets, but the word-of-mouth keeps declining, which reflects to some extent that these Hong Kong films may not reach the "expected value" of mainland audiences.

These films also indirectly illustrate the problem in terms of the box office difference between Hong Kong and mainland markets."Still Think You Are the Best", starring Wong Tze Wah, ranked third in the box office of Chinese movies in Hong Kong, with a total domestic box office of HK$ 77.66 million. However, the total box office in mainland China, whose market scale is dozens of times higher than that in Hong Kong, has just exceeded 100 million, only about HK$ 40 million higher than that in the local area.

Looking at the mainland market, the top three box office films in Hong Kong (1.329 billion) (1.314 billion) (1.312 billion) are classic Hong Kong-style action movies. "Eliminating Violence" directed by Ho Leung Lau, which won 538 million box office, belongs to this category. None of the above films broke into the top ten of the local box office, but they were deeply loved by mainland audiences. The difference between the two audiences’ keen viewing styles can be seen.

Looking back, although the success of "Poisonous Lawyers" in China has proved that the Hong Kong market has unlimited possibilities for the development of Hong Kong films. However, based on the creative perspective of the new directors in Hong Kong, if they want to compete for a larger market, how to balance the tastes of audiences around the world while telling a good story about Hong Kong is another major issue they need to face.