As the Omilon variant entered the Hong Kong community and a number of confirmed cases of unknown origin, the SAR government announced on Wednesday afternoon that public entertainment venues, including cinemas, will be closed for 14 days starting on Friday, the first time since February last year that Hong Kong cinemas have closed. Last week was Hong Kong's New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, despite the release of two large-scale new films, the market heat is still significantly lower than the Christmas weekend, and the single-week box office market has also fallen from 65 million to HK$48 million, a decline of 26%. Marvel's hero movie "Spider-Man: Heroes Without Return" collected more than HK$23 million in a single week, still occupying the top spot with a significant advantage, and the cumulative box office has exceeded HK$110 million. The action series "Ace Agent: Origins" opened with a score of HK$6.7 million, and was the runner-up in the box office in a single week. The sci-fi sequel "The Matrix" returned nearly HK$6 million the following week, retreating to the third place in the rankings, while the Hong Kong-made crime sequel "Anti-Corruption Storm 5" was released in the mainland at the same time, and also ranked among the top five in the weekend list.
Sony's superhero blockbuster "Spider-Man: Heroes Of No Return" faced the impact of two new films with good strength in the third week of release, although its gold-sucking momentum has slowed down, but it still occupies the top spot in the market with a large advantage. Directed by the return of previous director Joe Watts and starring Tom Holland, Zandaya, Benedict Cumberbatch and other super British sequels, it is still the most scheduled work on New Year's Day weekend, and the average number of people per game can still basically compete with the new film. As the 27th film work of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "Hero No Return" is also the third independent work of the "Dutch Brother" version of the new "Spider-Man" series, and "Hero No Return" cut the box office by 23.28 million Hong Kong dollars in seven days in the third week of release, down 50% from the previous week, and the results are still about three times higher than the runner-up "Ace Agent Origin", and the trend is still outstanding. 19 days after its release, the cumulative box office of "Spider-Man: Heroes Of No Return" in Hong Kong has risen to HK$117 million, becoming the eighth film in Hong Kong film history to break 100 million, and also won the 2021 box office championship with an overwhelming advantage. The film has surpassed "Titanic" (HK$115.3 million) and officially ranked among the top five box office in Hong Kong film history, and it is expected that by the time the theater closes this Friday, the cumulative box office of "Heroes Without Return" will reach about HK$120 million.
Disney's agent action film "Ace Agent: Origins" released by Disney and produced by 20th Century Pictures is the strongest new film on New Year's Eve, released in Hong Kong theaters a week later than North America. This prequel work of the "Ace Agent" series was screened more than 400 times a day in the first week of the painting, and more than 25,000 people were recorded on the first day, with an average of more than 60 people, which was quite good. Set in Europe on the eve of World War I, Ace Agent: Origins tells the story of the birth of a mysterious spy agency and the cracking of a major conspiracy by its members. The film is still played by Matthew Vaughn from the first two films, starring Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson, and Gemma Atten. The film grossed HK$1.9 million on Friday and attracted HK$6.72 million in the four days of opening, about double the performance of "Anti-Corruption Storm 5". However, his opening performance was more than half that of "Ace Agent 2: The Golden Circle" (HK$14.98 million in the first week). Due to the impact of the closure of the theater, its final box office may only hit tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.
The sci-fi action sequel "The Matrix Reboot," released by Warner Bros. and starring Keanu Reeves, was mediocre in Hong Kong, earning another HK$5.77 million the following week seven days, a sharp drop of 46% from the first week of the painting, and was hit harder than expected by the two new films. The sequel, directed by the first three directors Lana Wachowski, has accumulated HK$16.46 million in hong Kong in the two weeks of release, and although compared with other regions, the decline compared to the original trilogy is not large, but the performance is still mediocre. "Hacker 4" is nearly 20 years after the previous trilogy, and its appeal to young audiences is insufficient, and the simultaneous launch of HBO Max's streaming service has also made its box office performance worse. As of last Sunday, the film's first week of box office had just crossed the $100 million mark, and it is expected that it will eventually be difficult to cross the production cost line.
Directed by Lin Delu and starring Gu Tianle, Zhang Zhilin and Zheng Jiaying, "Anti-Corruption Storm 5" opened in Hong Kong at the same time on Friday, screening 270 times a day in 55 theaters on the first day, and the scale of screening is not small compared with "Spider-Man: Heroes No Return" (560 scenes) and "Ace Agent Origins" (400 scenes). The first day of the opening of this criminal action sequel averaged about 50 people, and the income was about HK$1.2 million on the day, which was basically in line with expectations in the case of Hollywood blockbusters. The film earned HK$3.38 million in the three days of painting, which only ranked fifth in the weekend list compared to the old film "Old Moon", and the opening score was nearly half of the "Anti-Corruption Storm 4" (5.98 million Hong Kong dollars) more than two years ago. The final box office of "Anti-Corruption Storm 4" in the Hong Kong market exceeded HK$18 million, while "Anti-Corruption 5" will obviously be affected by the closure of theaters, and its final result is expected to be only one-third of that of the previous game.
The biographical blockbuster "Mui Yanfang" distributed by Anle and directed by Liang Lemin is facing a continuous impact of new films, and the trend is still relatively strong, which is mainly guaranteed by the scheduling of the theaters under The Anle. The film received nearly HK$1.5 million in its eighth week of release, down 16% from the previous week, and the cumulative box office in Hong Kong has now exceeded HK$62 million, surpassing "The Girl We Chased Together" (HK$61.86 million) and the runner-up in the box office of Chinese films in Hong Kong Film History, second only to "Cold War 2" (HK$66.82 million), also directed by Leung Lok-man. If the theater did not close, the producers had planned to release a "director's cut" to shock the overall champion of Chinese film history, but the worsening of the epidemic has frustrated this plan. The filmmakers also announced that the "guide cut" will be launched exclusively on the Disney+ streaming platform in early February.
Among other old films, Kristen Stewart's Olympic film "Spencer" received another HK$615,000 the next seven days, down 10% from the first week, and the cumulative number of hong Kong dollars in the two weeks of release has exceeded HK$1.2 million. Disney's fantasy song and dance animation "Full House" received more than HK$500,000 at the box office throughout the week, and the cumulative number of 32 days of release has exceeded HK$7 million. The family-friendly film "Criffer the Big Red Dog" closed for another HK$325,000 this week, down 42% from the previous week, and has accumulated nearly HK$2 million in the four weeks of release.
(Note: Unless otherwise specified, the box office units in this article are all in Hong Kong dollars.) ）