Hong Kong cinema reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, earning Hong Kong the reputation of "Oriental Hollywood". "Where there are Chinese, there are Hong Kong movies", which proves that Hong Kong films are popular all over the world. Unfortunately, before the return of 1997, the Hong Kong film industry was dragged down by piracy and fell into an ice age.
Huang Baiming, founder of Hong Kong Oriental Film, was interviewed by this reporter to tell how the film industry in Hong Kong has slipped from the peak to the bottom in the 25 years since the return of Hong Kong, and after the signing of CEPA in 2003, it benefited from the co-production clause, which took off with the box office of mainland films and rebounded at the bottom.
Producing the Ip Man and Storm film series, Wong uses his own experience to dissect how Hong Kong cinema emerged from the ice age and witnessed China becoming the world's largest film market.
Cartography | Ho-jae
In 1980, Huang Baiming, Together with Mai Jia and Shi Tian, founded New Art City Pictures, and in the 1980s, he produced popular film series such as "Best Partner", "The True Colors of Heroes" and "Happy Ghosts".
Later, Mak Ka and Shek Tin felt that the development of Hong Kong films had reached its peak, and in 1991, they ended the business of New Art City.
From left to right: Huang Baiming, Mai Jia, Shi Tian. Web pictures
Huang Baiming believed that Hong Kong films were still promising, so he founded Oriental Film, and in 1992, he produced the New Year movie "Family Affair", which broke the Hong Kong record and achieved a box office of 49 million Hong Kong dollars, proving that his insistence on the film was correct.
Wong Said: "'Family Affairs' has been replayed on TV every Lunar New Year until now, and many Hong Kong people have watched it more than once."
Stills from "Family Affair"
Unfortunately, the aura of the Hong Kong film industry was maintained until 1995, when it was destroyed by "Piracy".
Wong pointed out that pirated CDs were pervasive in Hong Kong that year: "In the past, new films were shown at midnight on Saturdays in order to test audience reactions, and then they could make final adjustments immediately before they were officially released on the next Thursday. After the advent of piracy, criminals secretly filmed videos at midnight, and by next Monday, the remake of the disc was available throughout Hong Kong, faster and earlier than the official release. The industry then cancelled the midnight show, but lost the opportunity to correct the film, which had a profound impact on the development of later films."
Wong Has traversed the film industry for 40 years, witnessing the ups and downs, sorrows and joys of Hong Kong films. Reporter Feng Junwen /Photo
After Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, the whole city prospered, but the film industry shrank in an all-round way: "Not only in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, but also in the world, there are also Pirated Hong Kong films, which have caused serious damage to the overseas sales of Hong Kong-made films." At that time, the export of Hong Kong films did not include the mainland, but there were also Pirated Hong Kong films in the mainland, and Huang Baiming smiled bitterly and pointed out that this also had benefits, which could enable mainland audiences to know Hong Kong actors in advance and lay the seeds for future development in the north.
After the "Anti-Piracy Parade" held in the performing arts industry in 1999, the Hong Kong government established a law to control it, and the pirate group has been restrained, but the film industry has been injured.
CEPA is turning the world around
After the handover, in the summer of 2003, when Hong Kong films were about to take off again, the Central Government and the Hong Kong SAR Government signed the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), allowing Hong Kong companies to engage in the distribution of audio-visual products in the form of joint ventures in the Mainland.
In 2007, Liao Xiaoqi, then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (right), signed a supplementary agreement with the then Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, Mr. Tang Ying-nian (left). (Photo by Cai Qiwen)
Wong pointed out that since then, Hong Kong films released on the mainland can participate in box office distribution, although the co-production ordinance stipulates that one-third of mainland actors should be included in the play, and the film story should also be related to the mainland, cepa still has a positive impact on the Hong Kong film industry.
"In 2004, Hong Kong's annual film box office was HK$2 billion, in 2003 the annual box office of mainland films did not exceed RMB1 billion, and in the first year after the CEPA was signed, that is, in 2004, the mainland box office reached 1.5 billion yuan, an increase of 50%, and then it has grown geometrically every year, from 1.5 billion to 2.3 billion, 3.2 billion, 6 billion, 10 billion and 20 billion yuan, to 60 billion yuan last year, and has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest film market."
Huang Baiming recalled attending a party in Beijing in 2000, when Hong Kong-made films were hit by all kinds of piracy, and when he took the stage, he once unceremoniously pointed out: "When the mainland people watch movies, only 10 percent of the audience buys tickets to enter the theater to watch them, and the remaining 90 percent watch pirated copies."
A mainland expert next to him humorously replied: "Mr. Huang, you are wrong, it is not 90% of the pirated copies, it is 95%." Wong Responded: "Only 5% of the audience has seen the genuine version and has such box office results, and the development potential of the mainland market is really immeasurable."
Reporter Feng Junwen /Photo
Nowadays, the mainland's economy is developing rapidly and the film industry is mature, and the audience is pursuing the shocking audio-visual enjoyment in the theater, and not many people have watched the pirated version, and the box office naturally continues to soar.
Looking back at the Hong Kong market, before the CEPA was signed, the annual box office was about HK$2 billion, and to this day, the annual box office is still HK$2 billion.
Huang Baiming admitted that the emergence of CEPA has allowed Hong Kong films to enter the mainland and successfully turn around: "Take me as an example, although it was an unfamiliar market in the mainland, it was also a new day, depending on whether you can seize the opportunity." After the implementation of CEPA, the company's CEO Shi Nansheng proposed to find director Xu Ke to start filming "Seven Swords", because the script is very good and suitable for testing the water temperature in the mainland, so he chose to shoot in Tianshan."
Poster for the movie "Seven Swords"
"Seven Swords" is 10 times higher than Hong Kong's box office in Hong Kong
The Hong Kong box office of "Seven Swords" is about HK$8 million, and the mainland box office is 80 million yuan, a difference of 10 times. This shows the huge potential of the mainland market.
"In the past, there was no mainland market for Hong Kong-made films, Hong Kong was the largest market, the second largest market was Taiwan, followed by Singapore, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, when the mainland market was not yet mature, but it had 10 times the box office of Hong Kong, which was definitely worth seriously developing."
After "Seven Swords" achieved the desired results, the following year Huang Baiming began filming "Dragon and Tiger Gate", which adapted the classic Hong Kong comics, with a mainland box office of 60 million yuan, and began filming the police film "Fuse" in the third year, only receiving 40 million yuan, and the income deteriorated.
The movie "Dragon Lake Bucket" is adapted from the classic Hong Kong martial arts comic of the same name.
At that time, in order to understand the tastes of mainland audiences, Huang Baiming constantly tried style: "After several years of exploration and analysis, I found that in order to conquer the mainland market, it is necessary to make films with different styles from the mainland, such as shooting costume dramas, which is certainly not good enough for the mainland; War movies Hong Kong people can't make them; Love or campus films, due to the cultural differences between the two places, are difficult to resonate with the audience. Kung Fu movies are hong Kong's best dramas, and Hong Kong Dragon and Tiger martial artists are very good, so they decided to start making kung fu movies."
Conceived of a new character kung fu movie
Huang Baiming admitted that the previous kung fu heroes, such as Jet Li's Huang Feihong, Huo Yuanjia, etc., have a very distinct image, such as to shoot another kung fu film, the material must be a new story and new characters, so that the audience can not compare, and Ip Man's Wing Chun story is the most suitable theme.
Huang Baiming then met with Ip Man's eldest son, Master Ip Chung, who recalled: "When asked about Master Ip's copyright, he found that the previous copyright contract with another company had expired, and the 79-year-old Master Ip Chung hoped to see his father's story adapted into a movie in his lifetime, so he decided to cooperate in the production of "Ip Man"."
Produced by Huang Baiming and starring Zhen Zidan, the "Ip Man" series has a cumulative box office revenue of 2.3 billion yuan in 4 episodes, and Zhen Zidan is also famous at home and abroad for this film series, winning the title of "The Strongest in the Universe".
Huang Baiming said that the choice of Zhen Zidan as Ip Man was because when filming "Seven Swords" in Tianshan, the two had already become acquainted: "The shooting site of "Seven Swords" is remote, and many actors will fly away to participate in other jobs if they have no role that day, and only one actor stays at the shooting location from beginning to end, and sometimes helps the crew shoot, that is, Zhen Zidan. When I started making action movies, I had to find an actor who was dedicated and happy and was not afraid of hard work, so I signed three movies with Zidan in one go, one a year."
"Ip Man" has become a billion-dollar box office club
"Ip Man" was released in 2008 and grossed over 100 million yuan, when the billionaire box office club in the mainland was dominated by directors such as Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou, and Jackie Chan's film only had a box office of 70 to 80 million yuan.
Not only did Ip Man achieve box office success, but it also won the "Best Film" award at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards. The success of "Ip Man" injected a shot in the arm for Huang Baiming, and he immediately began filming "Ip Man 2", doubling the box office to 200 million yuan.
Zhen Zidan also won the title of "Strongest in the Universe" because of the role of "Ip Man", the film contract is continuous, the schedule is close, Huang Baiming waited for many years before waiting for the other party to start filming "Ip Man 3" (released in 2015) and the last episode "Ip Man 4" (released in 2019), the third and fourth episodes of the series reached 800 million yuan and 1.2 billion yuan at the box office respectively, making "Ip Man" a "god-level" co-production series.
Huang Baiming said: "I and Zidan are complementary, from "Seven Swords" began to sign him, but also looked at the action film market, need an action actor to cooperate, when I signed Zhen Zidan many people are not optimistic, the result of our cooperation is very successful."
The success of "Ip Man" proved Huang Baiming's vision and made him think about the tastes of the mainland market, so he seized the opportunity to start shooting another series of films: "Coinciding with the intention of director Lin Delu to return to the film industry, I propose that he shoot a story that he is good at, he has worked in the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), no one is more familiar with this subject than him, at that time the mainland was conducting anti-corruption, I believe that this theme will be popular, and mainland producers may not make such films." 」
The first episode of the "Storm" series, "Z Storm", grossed more than 95 million yuan (RMB, the same below), and the last episode of "G Storm" was released in December last year, although affected by the epidemic, the mainland box office still has 630 million yuan, with bright results.
Huang Baiming and Lin Delu concocted the "Storm" series (known as "Anti-Corruption Storm" in mainland China) starring Gu Tianle, which was a five-episode film, from "Z Storm" released in 2014 with a box office of 95 million yuan, to "G Storm" released in December last year to collect 630 million yuan.
Wong said frankly: "These two series prove that Hong Kong films can be successful on the mainland."
【Industry History】
Signing CEPA will help the industry enter the mainland
On 29 June 2003, the Central Government and the HKSAR Government signed the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).
Although the CEPA details are mainly based on economic and trade relations, the content of the film was added before the formal signing, and the annex was added in September of the same year, the content is mainly to allow Hong Kong companies to engage in the distribution of audio-visual products in the form of joint ventures in the mainland, and the Hong Kong side can hold the shares; Hong Kong films and films co-produced by the Mainland and Hong Kong are regarded as domestic films and are no longer subject to import quotas; Hong Kong companies can build or renovate cinemas in the form of joint ventures and cooperatives, and allow Hong Kong to take control.
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Although CEPA was only officially implemented on 1 January 2004, Hong Kong films have actually been relaxed from July 2003 and have gradually entered the mainland market.
【Market Development】Integrate into the Greater Bay Area
Development of Cantonese cultural films
Looking forward to the future development of Hong Kong films, Wong Said, "Hong Kong films have their own personality, and Cantonese culture is a feature of Hong Kong. Although co-production films have changed in subject matter in order to adapt to mainland culture after the emergence of co-production films, I am fortunate that kung fu films and anti-corruption films, both written in the local style, are also loved by mainland audiences. In the 1990s, "Family Affair" was released in the mainland and was still quite popular in the south, but the audience in the north was difficult to accept because they could not understand the laughter. Cultural differences have prevented many Cantonese films from achieving good results in the mainland."
Wong Said that with the establishment of the Greater Bay Area, there are also opportunities for turnaround, the Greater Bay Area has a population of more than 80 million, they are based on Cantonese, the market is 10 times larger than Hong Kong, he suggested that Hong Kong continue to create cantonese cultural films, in the Greater Bay Area should be able to achieve good results.
Reporter Feng Junwen /Photo
"Although the mainland produces better films than the south, Guangdong Province is the breadbasket of national films and ranks first at the national box office, so consider cooperating with different cities in the Greater Bay Area to start making Cantonese cultural films. Hong Kong films can go two ways, large-scale productions choose co-production methods, as for the Greater Bay Area as the target market, you can shoot Cantonese cultural films, everyone is in the same voice, will like to watch, but also can give new directors, new actors opportunities. At present, if only films released in Hong Kong are made, the production fee will not be too high, resulting in great restrictions, and the emergence of the Greater Bay Area market will give Cantonese films greater opportunities, after all, the market determines the production cost."
Wong added that the SAR government has newly established the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and he expects this special government department to promote the film, sports, music, publishing and other industries, so that Hong Kong can gradually become a Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange center.
In the past 20 years, he has won the Hong Kong Film Awards
Co-production of "Best Film"
Since the signing of CEPA, a total of 13 co-productions have won the "Best Film" award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, which shows that CEPA has not only brought opportunities for Hong Kong films to enter the mainland market, but also continuously improved the artistry of co-production films.
Reporter | Yun Xun Feng Junwen