Talent is broken, genres are duplicated, and where is the way out for Hong Kong films

There is not a single person who is not a superstar at the Emperor's 2023 parade.

At a glance, each can be called a superstar.

Per capita actor, there are many queens.

But take a closer look, whether this group of people have to be movie stars or create new genre films, it seems to be decades ago.

In recent decades, the appearance of these old artists is like eating preservatives, not getting old and unchanged.

And the golden age of Hong Kong films seems to have stopped at their golden hour.

After this seemingly brilliant group photo, it irrefutably shows the two major difficulties of Hong Kong films.

01. Talent is disconnected and new people are scarce

Group photos usually indicate the status of artists, and the ranking is the status of the rivers and lakes.

The Emperor's Parade is no exception.

But the problem is that there are so many heavyweights that no one in the most inconspicuous corner of this group photo can be taken lightly.

68-year-old Jackie Chan and 52-year-old Gu Tianle stood in the first row as representatives of the filmmakers.

Koo Tianle also received multiple nominations this year for "Tomorrow's War".

Others include Cheung Ka Fai, Nicholas Tse and Jacky Cheung.

Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Yam Tat Wah and other superstars.

Each has a good face and acting skills.

But take a quiet look and see that the audience watched them decades ago.

In the past 20 years, the audience has grown, technology has progressed, and only Hong Kong Star has stood still.

This batch can support Hong Kong stars at least 50 years old.

Except for Nicholas Tse and Chen Weiting, they are almost all biased towards old age.

Their works are not ugly, but it still makes people sigh, where are the actors under 40?

The last time people talked about the concept of "future stars" in Hong Kong films was around 2000.

At that time, Edison Chen, Nicholas Tse, Zhong Xintong, Cai Zhuoyan and Cecilia Cheung were still in their prime years.

TVB, ATV, etc. also have quite a few reserves.

It's just a pity that they haven't done much and fold their wings halfway.

As a last resort, the older generation put on a fight.

Nominated for this year's Academy Awards, the male actors are around 60 years old, except for unknown Internet celebrities.

The youngest actresses are also 50 years old.

Especially actresses, many of whom used to compete on the same stage as Maggie Cheung and Ye Tong, failed to stand out in those years.

Now, after these first-line actresses have returned home, the second-tier actors have replaced them in the competition with "advanced age".

There is no trace of the talent relay at all.

The high lack of talent led the actors to turn the film into a series.

Koo Tianle is not only the protagonist of "Anti-Corruption Storm", he also appeared in "Drug Sweep 2" and "Apostle Walker 2", and at a glance, people can hardly tell which work he is playing.

And "Apostle Walker 2", "Silent Witness", "Clean Government" and so on have also appeared in the homogeneous image of Zhang Jiahui.

In "Drug Sweep", "Eavesdropping 3", "Apostle Walker 2" and "Bomb Disposal Expert 2", Liu Qingyun's figure has appeared.

And Tony Leung's "When the Wind Rises Again" is still the same taste, familiar formula, but with an additional Kwok Fucheng.

And Kwok Fucheng's appearance is no different from his "Chills" series.

The promotional photos of the actors of these works can even be played and watched to some extent.

Whether it is admitted to aging or not, talent disconnection is already an unavoidable fact of Hong Kong films.

2. Single type repeated "tribute"

In the last century, Hong Kong films used to be mythical.

Genre films are constantly being boutique.

The gangster's "Confused Boy" became popular with Zheng Yijian and Chen Xiaochun.

Founded the genre film of kung fu comedy, which has been popular for decades.

And Michelle Yeoh, who is now a little golden man, also took off in her "Police Story".

The Dragon Girl was also once a springboard for actresses to fame.

Traditional martial arts action films have Hong Jiaban and Yuan Jiaban as the team.

Sammo Hung, Yuan Biao and others also stood out.

Action movie superstars emerge one after another.

Donnie Yen, who has now become an Oscar judge, has also gained a foothold in this wave.

Costume martial arts has become a unique skill popular in Hong Kong films.

Tsui Hark's magnificence ranges from "The Swordsman of Xinshu Mountain" to "The Undefeated Orient" to "Seven Swords Under the Heavenly Mountain".

Not only established his own style, but also pulled a handful of Lin Qingxia, who was already not so red.

Let her become a new favorite of martial arts dramas from romance dramas.

There are also "New Dragon Gate Inn", "Green Snake", "Huang Feihong", etc., which are still imitated.

John Woo pioneered the aesthetics of violence.

Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Zhong Chu Hongmei's portrait painting, Chow Yun-fat has since become a superstar.

Wong Kar-wai of the art film is unique.

"A Fei", "Carmen in Mong Kok", singer Jacky Cheung also emerged, allowing Andy Lau, who was transformed from a TV actor, to find a way out.

Stephen Chow's silent sprang up, and the nonsensical funny was unprecedented.

"Journey to the West" has been decomposed into a work of art.

And so on, not which director or which actors are popular.

Instead, countless new genre films emerged, and Hong Kong films at that time were the vane of trends.

And police and bandit films are evergreen trees in Hong Kong films.

The police and bandit films of the 80s are full of justice and brotherhood, still with the spirit of martial arts.

"The True Color of Heroes" and "Two Heroes of Blood" are like modern martial arts films, and the conflict between police and bandits is far less distinct than the lineup of good and evil confrontation.

After 10 years of such a trend, the confrontation between the police and bandit films gradually changed from loyalty and betrayal to the confrontation of real "police and bandits".

2002's "Infernal Affairs" brought this genre to its peak.

Since then, this genre has become popular.

Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Huang Qiusheng, Koo Tianle, Kwok Fucheng, Zhang Jiahui, Wu Zhenyu, etc. have become frequent guests in this genre.

But I didn't expect that "Infernal Affairs", which seems to be the beginning of a new era, turned out to be the last glory of the new era of Hong Kong films.

After Infernal Affairs, almost no newcomers emerged in Hong Kong films.

And the genre has repeatedly fallen into the "tribute" circle of forward

"Infernal Affairs" was filmed in a trilogy.

"Anti-Corruption Storm" one after another.

Hong Kong films seem to have fallen into a bottleneck in creation, and series have become mainstream

The new film list released by the emperor this time, some film types and actors have also maintained this situation.

Crime suspense film "Goldfinger", starring Tony Leung and Andy Lau.

Police and bandit film "Burst Point", starring Zhang Jiahui and Chen Weiting.

Crime action film "Customs Front", starring Nicholas Tse, Jacky Cheung, Wu Zhenyu.

Another film of the same genre "Insider" starring Kwok Fucheng, Yam Dahua and Wu Zhenyu.

"New Police Story 2" Nicholas Tse, Jackie Chan, Cai Zhuoyan.

"Infinite Mission" actors Nicholas Tse and Chen Weiting.

"Rage Spreads" Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse.

No more examples.

There are more than 10 films, and the starring actors are those people back and forth.

What makes people feel even more depressing is that in addition to them, even if the audience is allowed to play freely, they can't think of more and better combinations.

The official announcement of Haohao Tangtang only saw its own people huddle and lack of talent.

Among these predicaments, the only one person who seems not to be troubled is Andy Lau.

"Bomb Disposal Expert 2", "Detective Chinatown" and "The Wandering Earth 2", in these works, he is slowly getting rid of his inherent image in previous Hong Kong dramas, and seems to have taken a new path in box office and genre.

Looking closely at Andy Lau's path, there seems to be some pattern, that is, he has participated in many co-productions.

In fact, this is also one of the emperor's strategies in the past two years.

03. Turn to the mainland to seek a breakthrough

What many people don't know is that although he has a lot of resources in the entertainment industry, the emperor has not been complacent.

Instead, they have long sought development in the hinterland.

"Above the Cliff" and "The Nameless" have the figure of the emperor behind it.

In fact, this is also one of the best ways for Hong Kong films to break through.

This time, in the territory of the emperor's future planning, the works of mainland directors and actors also occupy half of the country.

Gu Changwei directed "Hedgehog" starring Ge You and Wang Junkai.

"A Man and a Woman" starring Ni Ni Huang Bo, directed by Guan Hu.

It is worth mentioning that the literary consultant of the film is Liu Zhenyun.

There is also "The Nameless 2".

"The Man with the Wig" starring Huang Xiaoming.

"The Rest of My Life Has You" starring Tan Hua director Huang Lu.

"Long Day" directed by Wang Zichuan and so on have formed a benign complement to Hong Kong films in terms of genre films and actor composition.

Cooperation is not only the cooperation between directors, actors, and companies, but also the inevitable choice of audiences and the film industry.

04. The choice of the market and the audience

Not long ago, Hong Kong movies ushered in their own highlight moment.

A small-cost film "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" became the first work of a Hong Kong film to exceed 100 million.

This may come as a surprise to many.

It turned out that even at the peak of Hong Kong films.

Even in the period of "Double Monday", Hong Kong films have no films that have exceeded 100 million box office in a real sense.

The filming of Hong Kong films was once called "7 days fresh".

That is, the fastest movie can be shot in 7 days.

Such a speed can allow Hong Kong films to grasp the wind as quickly as possible and release them quickly, without missing the trend.

This also makes the shooting process and technology of Hong Kong films highly developed and standardized.

For a long time, the speed of Hong Kong films is not only a reflection of the advanced film production process, but also a reflection of the developed film industry.

However, with the rise of the mainland film industry, in terms of industrialization, large-scale production, talent supply, especially market potential, the mainland film industry has reflected its huge latecomer advantage.

Especially the diversity of the film, the richness of the content has slowly followed from imitation to equality, and in many aspects has come to the front of Hong Kong dramas.

Especially in terms of market, the potential of the mainland market is top-notch, even in the world.

The box office of 100 million can almost be attributed to the dismal ranks.

This year, the mainland box office alone during the Spring Festival exceeded 4 billion.

At the beginning of March, the total box office of the film exceeded 14 billion.

There are more than 10 tens of billions of actors.

And every year someone keeps adding it.

Andy Lau has been in film for many years and has made countless films.

The current highest-grossing work is "The Wandering Earth 2", which has exceeded 4 billion.

Let Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West" be filmed and released in Hong Kong, and the box office is dismal.

Later, it was repeatedly structured by mainland audiences and finally became a classic.

It can be seen that if Hong Kong films want to revitalize, they must not only cultivate new talents, but also embrace a larger market and more potential audiences.

In this way, Hong Kong films can embark on a virtuous circle and form a good interaction with the market.