Drink inexhaustible wine from the cup, kill the heads of the enemy.
"A Knife to the City"
In 1992, under the impetus of jet Li's "Huang Feihong's Boy Should Be Self-Reliant", "Laughing proud of the East Undefeated", and "New Dragon Gate Inn", in 1993, it ushered in the explosion of Hong Kong martial arts films, giving birth to a big year of martial arts movies.
During the year, about 50 martial arts films were launched in Hong Kong, and more than 30 were officially released. Even Zhou Xingchi's "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang" and Zhang Guorong Lin Qingxia's "East Becomes West" are the core of martial arts movies.
However, the only real martial arts films that have entered the top 10 of Hong Kong's annual box office list are Jet Li's "Fang Shiyu", "Fang Shiyu Sequel" and "Huang Feihong's Lion King Battle".
Zhao Wenzhuo's "The Wind of the King of Wong Fei Hung" only grossed HK$11.19 million, ranking 32nd.
Since the 1970s, Hong Kong cinema has gone through more than 20 years of glory and prosperity, reaching its peak in 1992, and 1993 was a turning point from prosperity to decline.
In 1992, there were 12 films with a box office of more than 30 million yuan in Hong Kong, and only 5 in 1993; among them, only 1 martial arts film "Fang Shiyu" exceeded 30 million, a total of 11 films exceeded 10 million.
That year, including Jet Li's "The Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer", they all suffered box office failures, only achieving a Hong Kong box office of 11.85 million, resulting in the sequel not starting smoothly.
At that time, because of the support of the Taiwan and Southeast Asian markets, the box office of Hong Kong movies in Hong Kong was basically pure profit. By 1993, when it began to gradually lose the Taiwan market, the first-line Productions of Hong Kong films did not have a box office performance of more than 10 million yuan in Hong Kong, and they were definitely going to lose money.
In the 1993 Hong Kong Wuxia Film Year, there were so many failed or even fiasco martial arts films, with a box office of less than HK$10 million.
"Seven Princesses of Wuxia" starring Yang Ziqiong, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Min, Zhang Weijian, etc., grossed HK$9.82 million;
"Nerve Knife and Flying Cat", starring Leung Ka Fai, Jacky Cheung, Cheung Min, Maggie Cheung, etc., grossed HK$9.69 million;
"New Meteor Butterfly Sword" starring Yang Ziqiong, Liang Chaowei, Zhen Zidan, Wang Zuxian, etc., which grossed HK$9.16 million;
"New Crane Needle" starring Mui Yanfang, Liang Chaowei, Guan Zhilin, Liu Songren, etc., which grossed HK$8.17 million;
"Huang Feihong's Ghost Foot Seven" starring Yuan Biao, Lv Xiuling, Wu Ma, Yuan Hua, etc., which grossed 7.6 million Hong Kong dollars;
Zhen Zidan, Yuan Jieying, Wu Mengda, Xiong Xinxin and other starring "Hero Haojie's Su Qi'er", box office 7.01 million Hong Kong dollars;
Li Ming, Zhang Min, Li Jiaxin, Xu Jinjiang and other stars in "The Legend of the Flying Fox", which grossed HK$6.86 million;
Zhen Zidan, Yu Rongguang, Wang Jingying, Ren Shiguan and others starred in "The Iron Horse of Young Wong Fei Hung", which grossed HK$6.81 million;
"The True Colors of the Heroes of water margin" starring Leung Ka Fai, Wang Zuxian, Xu Jinjiang, Lin Wei, etc., which grossed HK$6.01 million;
"Black Panther World" starring Deng Guangrong, Lin Qingxia, Leung Ka Fai, Ren Dahua, etc., grossed 5.38 million Hong Kong dollars;
"The Legend of Modern Heroes" starring Mui Yanfang, Yang Ziqiong, Maggie Cheung, Liu Songren, etc., with a box office of HK$5.23 million;
"Barefoot Kid" starring Aaron Kwok, Dillon, Maggie Cheung, Wu Qianlian, etc., grossed HK$3.97 million;
Zhang Fengyi, Guan Zhilin, Mo Shaocong, Ni Dahong and other stars in "Tang Chop the Murderer", which grossed 3.39 million Hong Kong dollars;
"Chu Liuxiang the Laughing Man" starring Aaron Kwok, Qiu Shuzhen, Wen Zhaolun and Zhang Min, which grossed HK$3.39 million;
"The Blood Contract of the Sword Slave" starring Chen Baolian, Ni Shujun, Mo Shaocong, Shao Xuan, etc., which grossed HK$2.68 million;
Yang Fan, Dillon, Guan Zhilin, Zhao Changjun and other starring "A Knife to the City", box office 1.98 million Hong Kong dollars;
"Three Heroes of the East" starring Mui Yanfang, Yang Ziqiong, Maggie Cheung, Liu Songren, etc., with a box office of 1.93 million Hong Kong dollars;
"The Prodigal Son of border city" starring Chan Xunqi, Dillon, Yuan Yongyi, Yuan Jieying, etc., which grossed HK$1.55 million;
"New Blue Blood Sword" starring Yuan Biao, Zhang Min, Li Xiuxian, Xu Jinjiang, etc., box office 1.51 million Hong Kong dollars;
Du Shaojin, Ye Quanzhen, Yuan Jieying, Ji Chunhua and other starring "White Lotus Evil God", box office 640,000 Hong Kong dollars;
Wang Qun, Huang Yishan, Guo Xiuyun, Ji Chunhua and other starring "Huang Feihong's Boy Serves the Country", box office 480,000 Hong Kong dollars;
Du Shaojin, Ye Quanzhen, Yuan Jieying, Li Lili and other stars in "Wuzhuangyuan Iron Bridge III", which grossed 390,000 Hong Kong dollars.
Box office failure does not mean that the quality is not good, and many of these works can be called classics today.
For example, "Young Huang Feihong's Iron Horse Horse" that later became famous in Hollywood, "A Knife In the City" with frequent golden lines, and "New Crane God Needle" with ethereal and lofty pictures; even films such as "The Prodigal Son of border city" and "Wuzhuangyuan Iron Bridge III" are now often replayed on mainland TELEVISION stations.
However, box office failures, especially fiasco, mean the failure of investment, which is detrimental to both filmmakers and the film industry. For example, "A Knife to the City" invested 18 million yuan, and the last box office was not even enough labor, losing the coffin book of producer Luo Wei.
In 1993, the most brilliant year of martial arts films, martial arts films fell in large numbers, in addition to market changes, the fundamental reason is that plagiarism is too popular, so that the audience is instantly tired of the aesthetic fatigue of martial arts films.
For example, "Flying Fox" is a martial arts theme that has been filmed many times, and "Barefoot Boy" in the 80s Shao shi had a similar content of "Hong Fist Boy", "Huang Feihong's Ghost Foot Seven", "Hero Haojie's Su Qi'er", "Huang Feihong's Boy When Serving the Country", "White Lotus Evil God", "Wu Zhuangyuan Iron Bridge III", etc., which are obviously following Jet Li's "Huang Feihong".
Therefore, after Jet Li finished filming Jiahe's "Huang Feihong's Lion King Battle" that year, he immediately filmed his own company's "Fang Shiyu" and "Taiji Zhang Sanfeng".
The next year, he took the initiative to jump out of the ancient costume martial arts theme and switched to fashion action films such as "Jingwu Hero".
Unfortunately, because of the fault line of kung fu actors, even the martial arts films that grossed less than one million Hong Kong dollars in 1993 cannot be made.