Promotional material for Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch Photo: IC
On June 6, Hong Kong action/ crime film Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch debuted in the Chinese mainland. However, the sequel has only earned 305 million ($44.3 million) at the box office compared to the first film's 575 million, while on Chinese media review site Douban, it has a low 5.7/10, a significant drop from the first's 7.2/10.
Many mainland netizens commented that the movie was not interesting or creative and signaled that the golden era of Hong Kong film would never return.
"I came to see this film because I really liked the first movie Chasing the Dragon. Although the protagonists of Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch are very famous, the film failed to shock and the plot was confusing," one netizen commented on Douban.
"Chasing the Dragon was very successful because it took the audience back to the golden age of Hong Kong film, but that was only a flash in the pan. Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch cannot just stick to the same-old style without making any breakthroughs," Shi Wenxue, a Beijing film critic, told the Global Times.
Passing of an era
"It is not right to say that a low scoring film signals the decline of Hong Kong movies. On the contrary, we need to realize that it is the sluggish Hong Kong film industry that has lead to an unappealing film being made," Liu Hui, director of the Drama and Film Academy at Shenzhen University, told the Global Times.
Liu said that Hong Kong was a very developed city in the 1950s compared with other cities in Southeast Asia, and many people found life in the city very fresh. However, the fast development of other cities has caused Hong Kong to gradually lose its status as a city and its urban culture has become less appealing, in turn causing its movie industry to lose its charm.
"Hong Kong films mainly rely on external markets in many Southeast Asian countries, which takes up nearly 70 percent, while the local market is very small, only about 30 percent. Thus, when Hollywood started to enter the Asian market, Hong Kong movies lost their competitiveness," Zhao Weifang, a professor from the Graduate School of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, told the Global Times.
According to Shi, a loss of talent and a shrinking market have also contributed to the passing of this golden era.
Due to the 1997 financial crisis in Hong Kong, investment in various industries shrank in an all-round way. The number of employees in the Hong Kong film industry continued to decrease from 20,000 at its peak to less than 5,000 in 2003.
After the mainland and Hong Kong signed a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement in 2003, Hong Kong films slowly intergrated with the mainland market. Some filmmakers and actors, such as film director Tsui Hark and action star Jackie Chan, began shifting their career focus to the mainland.
Mainland competition
"The Chinese film industry developed rapidly after 2003. Box office increase by more than 30 percent annually but then became saturated in 2015. Filmmakers then realized that they needed to pay more attention to the quality of their films rather than the quantity," Zhao said.
The Chinese mainland film industry has seen positive development. The box office in the mainland is the second-largest in the world and is predicted to surpass the US in the next few years. While the industry has developed rapidly, Liu noted that to create a healthy environment to make excellent films, filmmaking education and the studio system need to be improved.
Avoiding another fall
The rise and fall of the Hong Kong movie industry can offer some lessons for the mainland.
"It is quite important to have the aspiration to make movies. We need to learn the lesson from Hong Kong that capital investment should not be allowed to control the market because it may result in the production of many shoddy movies and end up disappointing audiences. Meanwhile, we need to control the film market by importing only a certain number of films from Hollywood each year instead of giving up the initiative and being passively controlled by Hollywood like Taiwan," Zhao said.
Zhao noted that China now needs to produce more films that draw on the country's rich culture.
"Films like Wolf Warrior 2 and The Wandering Earth were so successful because the directors incorporated many humanistic and patriotic elements in them, which resonated with many Chinese," he said.
"We need to learn from Hong Kong's production experience, business models and their sharp observation of audiences' tastes. Meanwhile, we need to focus on fostering talent, making more mature films and getting a handle on policy," Shi said.
Shi noted that the five measures to benefit the Hong Kong film industry that the central government published in April, which include no limit to the number of Hong Kong films that can enter the mainland, suggest that films featuring patriotic Chinese elements are the future trend for China's overall film industry.
"China needs to produce more movies that make creative use of Chinese elements," Shi said.
Newspaper headline: Learning a lesson
