Front-page news on today's Apple Daily told Hong Kongers how poorly our film industry is performing. Once reputed as the Hollywood of the East, Hong Kong is coming to face a train wreck not far ahead in the industry that used to generate HK$600 million a year. This year, only one local film is scheduled to show during the once much-sought-after Christmas slot. Even the upcoming CNY slot has seen nothing more than two low-budget productions so far.
Industry personnel are putting the blame on illegal downloads, saying the global trend has even put a cap on the boom of the sector for pirated videos. Paradoxically, these same personnel have no doubt that the single film scheduled to show in December will achieve favorable box office records.
What's not being said is that while we have more or less resorted to more money-saving and disputably illegal movie experiences, certain Hong Kong-made films have still been doing well in theaters. Take the trilogy of Infernal Affairs for example. There's at least a dozen people I know personally who had watched all three in theaters, some more than once. Wong Kar Wai's 2046, as with any other one of his films, was another full-house generator.
In short, moviegoers have gotten choosier. I know I have. Movie tickets can cost as little as a pack of cigarettes to as much as a week's lunch in this city depending on the cinema chain and location of your choice. I'd usually shell out no less than a pack and a half of cigs each time I go to a cinema, if at least to ensure the popcorn is fresh and the couple sitting behind me isn't putting on a show of their own. In recent years though, I've simply found no reason to spend any money, or time for that matter, on most of our local films—films with no plot, no storyline, and no other cast members than the bunch of Twenty-Something-with-Zero-Talent "artists" which, sadly, happens to be all our entertainment sector has to offer nowadays.
The city that gave rise to bona fide actors like Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Carina Lau and Anthony Wong now cultivates singer-actors who can't sing nor act, most of whom were discovered by modeling agencies for their half-pretty faces, then fitted into target-audience-specific packages and introduced to the market as merchandise. I not only deem watching the performance (if you can call it that) of these TSwZTs a waste of my time, I also believe moviemakers' choice to cast these TSwZTs for their films is a waste of money, and the fact that the film industry is expecting these mind-numbing films to sell is outright insulting to moviegoers and the label for the Hollywood of anything.
Hopefully, film piracy and illegal downloads will continue working together as the sieve that filters out all the crappy movies Hong Kong has to offer, and eventually leave behind only high-quality films that are worth getting numb asses for.
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