Milkyway
03-26-2009, 01:19 PM
Golden age of cinema may show again, says producer
The golden era of Hong Kong cinema may return as the vast mainland market opens up and overseas filmmakers look to recruit local talent.
Film producer Raymond Wong Pak-ming, who has 50 movies under his belt in a more than 30-year career, said that despite the financial meltdown his recent works All's Well Ends Well 2009 and Ip Man are favorites both in the mainland and Hong Kong.
Wong told The Standard that Ip Man, which features martial artist Donnie Yen Ji-dan, has raked in more than 100 million yuan (HK$113 million) at the mainland box office and a quarter of that amount in Hong Kong.
He said he is preparing to shoot a sequel and mainland investors are queuing up for a piece of the action.
"In the mainland market, we dare to invest tens of millions to shoot a movie. If you confine yourself to the local market, you can only spend a few million for each movie," said Wong, who is a member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council.
"In the United States, there are about 30,000 movie screens for 300 million people. But there are only 3,000 screens for the mainland's 1.3 billion population; the number of screens has been increasing by 10 to 20 percent each year."
The number of Hong Kong cinemas has fallen.
Wong said there are limits on what kind of movies may be shown in the mainland's tightly controlled industry, with those having themes related to triad societies, religion, sex, violence, drug trafficking and ghosts falling foul of censors.
Wong, famous for his comedy series Happy Ghostin the 80s and 90s, said he could not shoot it again because of mainland restrictions.
"However, I am sure there will be a motion picture rating system in the mainland to allow more movies to be shown," he said.
In its 1980s heyday, Hong Kong was known as the Hollywood of the East, and Wong recalled that in 1993, 300 movies were in production at any given time compared to just 50 today.
In the past, Hong Kong movies were much sought after throughout Southeast Asia, but now cinemas there are required to show locally made movies for a certain period of time.
"The Hong Kong film industry's golden era will return and there are more international filmmakers wanting to cooperate with Hong Kong under Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement to get into the mainland market," said Wong, adding that Filmart, which begins today, has attracted a vast number of participants.
Under CEPA, Hong Kong filmmakers can make movies for the mainland as long as one-third of the investment, actors and workers come from the mainland.
In an attempt to foster more young talent in the industry, Wong called on the government to increase subsidies for films by new directors from 30 percent to 50 percent of the Film Development Fund.
The government put HK$300 million into the fund in 2007 to finance productions with a maximum contribution set at 30 percent of budget capped at HK$3.6 million.
"Private investors will have more confidence to invest if the administration contributes more," he said.
As of March 9, 10 films have been approved under the scheme with total funding of HK$27.2 million.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=79902&sid=23196247&con_type=1
The golden era of Hong Kong cinema may return as the vast mainland market opens up and overseas filmmakers look to recruit local talent.
Film producer Raymond Wong Pak-ming, who has 50 movies under his belt in a more than 30-year career, said that despite the financial meltdown his recent works All's Well Ends Well 2009 and Ip Man are favorites both in the mainland and Hong Kong.
Wong told The Standard that Ip Man, which features martial artist Donnie Yen Ji-dan, has raked in more than 100 million yuan (HK$113 million) at the mainland box office and a quarter of that amount in Hong Kong.
He said he is preparing to shoot a sequel and mainland investors are queuing up for a piece of the action.
"In the mainland market, we dare to invest tens of millions to shoot a movie. If you confine yourself to the local market, you can only spend a few million for each movie," said Wong, who is a member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council.
"In the United States, there are about 30,000 movie screens for 300 million people. But there are only 3,000 screens for the mainland's 1.3 billion population; the number of screens has been increasing by 10 to 20 percent each year."
The number of Hong Kong cinemas has fallen.
Wong said there are limits on what kind of movies may be shown in the mainland's tightly controlled industry, with those having themes related to triad societies, religion, sex, violence, drug trafficking and ghosts falling foul of censors.
Wong, famous for his comedy series Happy Ghostin the 80s and 90s, said he could not shoot it again because of mainland restrictions.
"However, I am sure there will be a motion picture rating system in the mainland to allow more movies to be shown," he said.
In its 1980s heyday, Hong Kong was known as the Hollywood of the East, and Wong recalled that in 1993, 300 movies were in production at any given time compared to just 50 today.
In the past, Hong Kong movies were much sought after throughout Southeast Asia, but now cinemas there are required to show locally made movies for a certain period of time.
"The Hong Kong film industry's golden era will return and there are more international filmmakers wanting to cooperate with Hong Kong under Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement to get into the mainland market," said Wong, adding that Filmart, which begins today, has attracted a vast number of participants.
Under CEPA, Hong Kong filmmakers can make movies for the mainland as long as one-third of the investment, actors and workers come from the mainland.
In an attempt to foster more young talent in the industry, Wong called on the government to increase subsidies for films by new directors from 30 percent to 50 percent of the Film Development Fund.
The government put HK$300 million into the fund in 2007 to finance productions with a maximum contribution set at 30 percent of budget capped at HK$3.6 million.
"Private investors will have more confidence to invest if the administration contributes more," he said.
As of March 9, 10 films have been approved under the scheme with total funding of HK$27.2 million.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=79902&sid=23196247&con_type=1