Advertisement
Ranked from worst to best, every Hong Kong film released in 2022 – the year that filmmaking in the city turned a corner
- Louis Koo sci-fi passion project Warriors of Future and wordy comedy Table for Six became the two highest grossing local films in Hong Kong history in 2022
- It marked a turnaround that also saw the long-anticipated flourishing of a new generation of directors. Make no mistake, Hong Kong cinema is back
Reading Time:8 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
2
In time, 2022 will be remembered as a turning point for Hong Kong cinema, the year in which it finally rose from the ashes and became an exciting regional player again.
After a depressing start to the year that saw local cinemas shut down for nearly four months as a consequence of Covid-19 control measures, the first Hong Kong film to brave the release schedule, Breakout Brothers 2, was obliterated at the box office by first The Batman and then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The picture was so bleak by midyear that when I interviewed Derek Yee Tung-sing, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards, in early July, the prospect of a 2023 awards ceremony was uncertain – merely an issue to be discussed again at a later time.
And then a miraculous turnaround happened.
Shortly after pandemic-set family comedy Chilli Laugh Story and showbiz drama Mama’s Affair, both vehicles for members of the popular Cantopop boy band Mirror, opened to unusually enthusiastic box office responses, a pair of Hong Kong productions followed in late August that rewrote the history books.
Warriors of Future is a years-in-the-making, mega-budget sci-fi production spearheaded by actor-producer Louis Koo Tin-lok – a visually spectacular action thriller with a totally generic story.
Advertisement