After the producer Chan Lok-chiu of the Hong Kong film “Siege in Kowloon Walled City” revealed that “some mainland film companies will suspend investing in and distributing Hong Kong films,” Hong Kong media recently reported that Jackie Chan’s directed film “New Police Story 2,” and the film “Infinite Mission” in which he co-starred with William Chan, were suddenly halted.
According to reports from “Oriental Daily News,” the “superstar effect” in Hong Kong has not shown its “god-tier effect” in the mainland market in recent years. Even action crime films, which had always been popular, are no longer attracting audiences, resulting in dismal box office performances. Many mainland investors feel helpless, and some films that were in early stages of production have been urgently stopped, including Jackie Chan’s directed “New Police Story 2,” and the film he co-starred with William Chan, “Infinite Mission,” which have both been “disappeared.”
Reports state that in the past year, several high-budget films with A-list stars did not meet box office expectations in the mainland. For example, the Hong Kong film “Golden Finger” from last year, which featured big names like Andy Lau and Tony Leung, had an investment of up to 350 million Hong Kong dollars but only garnered a box office revenue of 574 million. Even with additional box office revenue from other Chinese-speaking regions, the film still incurred losses. Additionally, “Don’t Call Me ‘Gambling God'” starring Chow Yun-fat only earned 40.78 million yuan (about 44.3 million Hong Kong dollars) at the box office, and “Shock Wave” starring Andy Lau and William Chan grossed only 100 million yuan (about 109 million Hong Kong dollars).
The final straw that broke the camel’s back may have been the highly-anticipated film “Customs Frontline” for the summer season. The film had a budget of 200 million, starred Jackie Chan and Aaron Kwok, yet only made 129 million yuan.
Recently, the fantasy action film “Legend” starring Jackie Chan also surprised everyone. The film only grossed 79.9 million yuan during the summer prime time in the mainland. According to Tencent News, the mainland-listed company Bonafilm, which mainly invests in Sino-Hong Kong co-productions directed by Hong Kong directors, had poured 50 million US dollars (about 364 million yuan) into “Legend” and it is bound to incur heavy losses, making “Legend” the first box office disaster of the mainland summer season.
Reports state that with the recent string of box office failures for Hong Kong action crime films and seeing that the mainland market, described as the “last lifeline,” is also disappearing, many Hong Kong-produced or co-produced action films have been reluctantly halted.
There are rumors that the preparation for Jackie Chan’s directed “New Police Story 2” has been ongoing for some time. There were even reports that the film started shooting in May this year, but due to the deteriorating conditions in the mainland film market, it had to be temporarily put on hold. Similarly, the new film “Infinite Mission” starring Jackie Chan and William Chan, who frequently films in the mainland, has also been “disappeared” recently. Unless there is an improvement in the economy and the market heats up, mainland film companies will consider restarting production. It is said that faced with successive “failures,” Jackie Chan plans to switch to holding a concert tour next year.