Editor of China Economic Net:Once, Hong Kong films have been accompanied by generations. As an important part of Chinese films, Hong Kong films, known as "Oriental Hollywood", have experienced ups and downs and been reborn again. In the current context of the times, Hong Kong’s film industry has not only an open vision and market space, but also a return of spirit and value.
Co-producing movies is just the beginning.
Capital leverage incites deep integration
If the initial appeal of co-production is to learn from each other’s strengths, then the significance of co-production now is a far-reaching integration. When the employees trained by the Hong Kong film industry become more and more part of the mainland film system, with the continuous maturity of the film and television cooperation model, co-production of films seems to be only the beginning … …
In 2016, Li Ruigang, Chairman of Chinese Culture Holding Group, became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Shaw Brothers Holdings Co., Ltd., holding two good cards of Hong Kong film veteran "Shaw" and TV giant TVB, and the integration of mainland capital into Hong Kong film and television companies began to show signs. On the other hand, since 2004, Universal Asia Film has taken the lead in going north, and set up a film and audio-visual products company in cooperation with China Film. Because Hong Kong is separated only by a strip of water, economic and cultural exchanges are convenient, Guangdong, Shenzhen and other places have already become the location choices of Hong Kong’s film industry capital investment layout.
According to relevant industry insiders, such deep integration will become the future development trend, and joint ventures between Hong Kong film and television companies and the mainland will increase, and deeper cooperation may be carried out in the future. Zhu Renzhi, executive vice president of Huanya Film, once said that Huanya and other Hong Kong film companies also hope to cooperate with mainland film and television platforms in depth. "For example, cooperation with Wanda and Light, or cooperation with Bona, Huayi and LeTV, they all have strong distribution capabilities. In the early years, many Hong Kong film companies basically did not have distribution teams in the Mainland, and then gradually established their own distribution teams, adopting the mode of joint distribution with mainland companies or outsourcing to mainland distribution companies alone. "
The logo of the new Chinese-language film is gradually becoming prominent.
As Tsui Hark said, "What we are facing now is not Hong Kong and the mainland, but China and the world".
There is no doubt that the development of China’s films has ushered in the best era, on the one hand, it is a huge demographic dividend, on the other hand, more and more themes have emerged in the process of the rapid development of the film industry and social change, which has provided opportunities and space for generations of filmmakers to try to challenge and forge ahead. After so many years of running-in, the situation of cooperation and integration between Hong Kong and the mainland has been deepening, and the boundaries and concepts of co-productions between mainland films and Hong Kong films have become increasingly blurred. In the global context, the logo of a new Chinese film is gradually emerging, and the creation and operation format behind it will also be completely reconstructed.
The spirit of Hong Kong movies remains the same.
More outstanding works will take advantage of the wind to "go out"
Behind the integration of economic base is the unification of superstructure. The unification of the superstructure will also react to the economic base. The boundaries between Hong Kong films and mainland films are constantly being broken, and the culture is constantly blending, so people’s expectations for the whole film market are increasing.
Zhuangcheng, the founder of Hong Kong Huanya Group, previously admitted that the core feature of Hong Kong films is "good-looking". The eternal value criterion of "good-looking" seems to have not changed from beginning to end. The director’s persistence has not changed, and the audience’s taste has not changed. Even the strange and changeable capital market can’t give up the taste preference of "good-looking". In the face of the vast mainland market, Hong Kong directors such as Stephen Chow, Tsui Hark, John Woo, and Peter Chan all maintained their own creative personalities and adhered to their own value judgments on film content and emotion. Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, The Demon on a Journey to the West, and Peng Haoxiang’s Spring Charms Save Zhiming are all loved by the audience in both places.
On the 20th anniversary of the reunification, Wu Siyuan, president of the Hong Kong Film Workers’ General Union, advocated that we should not just shoot films that please the audience, but at the same time, the films must be improved in artistry and ideology, leaving some classic films for our future generations.
This will be the best time for Chinese movies. After 20 years of reunification, we are glad that the spirit of Hong Kong movies is still there. Whether it’s Hong Kong filmmakers, mainland filmmakers, or audiences in both places, our feelings remain the same. Under the development opportunity of the "Belt and Road" era, I believe that more Chinese film works will "go out" by taking advantage of the wind.
关于作者