"Movies are fundamentally cultural industries. If they want to prosper, they must have matching economic strength, which is commonly known as the market."

Speaking of this, Chen Lin picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"HK movies back then had a broad Chinese market. From Southeast Asia to East Asia, many people liked Hong Kong movies. Investing in the film industry became the second thing HK businessmen liked to do back then. Let me mention it here that the first place was real estate!"

"With the emergence of large-scale production companies such as Guangyi, Dimao, Shaw Brothers, the film industry began to transform, from independent production to assembly line production, the scale of the film industry became larger and larger and more systematic. The films at that time were summarized as two words 'high yield'! There were countless film production companies, and the more well-known ones were: Emperor, Galaxy Image, Shaw Brothers, China Star, Jiahe, Huanya, etc. The movies produced every year were as continuous as the production of sausages. Not only did they meet the local market demand of HK, but they were also in short supply in Asia and other regions. At that time, a saying was circulated: The two most profitable things in HK were selling white powder, and the other was making movies!"

"This grand occasion lasted until the late 1980s, and suddenly one day people were surprised to find that making movies was not profitable!"

"Why? The homogeneity is too serious, that is, there are too many more phenomena! To give the simplest example, director Wang Jing directed "God of Gambling" and sold more than 40 million in the local area. Then he filmed more than a dozen films on the same subject, such as "The Supreme" and "Gambling Man". It is said that "Macau Storm" and "The Storm of Macau" that we met with every year is also a gambling film!"

"Let's not talk about some gambling movies directed by other directors, there are so many more!"

"There are some other themes, zombie films, shit and urine spoof films, and police and gangster films that they have made them badly filmed, and they are determined not to innovate! They will never make big productions, oh, our brother Chenlong spent nearly 100 million Hong Kong dollars on "Who Am I", but he lost money!"

"Philosophy talks about internal factors determining external factors, which is particularly appropriate here. I have already said above that in the glorious thirty years of HK movies, mainly martial arts films, kung fu films, and ghost films. On the one hand, this is a direct means for production companies to pursue commercial benefits. On the other hand, it also reflects that as a population of only 6 million, the physical size is only one-quarter of Taiwan, one-twenty of Japan, and one-third of Los Angeles (not to mention Hollywood has a large population of 300 million), it can only compete with Singapore at best."

"For the seaside cities that have only developed in a century in modern times, they lack deep cultural accumulation, and then lack the imagination space and material space for film production, which makes it difficult for HK movies to produce magnificent works! This is the most fundamental reason for the decline of HK movies!"

"There are many external factors. Let's analyze them one by one. First of all, the times are progressing and the heroes are rising!"

"HK movies in the 1960s and 1970s were quite unique in East Asia and Southeast Asia. However, after entering the 1990s, HK movies directly faced three strong rivals: TV series, Western blockbusters, and the rise of indigenous powers!"

"First of all, the popularity of television and the rise of TV series have completely separated a large number of film markets. After 1996, Korean dramas swept Asia, which is a typical manifestation.

On the other hand, after entering the 1990s, Hollywood suddenly realized that it was going to attack the global market, so it came decisively, and it was unstoppable. Now the box office record of HK movies is still created by Titanic! In this way, it took about ten years for the Western blockbusters led by Hollywood to completely knock down Hong Kong movies. In the past few years of entering the new century, it would be great to have a local movie in the top ten box office rankings of HK movies every year!

HK filmmakers must catch up, but for some reasons, they can't catch up for it for a long time, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger, which is back to the internal factors - it is difficult to stand straight without deep internal strength.

After more than a hundred years of development, Hollywood has a strong film production industry process. What does HK have?

After 1997, HK movies began to decline in the overseas market, and the local market fell. In 1999, the box office championship line almost hovered around the 30 million yuan line. HK movies are still those HK movies, grassroots comedy films, kung fu martial arts films, passionate hero films, stars or the third child. Is the new generation of stars not as good as their predecessors? Is HK movie production technology regressing? Is it the Radio and Television X Bureau that began to interfere in the production of HK local movies? None of them are, but the third child is no longer welcomed by the market. Audiences are tired of these movie tricks and have begun to pursue American special effects blockbusters!

Then, the indigenous powers are mainly small Southeast Asian countries, mainly Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. In the domestic markets of these countries, the situation of local films and Hollywood blockbusters competing for hegemony has been formed. HK movies faced a double attack and almost no possibility of reappearing the past!

In this way, with the changes in external conditions, the golden age of HK movies will never come back. However, if the HK movie industry had tried hard at that time, the situation might be better than it is now, but they would not be able to unite!"

"Let's talk about the second reason. With the return of 97HK, there are two significant changes in the HK film industry. The first is that the talent has disappeared. Several big names led by Chen Long and Zhou Runfa have all gone to Hollywood. In the past decade, there have been almost no newcomers with weight. It is an indisputable fact that the young and young people are not allowed to meet. The second is that the review system has been strengthened, which is a direct blow to HK films that pursue freedom."

"There is another point. With the changes in the market, hot money no longer flows into HK. Making movies is no longer a hot industry. HK is facing almost stagnant development in ten years. Compared with surrounding South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, it is on a downward trend. In this way, HK, which was originally lacking in cultural accumulation, has lost its advantages in terms of capital and regional influence. The decline of the entire Hong Kong area, including the film industry, is naturally inevitable!"

"Finally, after the rise of our mainland market, Hong Kong-style comedy films lost their competitiveness due to cultural differences, Kung Fu martial arts films were defeated by the cost of mainland co-productions, and Hot-blooded hero films were subject to failure to make breakthroughs due to the institutional environment. Under the vicious cycle, investment was compressed, talents left, and finally withered, which is a pity and sad!"

"… Speaking of this, someone may take it out of context and say that I am criticizing the censorship system! There will definitely be some netizens with abnormal brain circuits that directly attribute the decline of HK movies to the censorship system!"

"I can only say hehe!"

"Let's look at the history of the decline of HK movies. The large-scale decline did occur in the five years from 1997 to 2002, but the HK movies at this time were not the failure of overseas markets because of the fall of the mainland market. In fact, HK movies had not really entered the mainland market before 2002! After Lao Mouzi finished filming "Heroes", the theater system reformed and released the vitality of the market. The mainland market began to take off. HK movies realized the importance of the mainland and began to enter on a large scale. In this regard, the expansion of the mainland market should be a good thing for HK movies. Only when there is a market can someone watch it!"

"In addition, the censorship system inhibits mainland local films at the same time, and it is impossible to pose a threat to HK movies alone. Moreover, HK movies have always had the method of making two versions of movies overseas and mainland China."

"Another, even if the censorship system is relaxed, we directors themselves can make movies with dark themes. They have natural advantages in adapting to local culture, and it is difficult for HK movies to regain their glory."

"Not mentioning what achievements we indigenous directors have achieved, the Film Bureau has given you considerable convenience in terms of co-production alone!"

"Wu Baige is going to film "Red Cliff". Our Chinese Film follows his personality. The actors want to use WW and agree. The domestic first-line actresses are supporting him. No problem. You are a big director, you have an identity! The screening is also very important. What's the result? The box office results are not as good as our "Hero"!"

"Even some HK actors beat up mainland actors, the media has suppressed them. What else do you want us?"

Not enough to take care of you?

"When it comes to censorship, which country has not censored? Moreover, Iran has been doing good movies in the past two years, such as "A Farewell", "Did with the Wind", "Salesman" and other films!"

"So, don't attribute the decline of HK movies to film censorship in one-size-fits-all ways, thank you!"
Chapter completed!