Two back-to-back local blockbusters fired up the Hong Kong box office in the first quarter of 2026. Time-travel adventure Back To The Past and hostess bar comedy Night King won the hearts of audiences, becoming the fourth and fifth biggest local films ever, each with a running total approaching $12.8m (HK$100m).
Their success was seen as a lifesaver for the Hong Kong industry, which has failed to deliver high-calibre hits since Media Asia’s Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In and Emperor Motion Pictures’ The Last Dance in 2024.
Night King was highly anticipated as it was produced by Edko Films’ Bill Kong, directed by Jack Ng and starring Dayo Wong, the team behind 2023 Chinese New Year hit A Guilty Conscience — the first local film ever to cross HK$100m — and it lived up to expectations. Competing head-on with Night King over Chinese New Year was lottery comedy The Snowball On A Sunny Day, directed by Philip Yung with veteran Elaine Jin in the lead role.
Yung turned to comedy — a first for the filmmaker — last year on realising few such titles were lined up for this traditionally festive session. He even self-financed through his own company, Word By Word, with partial investment from Mei Ah Entertainment, his collaborator on crime thrillers Port Of Call and Where The Wind Blows.
“With a weak economy, political sensitivities and higher production costs, funding is immensely difficult,” says Yung, who has deep concerns about the future of the industry. Despite several local hits making headlines in recent years, the bulk of local films lagged far behind at the box office. The harsh reality does not sit well with investors, restricting production diversity and output.
Veteran director Herman Yau, known for action blockbusters such as the Shock Wave franchise, has also taken to fully self-financing — for the first time — with his latest film We’re Nothing At All. The LGBTQ+ thriller is set to world premiere at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) on April 2.
“Chinese New Year is a unique release window, a valuable lesson for us in terms of competition, programming and publicity,” says Yung, describing The Snowball On A Sunny Day as his most market-driven effort. “Beyond film studios, we wanted to know whether there’s a way to carve out a small market share and open doors for future funding. A healthy market should have plenty of medium-sized productions.”
The film has earned a respectable $1.91m (HK$15m) at press time, comparable to Golden Horse-winning best animated feature Another World ($1.94m/HK$15.12m) and The Way We Talk ($1.74m/HK$13.51m), the top two biggest local films from a quiet 2025.
Yung is one of the few Hong Kong filmmakers with a string of projects in the pipeline. He has two further films out early this year: transgender drama Cyclone, which premiered at Rotterdam and is set to close HKIFF on April 12, and mainland Chinese romance Love Go Go Go!.
He is also an active producer, with Frankie Tam’s Circle Game and Fung Chih-Chiang’s Wakesurf Lovers aiming for release in the third quarter, as well as Ho Cheuk Tin’s Zombies Never Rest (expected to shoot in Taiwan) and Kearen Pang’s Nothing Goes Wrong to come.
Exits and entries
Last year’s annual box office continued to fall, taking $145.1m (HK$1.13bn) — a 14-year low. The exhibition sector shrank further when the legendary Golden Harvest exited the cinema business. A new player — mainland China’s Bestar Film — reopened some of those outlets, but Hong Kong is down to 53 cinemas in operation.
While the outlook remains far from certain, the Hong Kong Film Development Council (FDC) has become the de facto biggest film investor in recent years, pumping in crucial funding through the Film Production Financing Scheme (FPFS) and First Feature Film Initiative (FFFI). The latter scheme has funded 30 first features since 2013, building a sizeable pool of new filmmaking and acting talent.
“Thanks to FFFI, Hong Kong is not short of good directors and writers,” says veteran director Mabel Cheung, whose credits include Illegal Immigrant and An Autumn’s Tale from the 1980s and recent documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self, which won best film at the 2023 Hong Kong Film Awards. “However, the low budget compromises production value. Even with good scripts, good directors and good actors, we still need good technical and visual elements to elevate a production to the next level.”
Cheung worked closely with the late Alex Law, each taking turns to write, direct and produce for the other. Echoes Of The Rainbow, directed by Law and produced by Cheung, won the Crystal Bear for best feature film in the Berlinale’s Generation strand in 2010.
Cheung is now producing comedy drama Good Trip for rising directors Norris Wong and Wong Hoi through the Directors’ Succession Scheme (DSS), also a funding scheme from FDC, which partners established filmmakers with young directors in the spirit of mentorship.
Each DSS project receives a subsidy of around $1.14m (HK$9m) and can also seek third-party funding to increase the budget, compared to $643,000-$1.03m (HK$5m-HK$8m) handed to an FFFI project with no other investments allowed. Norris Wong’s feature debut My Prince Edward was backed by FFFI and went on to win best new director at the 2020 Hong Kong Film Awards.
“Young directors should follow the right way of filmmaking,” adds Cheung, who is a vice-chairperson of FDC. “Cinematography, production design, VFX and music are essential tools for them to enhance the film. They will benefit from working with skilful crews.”
Good Trip stars Nick Cheung with Chung Suet Ying, a Golden Horse best actress winner for 2024’s The Way We Talk. The seasoned technical crew includes cinematographer Yu Jing-pin, whose credits include Oscar nominee Better Days, and art director Man Lim Chung. The project is in post-production, and being presented here at the HKIFF Industry Project Market.
“In the 1980s when it was rosy, film companies were willing to take risks on edgy projects, while making fully commercial blockbusters at the same time,” recalls Cheung, referencing the now defunct D&B Films, which produced her 1987 romantic drama An Autumn’s Tale as well as 1985’s cop blockbuster Yes, Madam, starring Michelle Yeoh.
Nowadays, low-budget first features are able to apply for government funding, while the studios back tentpoles such as Back To The Past and Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In — but medium-sized films struggle to find investment.
Further DSS titles include Afterpiece (in post-production), produced by Derek Yee and directed by Keane Wong, and Measure In Love, produced by Sylvia Chang for director Kung Siu-ping, which premiered last year at Busan. More are in the pipeline, mentored by Peter Chan, Gordon Chan, Stanley Kwan, Fruit Chan and Wilson Yip.
Growth markets
One Cool Film Production, the film studio founded by Hong Kong star Louis Koo and behind smash hits Back To The Past and 2022’s Warriors Of Future, is turning to the thriving Southeast Asian market for growth.
“It’s where people are still going to the cinemas,” says executive director Tang Wai But. “Southeast Asia used to be an important overseas region until about two decades ago when the opening up of China provided ample market opportunities.”
Bringing its focus back to the region, the Hong Kong-based company has ramped up production activities in Thailand and Malaysia. In addition to operating state-of-the-art post-production facilities in Thailand for over a decade, serving both local and international clients, it more recently boarded GDH 559’s Human Resource, which premiered at Venice last year, as a co-investor.
Crime thriller Behind The Shadows, starring Koo, was shot in Malaysia, after the opening of a local operation there in 2023. It has also co-invested in Malaysian production The Locksmith and Singapore-Malaysia co-production La Luna.
One Cool is now collaborating with Malaysian hitmaker Skop Productions on Black Ops, a Malay-language action tentpole with talents from both Hong Kong and Malaysia. Tang adds: “This is the start of a long-term relationship that will be mutually beneficial for both of us to expand market reach.”
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