The Hong Kong box office was dominated by a trio of local titles over Chinese New Year, earning almost $8m (HK$62m) in 10 days.
Taking the top spot was Table For Six 2, with a cumulative box office of $4.07m (HK$31.86m) as of February 18, while The Moon Thieves ($2.5m/HK$19.58m) and Rob N Roll ($1.35/HK$10.54m) ranked second and third respectively.
All three opened on Chinese New Year’s Eve (February 9) when multiple tentpole titles traditionally open to take full advantage of the lucrative festive period.
Ensemble family comedy Table For Six 2 rode on the success of its predecessor, which became the third-highest grossing Chinese-language film of all time when it was released during the Covid pandemic in 2022, , taking in HK$77.67m. The original cast - Stephy Tang, Louis Cheung, Ivana Wong, Lin Min Chen and Peter Chan – reprise their roles, with the exception of Dayo Wong who played the eldest of three brothers and is absent from the new film. It is once again produced by Edko Films and directed by Sunny Chan.
In second place, Yuen Kim Wai’s The Moon Thieves stars Anson Lo and Edan Lui from popular boyband Mirror, with a special appearance from their bandmate Keung To. The adventure thriller revolves around a luxury watch heist in Tokyo. Produced by Emperor Film Production and MakerVille, it has been set as the opening film of the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March.
Albert Mak’s action comedy Rob N Roll, also a heist film, ranked third at the Hong Kong box office. It stars Aaron Kwok, Lam Ka Tung and Richie Ren, and is produced by Derek Yee.
While its ticket sales trailed behind the other two local titles in the home market, it gained the biggest international release for a Chinese New Year film from Hong Kong since the pandemic, rolling out in 12 territories. The film performed remarkably well in Malaysia with takings of more than $1.36m (MYR6.5m), making it the second highest grossing Hong Kong film since the pandemic. It has also earned $32.79m (RMB236m) in mainland China.
According to Hong Kong Box Office, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) and the Hong Kong Theatres Association, the total box office for this Chinese New Year (February 9-13) was down by 24% to HK$48.65m. Last year’s annual box office also finished 25.5% below pre-pandemic 2019.
Although the Hong Kong box office has yet to fully recover from the pandemic, there was still good reason to celebrate the Year of the Dragon as more local titles are able to hold day-and-date or almost simultaneous release post-pandemic.
In addition to the international roll-out of Rob N Roll, Table For Six 2 opened in the UK and Ireland (Trinity CineAsia), North America (Niu Vision Media), Australia and New Zealand (Magnum Films), all on February 9, and in Malaysia and Brunei (Lotus Five Star AV) on February 10. It is due to open in China on February 24 and in Taiwan in late February or early March through Sky Films.
The Moon Thieves opened in Malaysia on February 10 (Shanghai Pictures), followed by North America, Australia and New Zealand on February 22 (Asian Cinema), the UK on February 23 (Central City Media) and Taiwan in March (Sky Film).
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