Soi Cheang’s action feature Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In topped the Hong Kong box office over the Labour Day holiday and opened strongly in mainland China.
The feature took $2.7m (HK$21.1m) from its first five days on local release (May 1-5), including $677,000 (HK$5.3m) on its opening day – the second biggest opening day ever for a Hong Kong film.
Set in the 1980s against the backdrop of the now demolished Kowloon Walled City, which was a notorious slum for crime and gangs, the cast includes rising stars such as Raymond Lam and Terrance Lau opposite established stars Louis Koo, Philip Ng and Sammo Hung.
The film also opened on May 1 in mainland China where it ranked third with takings of $35.8m (RMB254.5m), including previews. It was behind main melody feature Formed Police Unit ($57.1m/RMB 405.6m) and domestic comedy The Last Frenzy ($55.1m/RMB 391.5m), both of which received a wider release.
Despite a much lower screen count, Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In bucked the trend as its daily takings climbed from 12% of the overall box office on May 1 to 23% on May 5, according to Maoyan Research Institute.
At press time, it has overtaken the other two films to top the daily box office in mainland China today (May 6).
According to Artisan Gateway, China’s Labour Day holiday trading (May 1-5) concluded with a total box office of $214.9m (RMB1.5bn), up 0.3% year-on-year. The record for takings over the holiday was set in 2021 with box office of $235.6m (RMB1.7bn).
Two Japanese animations – 2023’s Spy x Family Code: White and 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle - also contributed to this year’s box office success.
Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In will next head to Cannes, playing in the Midnight Screenings section of the festival. Hong Kong-based Media Asia handles international sales and is the local distributor in Hong Kong. The mainland Chinese distributors are China Film Co (Beijing Film Distribution branch) and Lian Ray Pictures.
The feature is adapted from manga series City Of Darkness by Andy Seto, which is based on a novel written by Yuyi, and was reportedly filmed on a production budget of around $40m, making it one of the most expensive Hong Kong productions to date.
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