Dire Warning Sounded as Hong Kong Film Industry Slowdown Continues

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA marathon screening of all three “Infernal Affairs” films has been announced for the much delayed 46th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.The three films, all restored and upgraded to 4K digital prints, lead off a six- film section of Chinese-language restored classics at the festival.The HKIFF was this year postponed from its usual March-April slot to August, due to the fifth wave of the COVID pandemic which closed Hong Kong cinemas for the first months of 2022. It will now take place from Aug.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has forecast a return to heavy losses for the first half of 2022. In a regulatory filing, the company warned of net losses (including non-recurring items) reaching between RMB 580 million – RMB 660 million ($85 million – $97.8 million) for the six months to June. That compares with a net profit of RMB613 million $90.8 million in the equivalent period last year.The company pointed to the impact of COVID-control measures in China, which it said caused the temporary closure of 415 of its multiplexes and led film distributors to reduce the supply of new movies to cinemas.

Speaking to Deadline from Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal, July 14-August 3), where he is being honored with a career achievement award, Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo revealed details of his recent return to U.S. filmmaking – feature films Silent Night and Peacock’s reboot of his iconic 1989 action thriller The Killer – as well as an upcoming passion project about the man who helped establish Columbia University’s East Asian Languages & Cultures Department.

Vivienne Chow “Anita,” the biopic of the late Canto-pop queen Anita Mui, led the race of the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night with five awards, including recognitions for the film’s actors and technical achievements. But the best film and best director awards went to action thriller “Raging Fire” directed by the late Benny Chan.Sunday’s event, which was postponed from its original schedule in April, was the first in-person edition of the awards ceremony after two years of COVID hiatus — the 2020 edition was held online and 2021 was suspended.The number of films released in Hong Kong has dramatically dropped over the past years as cinemas were forced to close doors for prolonged periods under the government’s COVID measures.

Raging Fire, starring and produced by Donnie Yen, was awarded best film and best director for late action maestro Benny Chan at the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) on Sunday night. The ceremony took place at Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, the first time it had been held as a fully-fledged, in-person event since 2019.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPema Tseden, whose last three films have all appeared at the Venice Film Festival, has finished lensing his latest effort “Snow Leopard.” The film is a drama about how humans and animals end up getting along, despite their occasional conflicts.While Tibet is a source of controversy between China and the international community, ethnically Tibetan Pema Tseden (aka Wanma Caidan) chooses to work within the official Chinese film system of script approvals, censorship and release permits. A former civil servant and teacher, he is sometimes described as a pioneer of the Tibetan New Wave and has credits that include “Silent Holy Stones,” “Jinpa,” and “Balloon.” “Snow Leopard” was given a shooting permit in March this year and was filmed in The Three-River Source National Nature Reserve in Maduo County, part of Tibet, which China calls the Xizang Autonomous Region.

Malaysian historical action movie Mat Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan, directed by Syamsul Yusof, has become the highest-grossing local film of all time in the Asian country, breaking the record set by the director’s own horror film Munafik 2 in 2018.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNew president of the Philippines Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday swore in a swath of new officials at government agencies. Among them, veteran actor Tirso Cruz III, was appointed as chair and chief executive of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). He replaces Liza Dino Seguerra who has held the post for the past four years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTrinity Cine Asia has acquired upcoming Hong Kong comedy “Chilli Laugh Story” for distribution in the U.K. and North America. The work-from-home story of the director Coba Cheng’s relatives sees a locked-down family starting an online business during the pandemic.

Hong Kong novelist and screenwriter Ni Kuang, who penned some 300 screenplays including The One-Armed Swordsman and The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, has died. According to local media, he passed away on Sunday at age 87.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAlex Law, one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished filmmakers died on Saturday. He was 69.Law (aka Law Kai-yui) died in hospital with his life partner and long-time filmmaking partner Mabel Cheung by his side.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNi Kuang, one of Hong Kong’s most distinguished screenwriters and novelists, has died. He was 87.He died on Sunday in Hong Kong, with local media reporting skin cancer as the cause of death.Ni wrote some 300 screenplays, many in the martial arts genre and many for the Shaw Brothers studio with co-writer Chang Chen. He wrote the scripts for classic films “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” and “One Armed Swordsman” and had a hand in two of Bruce Lee’s six movies “The Big Boss” and “Fist of Fury” though the writing credit went to Wei Lo.As a novelist, Ni wrote the “New Adventures of Wesley” a series of detective stories that often featured aliens and extra-terrestrial creatures.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWarner Bros. Discovery has partnered with energy company Shell for an adrenaline-filled show, “Dare to Ride,” that has begun airing on Discovery in Southeast Asia and India. “Dare to Ride” showcases some of Asia’s most accomplished riders as they attempt to conquer the region’s most iconic routes with just their bikes, their wits, and their technical knowhow.

Vivienne Chow A Taiwanese filmmaker has made his short film inspired by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests available online for free after it failed to get approval from the city’s censorship authorities.Wu Zi-en, director of “Islander,” has uploaded the full 25-minute film noir to online platform Vimeo last week, after it became the third film in a month to have been censored by Hong Kong authorities.The city last year changed censorship regulations to effectively ban any film that is politically sensitive or poses a threat to national security.“Islander” follows a man and his grandson’s journey to visit the son, who has been placed behind bars as a political prisoner in Taipei. The film was selected as part of the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival in Hong Kong, but its public screening was canceled because the film did not receive the approval in time. Fresh Wave organizers did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

Keiynan Lonsdale is an Australian actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. Best known for his roles in Love, Simon and The Flash, his newest film, My Fake Boyfriend, is a romantic comedy about Andrew (Lonsdale), who with the help of his friends, creates a made-up online boyfriend as a way to get space from his toxic ex.When asked if he has ever created a fake boyfriend in real life, Lonsdale laughs as he says, “Probably in my dreams, but no, I haven’t gone and used my skills to craft a fake boyfriend.” He then punctuates the sentence with a mischievous, “yet.”Prior to the role of Andrew in My Fake Boyfriend, Lonsdale found his stride playing Bram in the groundbreaking, coming-of-age LGBTQ romantic comedy, Love, Simon.This new queer role, however, is different from his role in Love, Simon.“[My Fake Boyfriend] isn’t a coming out movie. It is still, in ways, about finding yourself but it’s more about being honest with yourself to a larger degree.

Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 has crossed the $400M threshold at the global box office, including $190.6M from domestic and $209.5M internationally through Tuesday. It is currently the No. 8 film worldwide in 2022 and is likely to jump up a few notches as it still has Japan and Hong Kong to release. At Paramount’s CineEurope presentation today, a threequel was touted.