‘A Guilty Conscience’ leads Hong Kong box office over Chinese New Year

Box office in Hong Kong continued to show signs of recovery over Chinese New Year, with local films A Guilty Conscience and Everything Under Control leading the charge.

From January 21-24, total box office in Hong Kong reached $6.5m (HK$50.86m), up 18.6% on the same Chinese New Year period in 2020 but still down 17.3% on pre-pandemic 2019.

Courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience was comfortably out front, accounting for almost half the total box office, taking $3.13m (HK$24.47m) from its first four days of release. Its cumulative box office as of January 25 stood at $4.14m (HK$32.43m).

Producer-distributor Edko Films said the film has set box office records, including the fastest Hong Kong film to cross HK$30m; the biggest opening day box office; and the biggest single day box office, both in the last five years. The film also performed well in the US and Canada where it became the biggest Chinese New Year release for the last five years.

A Guilty Conscience was among the first batch of Chinese New Year releases since 2020 as cinemas were closed during this lucrative holiday period due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In second place was Hong Kong heist comedy Everything Under Control with $1.13m (HK$8.81m) in ticket sales, while Japanese manga-turned-anime The First Slam Dunk ranked third with $840,000 (HK$6.6m). Period martial arts adventure Sakra was further down the chart, taking $200,000 (HK$1.57m).

US titles included Avatar: The Way Of Water, which now stands at $16.94m (HK$132.62m) after six weeks on release, and animation Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, which has taken $363,000 (HK$2.85m) since its release on January 19.

It is noteworthy that Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self has taken $860,000 (HK$6.73m) from preview screenings alone. The film, which was named best film by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society last week, is scheduled to open on February 2.

The data was released by Hong Kong Box Office, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) and the Hong Kong Theatres Association.

Source: Hong Kong Box Office

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