Hong Kong box office in 2023 finishes 25% below pre-pandemic period

By Silvia Wong2024-01-02T17:53:00+00:00

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A Guilty Conscience

Source: Edko Film

‘A Guilty Conscience’

The Hong Kong box office recorded a bleak 2023 with takings of $183.3m (HK$1.43bn) – 25.5% lower than in pre-pandemic 2019.

The sharp decline puts the final tally at a level not seen since 2011, according to the Hong Kong Box Office.

Local courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience made history as the first local film ever to cross the HK$100m ($12.75m) milestone, following its release on January 21, and ended up as the overall box office champion. It beat Hollywood tentpoles Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which took second and third place respectively.

A Guilty Conscience was the only Hong Kong title in the annual top 10 chart, which was rounded out by further Hollywood blockbusters and Japanese anime The First Slam Dunk.

The Hong Kong Box Office, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) and the Hong Kong Theatres Association, said in a statement that the 2023 box office was far from satisfactory due to several factors such as more people travelling overseas in post-Covid times, the lack of a wide variety of genres due to the stop on production during Covid and changes in consumer spending habits.

As a result, the overall film industry and cinema business faced significant challenges and have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The number of Hong Kong productions released in 2023 fell to 46 (out of a total of 267), compared to 49 (out of 329) in 2019.

Hong Kong Box Office said the 2023 box office figures cannot be compared with 2022, when cinemas were shuttered for 104 days from January 7 to April 20 and seating restrictions were enforced for 251 days.The total box office generated in Hong Kong across 2022 was $146m (HK$1.14bn)