Hong Kong’s box office in 2024 saw local films record a bigger market share than Hollywood blockbusters for the first time since 2004, but overall takings for the year dropped 6.2% to $172.7m (HK$1.34bn) – the lowest in 13 years.
In a rare coup, two local hits topped the annual chart. Soi Cheang’s action feature Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In and Anselm Chan’s funeral business drama The Last Dance made history as the second and third local film to ever reach the HK$100m milestone, taking $13.94m (HK$108.44bn) and $18.28m (HK$142.26bn) respectively. The latter also smashed all records to become the biggest Hong Kong and Chinese-language film of all time.
Scroll down for top 10 of 2024
The biggest foreign films were Pixar animation Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which ranked third and fourth respectively.
It was equally unusual to have five Hong Kong films rank in the top 10 as Hollywood tentpoles often dominate the chart. The other three from Hong Kong were Anthony Pun’s radiation disaster film Cesium Fallout, and two Chinese New Year titles – Sunny Chan’s ensemble family comedy Table For Six 2 and Yuen Kim Wai’s heist film The Moon Thieves.
Despite the two record-breaking local hits, it remained a challenging year for Hong Kong cinema as the annual box office plunged to the lowest in 13 years (excluding the Covid pandemic years). In 2011, the total box office was $178.96m (HK$1.39bn), which was still 3.5% higher than 2024.
Over the Christmas holidays (December 24-26), overall takings climbed by 6.9% year-on-year to $2.69m (HK$20.93m), but it was still down by 36% on 2022. Leading the three-day Christmas box office was action thriller The Prosecutor, directed by and starring Donnie Yen, which opened on December 21. A total of five Hong Kong films were in the top 10, which also included new releases such as Jill Leung’s romantic fantasy drama Last Song For You and Philip Yung’s heavy-hearted family drama Papa alongside holdovers The Last Dance and Cesium Fallout.
The Hong Kong Box Office, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) and the Hong Kong Theatres Association, also provided a second set of data that combined Hong Kong and Macau when released the 2024 annual box office. The combined box office was $182.73m (HK$1.42bn), compared to $172.72m (HK$1.34bn) for Hong Kong only. Macau is a tiny enclave, just a short ferry ride from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong box office 2024
1. The Last Dance* / $18.28m (HK$142.26m)
2. Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In / $13.94m (HK$108.44m)
3. Inside Out 2 / $10.86m (HK$84.52m)
4. Deadpool & Wolverine / $6.17m (HK$48.05m)
5. Cesium Fallout* / $5.27m (HK$41.05m)
6. Table For Six 2 / $4.78m (HK$37.36m)
7. Dune: Part Two / $4.62m (HK$35.98m)
8. Despicable Me 4 / $4.56m (HK$35.52m)
9. The Moon Thieves / $3.54m (HK$27.54m)
10. Alien: Romulus / $3.3m (HK$25.4m)
* still on theatrical release
Source: Hong Kong Box Office
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