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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...

The annual New York Asian Film Festival is about to kick off this summer.

Presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center, the 23rd edition of the festival will take place from July 12 through 22 at Film at Lincoln Center, with additional screenings from July 22 through 28 at the Sva Theatre and July 13–15, 18–21, and 23–25 at Look Cinemas W57, plus a special collaborative presentation of films at the Korean Cultural Center New York.

This year’s lineup marks the largest list of premieres, with 20 films debuting including the North American premiere of “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” which debuted at Cannes.

The opening night selection is the world premiere of Park Beom-su’s “Victory,” a cheerleading epic that’s billed as “Bring It On” meets “Parasite.” Lee Hye-ri (of 3rd-gen K-pop band Girl’s Day) will be in attendance with co-star Park Se-wan and director Park.

Soi Cheang’s Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In will close out the 23rd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival while Hong Kong actor Tai Bo is set to receive the Star Asia lifetime achievement award.

Tai is best known for 2019Twilight’s Kiss which earned him a Hong Kong film award and a Golden Horse nomination. He won a Golden Horse supporting actor award for 2000’s The Cabbie while his work in 1984’s Gung Buk was also critically well received. Tai’s other credits include Police Story, Back Home and, most recently, Berlin 2024 title All Shall Be Well.

Independent titles lead the openers at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, with Thea Sharrock’s comedy Wicked Little Letters starting in 685 sites through Studiocanal.

Written by Jonny Sweet and based on a true scandal from 1920s England, Wicked Little Letters centres on an English seaside town targeted by a series of obscene letters, that are investigated by a group of women from the area.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley lead the cast, that also includes Anjana Vasan, Malachi Kirby and Timothy Spall. Buckley, Vasan and Kirby were named Screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2017, 2021 and 2013.

It is the third feature from UK filmmaker Sharrock,...

The Hong Kong box office was dominated by a trio of local titles over Chinese New Year, earning almost $8m (Hk$62m) in 10 days.

Taking the top spot was Table For Six 2, with a cumulative box office of $4.07m (Hk$31.86m) as of February 18, while The Moon Thieves ($2.5m/Hk$19.58m) and Rob N Roll ($1.35/Hk$10.54m) ranked second and third respectively.

All three opened on Chinese New Year’s Eve (February 9) when multiple tentpole titles traditionally open to take full advantage of the lucrative festive period.

Ensemble family comedy Table For Six 2 rode on the success of its predecessor,...

The crime drama will be released on December 30.

Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.

The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.

UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...

Some 16 titles were showcased at a packed launch in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) presented a massive line-up of 16 titles at Filmart, including actor Nicholas Tse’s directorial debut New Police Story 2 and a further two action films also led by Tse.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first New Police Story, which was directed by the late filmmaker Benny Chan. The new feature reunites the original cast, including Tse, Jackie Chan and Charlene Choi, from the original film. Chan will produce for Tse who will direct for the first time.

The film is set to enter production this year,...

Hong Kong selects Port Of Call, India opts for Interrogation and Pakistan picks Mar E Mir for best foreign-language film submissions.

Hong Kong’s Motion Picture Industry Association (Mpia) has chosen Philip Yung’s Port Of Call as its submission for the best foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards.

The award-winning drama, which is based on the true story of the murder of a teenaged prostitute, premiered as the opening film of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) in 2015.

The Mpia revealed that the film was chosen from a shortlist that also included Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, Benny Chan’s Call Of Heroes, Chan Chi-fat’s Weeds On Fire and Steve Yuen’s Heaven In The Dark.

Meanwhile, the Film Federation of India has selected Vetrimaaran’s Tamil-language Interrogation (Visaranai) as India’s Oscar submission. The film, which premiered at Venice in 2015, revolves around a group of labourers from the Indian state of Tamil...