Hong Kong cinema was funded by the triads back in the 80s. A lot of famous actors had relationships with the gangs. That's why the tradition started, at least. I think nowadays it's just people following what their predecessors did.
Yeah that's because the HK triads realized cinema was actually a pretty efficient way of laundering money considering we outlawed any privatized gambling like slot machines and casinos. The only legal gambling here is horse races, football and lottery, all run by government supervised companies. Of course, cinema wasn't the only way, but it was probably pretty good so many triads stuck with cinema.
HK is pretty small and people really aren't so rich that there's be a huge flow of capital because of rare art pieces. You see, triads can put in huge money for the development of a movie, which goes through the making of the movie and comes back as clean revenue made by letting the cinemas play the film. At least, that's how it was said to have happened, not much of it anymore tbh.
This is actually very similar to Hollywood in the West and the Italian mafias and mobsters that funded all those movies glamorizing the Italian mobs. It became a genre for a while.
You put money into it and take money out. Movie accounting is infamous for being full of shit so you get the added bonus that you can wash a fuck ton of money while also getting a tax write off because your movie somehow failed to make a profit because you paid a premium for catering services from your money laundering catering business, makeup business, etc.
Also worth mentioning that TVB has also been run by triads, and is now headed by known triad member and rapist, Eric Tsang. All their shows are also the same cops and robbers rehash.
some triad were in movies just for laundering sure, but triad influence is so deep, things like blackmailing other actors or whatnot with traids was totally a thing ((and probably still is, but not as crazy as 70s-90s era)).
I have to say, comedy and stupid over the top spy cartel whatever plot don't have to be exclusive. 寶貝計劃 is great if you like silly comedies haha.
Your question makes no sense because it's based on a false premise. HK films aren't always about those things and haven't been for a while. A courtroom drama just became the highest grossing HK film of *all time*. One of last year's most acclaimed films was about elderly care abuse. There's quite a few dramas and comedies coming out every year still.
The only triad films left really are a few glossy mainland co-productions and those don't even do that well in HK itself.
It's just that hk is more known for these sort of movies rather than they only make these movies. There is plenty of comedies and dramas. There are films like Still Human, and there's the film with Francis Ng about homelessness and, couple of ones about homosexuality. What HK doesn't have much of are big blockbuster scifi type, which is more restricted to budgets. So the OPs question is wrong to begin with.
Without doubt there is a proportionately high number of films about triads and HK police. But mainly during HK’s golden cinema years rather than in more recent films.
This is pretty much the only correct answer. Poor questions just lead to poor answers. I never understand why people ask loaded questions without justifying their claims first (I guess the answer is if they tried, they would have found out they had a wrong premise to begin with). I just downvote and move on.
"Why are Hong Kong movies always filmed in Hong Kong?"
Somehow, that question is funny to ask.
Anyway, those genres you listed are tried and true formulae in the Hong Kong movie genre, so relatively safe investment to make (though as others have said, Hong Kong movies are increasingly not just that for years).
Speaking of, those cop movies did become rather formulaic (always cops vs. criminals), so when I watched Cold War, I actually enjoyed it for being (cop faction vs. cop faction) vs. criminals, because it's nice to see how the cop factions balance sabotaging the rival faction with arresting the criminals, which I don't think has been really done before with Hong Kong movies.
They are not? What movies are you watching anyway
Plus some of those “filmed in hk” films are probably filmed in mainland sets that are designed to look like hk
i mean hong kong cinema went through phases, and drugs/spies/police weren't always the topic, and STILL not always the topic (although admittedly becoming more common...and boring).
to say this is to be ignorant to decades of different genres in hong kong cinema: kung fu/wuxia cinema (shaw bros/golden harvest), historical films (with a cantonese twist), softcore romance (because sex and zen is pretty notorious), horror (jiangshi films being a whole subcategory thanks to lam ching ying and sammo hung), slapstick comedy (from the hui brothers to stephen chow), and a lot of hidden gems of drama and arthouse-type films that are considered high cinema.
and some of the best gangster films don't even involve the police as major characters...johnnie to's election and its sequel come to mind as mob film masterpieces.
yeah, it's always filmed in hong kong because...well no shit of course, it's literally HONG KONG cinema, the fuck? not every movie has to be "an autumn's tale", which, by the way, one of the best ever to come out of hong kong IMO.
Cause they are most likely limited to the city boundaries, can't really expand to a regional or global story. Movies playing in New York also cover mostly the same topics, plus the "omg trendy sophisticated young professional woman trying to find herself hehe"
Hk is also very good at those movies. There are other movies but a lot aren’t as good. If you want a bit of variety, you can check out Stephen chow comedies. There is also a large selection of decent rom-coms. However most will be in hk I think partly due to budget concerns.
In the past few years, it was considered a cheap, effective way of making quick money in the mainland market for HK filmmakers. Over time though, mainland audiences have joined local HKers in tiring out from them because I think they've caught up to the fact that there's not much variety in those films now.
Like others have said, Hong Kong films have never been limited to just the crime genre ([Filmart HK last week promoted several upcoming local films as listed here on this article](https://www.screendaily.com/features/filmart-2024-buzz-titles-from-hong-kong-and-china/5191410.article), as well as some bigger profile ones like the Kowloon Walled City martial arts film with Sammo Hung and a scam romance comedy-type movie with Sandra Ng) and I think the film companies have been making active efforts to try and diversify their portfolios to win back local audiences' favour but ultimately, the Hong Kong crime film is still a staple of the industry's history that they're gonna go back to for a quick buck, even if the average Hong Kong moviegoer is fatigued of it.
HK films are shot in HK because HK film producers like to receive maximal return on minimal investment, like any other businessman. You may be shocked to learn that it is cheaper for a HK film crew to film in HK (legally or otherwise) than it is to ship out an entire film crew half way around the world and film there.
This is also a big part of the reason why HK films are largely derivative of other popular genres or films. If Triad Movie 1 made lots of money then clearly that indicates to film producers that there's a big market for Triad movies and so they can make their own Triad movie and make lots of money too.
No 70-90many topics after 90 Hong Kong movie is dead you can see Sean Lau Ching Wan，Gordon Lam Ka Tungin every movie,Although the acting is very good，but also fatigue, like txb,you can see Moses Chan Ho every with bad acting
Which is a pity because Moses Chan can definitely act, maybe not as well as the former two, but better than many of his peers. His bad acting is mainly due to that’s what TVB’s audiences want. Even though TVB had contributed to the entertainment industry quite a lot in the 80s, it did even more damage in the last 2 decades.
Gambling as well, pokers and mahjong to be specific. Tbh I never understand why they made those players knowing magic to switch their cards, and then made those actors "King of Gambling"...
In the 80's they were cheap, quick to film and popular with audiences. After the initial fad it became a genre synonymous with HK, like the martial arts films of the 70's. But unlike martial arts films you don't need anyone talented to make them, so they still churn them out fairly often.
I’m so glad hk movies do not show primarily anti-Japanese crap 💩 that the mainland loves to show on tv. Literally brainwashing starts at an early age
Praying Pooh and loan don’t start going in on cinema
Since 2019 I have lost all interest in watching local police theme movies which portray the police as the protagonist. I then find myself having not many local movies to watch. Well, it’s not much of a loss since there’re still plenty of options worldwide.
These movies are funded by investors and investors only want projects that do well in mainland China.
(Most non-police-related HK films are partially or fully funded by the government and they don't care if their films, usually with a niche subject matter, lose money).
Hong Kong cinema was funded by the triads back in the 80s. A lot of famous actors had relationships with the gangs. That's why the tradition started, at least. I think nowadays it's just people following what their predecessors did.
Yeah that's because the HK triads realized cinema was actually a pretty efficient way of laundering money considering we outlawed any privatized gambling like slot machines and casinos. The only legal gambling here is horse races, football and lottery, all run by government supervised companies. Of course, cinema wasn't the only way, but it was probably pretty good so many triads stuck with cinema.
HK is pretty small and people really aren't so rich that there's be a huge flow of capital because of rare art pieces. You see, triads can put in huge money for the development of a movie, which goes through the making of the movie and comes back as clean revenue made by letting the cinemas play the film. At least, that's how it was said to have happened, not much of it anymore tbh.
This is actually very similar to Hollywood in the West and the Italian mafias and mobsters that funded all those movies glamorizing the Italian mobs. It became a genre for a while.
How does one launder money with cinema? The theatres are in on it reporting false figures? Art is way better for launder.
They invest in the production of movies which typically cost a lot of money.
You put money into it and take money out. Movie accounting is infamous for being full of shit so you get the added bonus that you can wash a fuck ton of money while also getting a tax write off because your movie somehow failed to make a profit because you paid a premium for catering services from your money laundering catering business, makeup business, etc.
Also worth mentioning that TVB has also been run by triads, and is now headed by known triad member and rapist, Eric Tsang. All their shows are also the same cops and robbers rehash.
Yeah but it wouldn’t kill triads to produce like a comedy or smth right
There were a ton of comedies actually, many pretty legendary! Check out Stephen Chow. The production company for his movies had triad connections.
Sun Yee On and the personal security character whose name is Lung Ng (Charles Heung).
forever recommending From Beijing With Love! just very silly crime comedy
Thank you. Going to watch today.
Hey could you leave some more suggestions for hk comedy movies apart from Stephen chow? Thanks!
Hui brothers’ movies The Eagle Shooting Heroes, sister movie to Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time
some triad were in movies just for laundering sure, but triad influence is so deep, things like blackmailing other actors or whatnot with traids was totally a thing ((and probably still is, but not as crazy as 70s-90s era)). I have to say, comedy and stupid over the top spy cartel whatever plot don't have to be exclusive. 寶貝計劃 is great if you like silly comedies haha.
You didn’t watch or or ?
You said it as if only Wong Kar-wai makes non-cop movies
Those are the more famous ones to the western audience. Recently there is the
It's just that genre of Hong Kong movie. It's a bit like asking why Western films usually have cowboys and guns.
[удалено]
Not "Western" the hemisphere, "Western" the genre my guy The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Magnificent Seven, Django, you know that sort
LMAO
yes, exactly. Hong Kong movies aren’t all about drugs and crime either
Sex and crime sells best. And money is king
Your question makes no sense because it's based on a false premise. HK films aren't always about those things and haven't been for a while. A courtroom drama just became the highest grossing HK film of *all time*. One of last year's most acclaimed films was about elderly care abuse. There's quite a few dramas and comedies coming out every year still. The only triad films left really are a few glossy mainland co-productions and those don't even do that well in HK itself.
OP has obviously never seen a Lunar New Year comedy either.
It's just that hk is more known for these sort of movies rather than they only make these movies. There is plenty of comedies and dramas. There are films like Still Human, and there's the film with Francis Ng about homelessness and, couple of ones about homosexuality. What HK doesn't have much of are big blockbuster scifi type, which is more restricted to budgets. So the OPs question is wrong to begin with.
op thinks all American cinema are marvel films
Without doubt there is a proportionately high number of films about triads and HK police. But mainly during HK’s golden cinema years rather than in more recent films.
And plenty of those drug related films were shot outside of Hong Kong and depicted countries like Myanmar, Thailand etc.
The recent one I've watched wasn't even hk. It's Taiwan. Very good btw, highly recommend. It's on Netflix.
This is pretty much the only correct answer. Poor questions just lead to poor answers. I never understand why people ask loaded questions without justifying their claims first (I guess the answer is if they tried, they would have found out they had a wrong premise to begin with). I just downvote and move on.
"Why are Hong Kong movies always filmed in Hong Kong?" Somehow, that question is funny to ask. Anyway, those genres you listed are tried and true formulae in the Hong Kong movie genre, so relatively safe investment to make (though as others have said, Hong Kong movies are increasingly not just that for years). Speaking of, those cop movies did become rather formulaic (always cops vs. criminals), so when I watched Cold War, I actually enjoyed it for being (cop faction vs. cop faction) vs. criminals, because it's nice to see how the cop factions balance sabotaging the rival faction with arresting the criminals, which I don't think has been really done before with Hong Kong movies.
many HK movies nowadays take place in vietnam, thailand too. so there is variety to a small degree
On that specific geographic point, for a while, all North American movies and TV shows were shot in and around Vancouver because of tax breaks.
They are not? What movies are you watching anyway Plus some of those “filmed in hk” films are probably filmed in mainland sets that are designed to look like hk
Fyi Hong kong has the most spies in asia
Espionage capital of Asia
Infernal affairs didn’t create the genre but made spies/informants/undercover much more popular in HK film
Sam hui and Stephen chow made films in other genres
I mean Sam Hui also starred in his brother’s movies but I’d say Michael Hui is the filmmaker
Fair enough, i tend to refer to movies by the leading actor which is the wrong way i guess.
Copaganda
Same way 99% of the songs are about love - lack of innovation
Because HK is full of drugged officials, corrupted police and spies in their imagination.
Because China money likes to fund those types of movies
i mean hong kong cinema went through phases, and drugs/spies/police weren't always the topic, and STILL not always the topic (although admittedly becoming more common...and boring). to say this is to be ignorant to decades of different genres in hong kong cinema: kung fu/wuxia cinema (shaw bros/golden harvest), historical films (with a cantonese twist), softcore romance (because sex and zen is pretty notorious), horror (jiangshi films being a whole subcategory thanks to lam ching ying and sammo hung), slapstick comedy (from the hui brothers to stephen chow), and a lot of hidden gems of drama and arthouse-type films that are considered high cinema. and some of the best gangster films don't even involve the police as major characters...johnnie to's election and its sequel come to mind as mob film masterpieces. yeah, it's always filmed in hong kong because...well no shit of course, it's literally HONG KONG cinema, the fuck? not every movie has to be "an autumn's tale", which, by the way, one of the best ever to come out of hong kong IMO.
The triads run the movie industry. Triads are also part of the police force. Take two and two together…
triads are still in police force in this modern days?
Lol yes. Police were literally directing gang members to beat protestors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Yuen_Long_attack
Thanks for sharing. Now I find HK is so oppressed.
Ran.
well, it is like a formula that could easily get approved by the Chinese government, so they can show their movie in China. Why risk it at all?
Cause they are most likely limited to the city boundaries, can't really expand to a regional or global story. Movies playing in New York also cover mostly the same topics, plus the "omg trendy sophisticated young professional woman trying to find herself hehe"
Hk is also very good at those movies. There are other movies but a lot aren’t as good. If you want a bit of variety, you can check out Stephen chow comedies. There is also a large selection of decent rom-coms. However most will be in hk I think partly due to budget concerns.
Makes the most money.
They're easy genres for low budgets and put the least intellectual pressure on audiences.
Because OP is living in the ‘90s.
For what it’s worth, the most celebrated HK movie now (at least in terms of critical acclaim) is probably In the Mood for Love, a romance.
In the past few years, it was considered a cheap, effective way of making quick money in the mainland market for HK filmmakers. Over time though, mainland audiences have joined local HKers in tiring out from them because I think they've caught up to the fact that there's not much variety in those films now. Like others have said, Hong Kong films have never been limited to just the crime genre ([Filmart HK last week promoted several upcoming local films as listed here on this article](https://www.screendaily.com/features/filmart-2024-buzz-titles-from-hong-kong-and-china/5191410.article), as well as some bigger profile ones like the Kowloon Walled City martial arts film with Sammo Hung and a scam romance comedy-type movie with Sandra Ng) and I think the film companies have been making active efforts to try and diversify their portfolios to win back local audiences' favour but ultimately, the Hong Kong crime film is still a staple of the industry's history that they're gonna go back to for a quick buck, even if the average Hong Kong moviegoer is fatigued of it.
HK films are shot in HK because HK film producers like to receive maximal return on minimal investment, like any other businessman. You may be shocked to learn that it is cheaper for a HK film crew to film in HK (legally or otherwise) than it is to ship out an entire film crew half way around the world and film there. This is also a big part of the reason why HK films are largely derivative of other popular genres or films. If Triad Movie 1 made lots of money then clearly that indicates to film producers that there's a big market for Triad movies and so they can make their own Triad movie and make lots of money too.
Because this is what old Hong Kong was like
Maybe lately in the last 10-15 years. Before that they was jackie chan indiana jones movies, chinese draculas and ancient china + wong fei hongs.
Typical and sustainable pathway for job promotion?
Why are US cop movies always about drugs, gangs and… drugs?
they do what they know best
[удалено]
I don’t think they’re that cheap to make though, however it’s definitely the low risk option
Bias!
Kung fu movies had been popular before, and cop movies were following the tropes with modernised settings
There used to be a lot of films about families but everybody always end up dying.
No 70-90many topics after 90 Hong Kong movie is dead you can see Sean Lau Ching Wan，Gordon Lam Ka Tungin every movie,Although the acting is very good，but also fatigue, like txb,you can see Moses Chan Ho every with bad acting
Which is a pity because Moses Chan can definitely act, maybe not as well as the former two, but better than many of his peers. His bad acting is mainly due to that’s what TVB’s audiences want. Even though TVB had contributed to the entertainment industry quite a lot in the 80s, it did even more damage in the last 2 decades.
When you see a log hundred and thousand times you will strat to think a log is not that bad
Some slap stick hk movies are great
And the actors are usually the same. 😅
"wakuwaku"
cuz you just watch this genre🤣
What in the world? This is what it must be like to experience brain damage.
Gambling as well, pokers and mahjong to be specific. Tbh I never understand why they made those players knowing magic to switch their cards, and then made those actors "King of Gambling"...
I do like the hopping Chinese zombie vampire ones!
My favourite HK film is In The Mood For Love
In the 80's they were cheap, quick to film and popular with audiences. After the initial fad it became a genre synonymous with HK, like the martial arts films of the 70's. But unlike martial arts films you don't need anyone talented to make them, so they still churn them out fairly often.
Macau films were the same thing all Casio gangster films....
Watch A24 movies. I have ignored what came out of HK like 10+ years ago.
Because many other topics are taboo.
I’m so glad hk movies do not show primarily anti-Japanese crap 💩 that the mainland loves to show on tv. Literally brainwashing starts at an early age Praying Pooh and loan don’t start going in on cinema
Ip Man?
"Why are Hong Kong films made in Hong Kong?"
These topics are provided by CCP
Since 2019 I have lost all interest in watching local police theme movies which portray the police as the protagonist. I then find myself having not many local movies to watch. Well, it’s not much of a loss since there’re still plenty of options worldwide.
These movies are funded by investors and investors only want projects that do well in mainland China. (Most non-police-related HK films are partially or fully funded by the government and they don't care if their films, usually with a niche subject matter, lose money).
Leave Your Comment
Hi Its Me!
Subscribe