With 1.6 million viewers, ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’ is most-watched Hong Kong film
- Movie smashes local box office records, though this has not meant a return to top form for the city’s silver screen economy
“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” has delivered a knockout blow to become Hong Kong’s most-watched local film ever. Photo: HandoutTwilight of the Warriors: Walled In, the martial arts film from Hong Kong has broken all box office records. The movie has become the city’s most-watched local film in cinemas with almost 1.6 million viewers.
Still showing in theatres, the film has attracted 1.59 million viewers since its May 1 premiere. It became the highest-grossing film this year at HK$105 million (US$13.4 million), easily upsetting Table for Six 2, which netted HK$37 million.
The previous record of 1.53 million viewers was set by court drama A Guilty Conscience last year, also the highest-grossing film with a box office of HK$115 million.
A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association said the disparity between the number of viewers and the box office take could be because of different cinema pricing strategies.
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But the news does not mean a return to top form for the city’s silver screen economy.
Hong Kong Box Office Ltd revealed on Tuesday that ticket sales for the first half of the year – including domestic and international films – stood at HK$640 million, a 17.1 per cent drop on the same period last year.
Domestic films that performed well over the same period included The Moon Thieves in third place, We 12 in fourth, and Rob and Roll in fifth spot. Box office revenue for the six months for these films ranged between HK$21 million and HK$28 million.
The highest-grossing non-Hong Kong film was Dune: Part Two at HK$36 million by June 30, followed by Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Spy x Family Code: White, Kung Fu Panda 4, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, which features the notorious Kowloon Walled City, earlier made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival and won a standing ovation.