Blockbuster ending can't avert infernal year for HK films

Crime-thriller Infernal Affairs may have enjoyed the biggest box-office take in Hong Kong for 2002 but it has not saved the local film industry from a disastrous year one in which the lowest-grossing movie made just $330.

Infernal Affairs, with Andy Lau Tak-wah, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Eric Tsang Chi-wai and Anthony Wong Chau-sang, has grossed $43.7 million in only 19 days, says the Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA).

The thriller about two moles planted by police and triads in each other's forces is one of only three local films in the top 10 list last year. Marry A Rich Man, starring Richie Ren and Sammi Cheng Sau-man, and My Left Eye Sees Ghosts, again featuring Cheng, with Lau Ching-wan, were seventh and ninth respectively.

Hollywood took the lion's share of ticket sales. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Spiderman came in second and third respectively, followed by Monsters, Inc and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Experts say that despite its unexpected success, Infernal Affairs produced by Media Asia for $40 million does not signal a recovery for the local industry and will not surpass 2001's Shaolin Soccer. That film was the most successful local production ever, raking in $60.7 million at the box office.

'[Infernal Affairs] is the first movie produced by Media Asia since it was taken over by [Lai Sun Development chairman] Peter Lam Kin-ngok,'' said MPIA chief executive Woody Tsung Wan-chi. 'This kind of huge investment is not representative of the present situation. This is a special case because it was intended to be Mr Lam's debut masterpiece.''

The three local films on the top 10 list grossed a total of $86.1 million compared with the $184.1 million earned by the five local films that made the 2001 list.