Two big-budget movies that provided a late shot in the arm for box office takings last year - Infernal Affairs and Hero - yesterday dominated nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards.
But they still face competition from a handful of smaller films for the awards, which will be announced at a ceremony on April 6, kicking off the industry's 'Cinema Capital in April' month that includes the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum.
Infernal Affairs and the Oscar-nominated Hero boosted ticket sales over the Christmas period, grossing more than $55 million and $26 million respectively at the local box office. The numbers were kind again yesterday, with Infernal Affairs picking up 16 nominations to 14 for Hero.
The surprise of the afternoon, however, came in the shape of director Peter Chan's Applause Pictures. Three of its productions - Three, Golden Chicken and The Eye - picked up a total of 20 nominations between them.
Golden Chicken and Three, with Fruit Chan's low-budget feature, Hollywood Hong Kong, will face off against Infernal Affairs and Hero for the Best Film award.
The chairman of the Film Awards Association, Joe Cheung Tung-joe, hoped the quality of this year's finalists indicated a positive change for the industry.
'We are very happy with this year's finalists,' he said. 'Especially towards the end of last year, we had some excellent movies.
