The hotel rooms are overflowing with mainland stars and the paparazzi are already pushing each other out of the way as they fight for places outside the Cultural Centre. Yes, it's time for our own version of the Oscars - the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards.
In a critical sense the past 12 months did not live up to the promise of last year's awards, dominated by the overwhelming success of Infernal Affairs.
But what do critics know anyway. According to the Motion Picture Industry Association, local films raked in $407 million, up 16 per cent from the previous year's takings. So why are we complaining? But those figure don't tell the full story.
'It wasn't a good year - with Sars and only 79 local films produced,' says Woody Tsung, of the Motion Picture Industry Association. 'And out of these, only 56 were feature films, the others were only video productions.
'I think the box office figure reflects the fact that there was a more varied selection. It used to be like a factory, pumping out the same productions. I think that was the main reason.
'But just because it was higher than 2003 doesn't mean it was a good year, especially if you compare to 1996-97, before VCDs and piracy took hold, when we had over a billion dollars.'