White Collar | Moving into movies makes sense for Alibaba and Tencent

While mainlanders spent less on shopping in the city during the Lunar New Year holiday, they have been spending more to watch movies made by Hong Kong stars or directors.

Last week alone, the second week of the Lunar New Year holiday on the mainland, a record 1.5 billion yuan (HK$1.89 billion) in movie tickets was sold, up 42 per cent year on year.

In February as a whole, mainland movie goers spent 4.05 billion yuan during, a monthly record and US$10 million than in the United States, although it is the low season for movie watching in America.

The top movies during the Lunar New Year holiday on the mainland were tied to Hong Kong. Top honours went to The Man from Macao II, which had earned 715 million yuan by the end of last month. It was directed by Hong Kong director Wong Jing and stars Hong Kong movie star Chow Yun-fat.

Coming second was period flick Dragon Blade, which took home 641 million yuan during the same period and was directed by Hong Kong’s Daniel Lee and starred Hong Kong action movie star Jackie Chan.

Third was Wolf Totem, adapted from the popular mainland novel of the same name, which rang up 504 million yuan. One of its producers is William Kong from Hong Kong.

Fourth was Zhongkui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, which was directed by Hong Kong director and cinematographer Peter Pau Tak-hei. The movie earned 371 million yuan.