Coronavirus Delivers Blow to Hong Kong Entertainment Industry
The Chinese and Hong Kong entertainment industries have taken major hits since the coronavirus outbreak. The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) has issued an official notice for all film and television production companies to halt all work in China, which has also delayed several Hong Kong film projects scheduled to film in Mainland resulting in deep financial losses.
Hong Kong’s economy was already distressed by the local protests which started last year in June and continued to escalate in violence and destruction in the ensuing months. The local economy became further stagnant as fears of the coronavirus outbreak took over in January.
As the President for the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild, Louis Koo (古天樂) said he understands the difficulties the artistes and crew members are going through. He is currently in discussion with the members of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers to see what plans can be implemented to help everyone get through this difficult time.
Actor/ filmmaker Tin Kai Man (田啟文) of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers revealed that the committee has come up with a solution and will share the plan with different entertainment companies. The Federation hopes to discuss with the government on how to help those in need, especially for people who work behind the scenes in production.
Film Projects Put on Hold
Wong Jing‘s (王晶) Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre <倚天屠龍記>, which features Raymond Lam (林峯) and Janice Man (文詠珊), is currently in pre-production and can’t start principal photography until further notice. Director Andrew Lau (劉偉強) also had to stop shooting Chosin Resevoir Ice Storm <冰雪長津湖> (tentative title) admid the outbreak.
Donnie Yen (甄子丹), who already filmed his outdoor scenes for new film Polar Rescue <極地搜救> (tentative title) last year was supposed to resume work after the Lunar New Year holidays. Unfortunately, the investors for this project were heavily affected by the coronavirus and the filming is now being pushed until November. Because of this date shift, it’s speculated that over 10 million RMB will be lost.
Concerts Cancelled
Beyond, Andy Lau (劉德華), Karen Mok (莫文蔚), and Chilam Cheung (張智霖) also saw their concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum cancelled. Scheduled to be on tour for his concert, Andy had no choice but to cancel his Hong Kong performance, as well as cancel his stop in Wuhan. Other cities such as Shanghai will have to wait for further announcements.
Source: hket
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
The HK entertainment industry is on its last leg anyway. The Coronavirus is only accelerating its death. Today’s HK entertainment industry is irrelevant and has little influence compared to its golden age of the ’80s and ’90s.
If it ends tomorrow, I won’t be sad about it because the HK entertainment golden era had died 20 years ago for me. The HK artists that are relevant today are mostly from that era. The current crop of HK artists are a joke, they pale in comparison to their predecessor, both in talent and fame (most of them anyway). They don’t have the star power of those from the ’80s and ’90s anymore. When the artists from that generation phase out from the industry, the industry will phase out with them.
@anon totally agree…
The rich artistes will survive and have no problems in taking the losses, but those people working behind the scenes (production people) may have to suffer big losses. They may have to struggle to make their ends meet.
I grew up with HK entertainment, but unfortunately its sad to see its dying but lets face it, the golden era are long gone…sad to see many people jobs are affected, perhaps some of them can go back and film a drama for TVB or VuTV before their production gets halted.
China market you can totally forget about it for the next 6 months at least…
@vodka Pretty soon TVB and ViuTV may not be viable options either, since HK is up to its 18th confirmed Coronavirus case already, with the 4 most recent cases being local infections (meaning those infected had not traveled to China and instead contracted the virus locally in HK)….and it doesn’t help that HK’s stupid, sorry-excuse-for-a-human being Chief Executive Carrie Lam demanded in her most recent press conference that HK government workers and civil servants not be allowed to wear masks….people in HK are bracing for a huge surge in infected cases in the next few weeks…
While I agree that the HK entertainment industry had already died long ago, there is still a small part of me that can’t help but be saddened by the state of things, not just in the industry, but across HK as a whole….
@llwy12 why did Carrie Lam demand that government workers & civil servants cant wear masks? That sounds unreasonable
@luye Because of the mask shortage everywhere currently…she said government employees should set the example and not wear masks unless they are sick or in a large crowd. She delivered that speech deliberately without wearing a mask to show that she is going to be the first one to set the example and those under her need to follow suit. After she got tons of backlash for that speech, her office is now trying to walk back her comments, saying that she didn’t mean for everyone in government not to wear masks, just mostly her and her Cabinet…and now they are further “clarifying” that she was actually referring to government supplies of masks and that if they brought their own masks from home they would be allowed to wear them…