9 reasons Hong Kong films are loved globally, beyond stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan
- We look past the dangerous stunts, innovative action sequences and major actors to discover why Hong Kong films have often travelled so well
Hong Kong is a small place. So how come its films have done so well around the world?
Movies produced in Hong Kong were distributed across Asia by Shaw Brothers studios, and found international success during the 1970s, and again in the 1990s.
“Our kung fu films can’t be made by foreigners,” super-producer Ng See-yuen told the Hong Kong Film Archive in 1999. “The Americans can’t make these films, even though the younger generations there like them.”
Today, after a lull that started in the 2000s, there is renewed global interest in Hong Kong films from both past and present.
We look beyond their dangerous stunts, innovative action sequences and major stars to discover why Hong Kong films have often travelled so well.
1. Hong Kong films are highly entertaining
The main reason for the success of Hong Kong cinema is because of the industry’s highly entertaining films, wrote David Bordwell in the 2000 edition of his book Planet Hong Kong.
