For the Hong Kong film industry, the harsh three-year-long winter of the COVID era — with multiplexes forced to close for extended periods, industry professionals losing their livelihoods, and an indifferent administration that didn’t deign to lift a finger to help this once-mighty cultural industry that put the auteurs from the tiny former colony into the annals of global cinematic history — has finally come to an end.
Despite cinemas reopening their doors only in April 2022, two Hong Kong-made films released in late 2022, , have become the top-grossing local productions of all time, taking in $10.5 million and $10 million in Hong Kong, respectively. And a third, , released this January, is now the highest-earning Hong Kong film ever, grossing $11 million in its first three weeks of release.