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and Taiwan. After Beijing took over Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong exports to the mainland
went into steep decline. In an effort to address the anxieties of Hong Kong locals and make the
mainland market more accessible, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was
signed in 2003 (Cabrillac 2004). In 2010, a similar agreement called the Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement (ECFA) was signed between the PRC and Taiwan (Rosen and Wang
2011).
During the period that these trade agreements were being negotiated and signed, the PRC
box office grew exponentially in value. Theater tickets were so cheap during the Cold War era
that, although admission numbers were huge, one can legitimately speculate whether the PRC
film market would have been attractive to Hong Kong and Taiwan film producers, even if it
had been open. Quite possibly, they would have continued to focus their export efforts on the
Chinese populations of the diaspora. In contrast, Patrick Brzeski reports that in one seven-day
period over the Chinese New Year holiday in 2016, the Chinese movie box office set a new
world record and exceeded even the seven-day take in the United States in the final week of
2015, when the latest Star Wars movie opened. Furthermore, as he points out, that one-week
figure of US$548 million exceeds the annual PRC box office of a decade ago, which was a
respectable $327.5 million in 2006 (Brzeski 2016). In these circumstances, the PRC market has
become the most important target for Chinese-speaking filmmakers anywhere, including Hong
Kong and, increasingly, Taiwan.
Combine the attraction of the PRC market and the trade agreements that have made it
easier for employment flows across borders, and the result has been increasing collaboration and
coproduction. Furthermore, the clustering effect has drawn the most profitable and commercial
filmmakers and stars towards the PRC. In the case of Hong Kong, this can be seen in the three
films Brzeski cites in his article as leading the charge at the Chinese New Year box office in 2016.
Meirenyu (The Mermaid, 2016) is directed by Stephen Chow. Chow’s early career as a per-
former and director was associated with a type of Cantonese-language comedy in 1990s Hong
Kong called “moleitau,” which featured nonsense punning untranslatable into any other language,
including Mandarin. But with the Hong Kong/China coproduction Gongfu (Kung Fu Hustle,
2004), he substituted action for wordplay and moved into the PRC—and global—market
(Szeto, 2007). Mermaid continues that trajectory, starring a PRC actor in the lead role and being
classified as a purely Chinese production, despite Chow’s Hong Kong roots.
Ducheng Fengyun III (From Vegas to Macau III, 2016) is directed by the veteran Hong Kong
comedy director Wong Jing and stars a predominantly Hong Kong cast in a very Cantonese story.
Nevertheless, it qualifies as a coproduction because it was produced by a combination of main-
land and Hong Kong companies. Finally, Xiyouji zhi Sun Wukong Sandabaigu Jing (The Monkey
King 2, 2016) also has a Hong Kong director (Cheang Pou-soi) and a mix of Hong Kong stars
such as Aaron Kwok and mainland stars such as Gong Li. But its production mix makes it a
coproduction, too.
In these circumstances, it is correct to speak of the “mainlandization” of Hong Kong cinema.
Although local production may be falling in terms of the number of purely Hong Kong feature
films, Hong Kong filmmakers and companies are very active in the new commercial industry
assemblage that combines Hong Kong and the rest of the PRC. Unsurprisingly, local critics
feel ambivalent about the loss of local culture that this “success” entails (Szeto and Chen 2012;
Chiu 2013).
The Taiwanese agreement is more recent, so its impact remains to be determined. However,
the example of Doze Niu suggests a similar pattern may emerge. The director became a favorite
with Taiwanese audiences because of his highly local commercial films, like the gangster film