Some time ago, there was a site that showcased Hong Kong box office information in English. I’ve always been curious as to how Hollywood movies fared in Hong Kong, especially since 1993 was the beginning of the end for that city’s film industry, so here are the Hollywood movies which were taking on homegrown productions. If you go to the YesAsia site, you can find out what the Chinese titles translate to e.g. Predator is known as Iron Blood Warrior.
1993
JURASSIC PARK: 29/07/1993 – 24/11/1993 | (HK$): 62,234,335
CLIFFHANGER: 03/06/1993 – 21/07/1993 | (HK$): 23,496,624
LAST ACTION HERO: 15/07/1993 – 18/08/1993 | (HK$): 18,897,375
THE WEDDING BANQUET: 09/09/1993 – 10/11/1993 | (HK$): 15,468,810
INDECENT PROPOSAL: 24/06/1993 – 22/09/1993 | (HK$): 15,611,853
ALADDIN: 15/07/1993 – 08/09/1993 | (HK$): 13,408,954
DEMOLITION MAN: 16/12/1993 – 19/01/1994 | (HK$): 13,283,636
THE FUGITIVE: 21/10/1993 – 22/12/1993 | (HK$): 12,762,937
SLIVER: 14/10/1993 – 17/12/1993 | (HK$): 10,879,419
SOMMERSBY: 03/06/1993 – 11/08/1993 | (HK$): 10,684,600
1994
SPEED: 30/06/1994 – 30/11/1994 | (HK$): 46,430,056
TRUE LIES: 25/08/1994 – 30/11/1994 | (HK$): 37,225,816
FORREST GUMP: 15/12/1994 – 01/06/1995 | (HK$): 33,565,555
SCHINDLER’S LIST: 17/03/1994 – 10/08/1994 | (HK$): 19,908,526
THE MASK: 27/10/1994 – 28/12/1994 | (HK$): 18,068,058
THE FLINTSTONES: 28/07/1994 – 14/09/1994 | (HK$): 17,820,647
THE LION KING: 08/07/1994 – 16/09/1994 | Box Office (HK$): 15,828,828
THE SPECIALIST: 08/12/1994 – 27/01/1995 | Box Office (HK$): 13,712,185
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL: 25/08/1994 – 30/11/1994 | (HK$): 11,244,836
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER: 20/10/1994 – 07/12/1994 | (HK$): 11,180,481
Despite Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Timecop doing top business everywhere, it didn’t register to H.K. audiences despite the fact that JCVD had achieved the status of being one of John Woo’s leading men. Speaking of time travel, it’s fascinating to note that Robert Zemeckis had more success at the H.K. box office with Forrest Gump than any part of his time travel trilogy.
1995
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE: 08/06/1995 – 24/08/1995 | (HK$): 32,720,595
BATMAN FOREVER: 29/06/1995 – 23/08/1995 | (HK$): 26,106,199
SEVEN : 30/11/1995 – 15/02/1996 | (HK$): 25,914,393
CASPER: 27/07/1995 – 13/09/1995 |(HK$): 20,736,190
LEON : THE PROFESSIONAL: 16/02/1995 – 23/08/1995 | (HK$): 19,922,335
GOLDENEYE: 21/12/1995 – 01/02/1996 | (HK$): 19,528,560
SHOWGIRLS: 01/11/1995 – 25/01/1996 | (HK$): 18,911,740
OUTBREAK: 13/04/1995 – 05/07/1995 | (HK$): 18,305,155
APOLLO 13: 14/09/1995 – 20/12/1995 | (HK$): 17,693,140
WATERWORLD: 24/08/1995 – 19/10/1995 | (HK$): 16,870,355
The income of Die Hard 3 and Batman 3 interests me because of the below data.
DIE HARD: 19/10/88 – 09/12/88 | (HK$) 11,842,756
DIE HARD 2: 16/08/90 – 11/11/90 | (HK$) 14,639,222
BATMAN: 26/01/90 – 15/02/90 | (HK$): 8,982,492
BATMAN RETURNS: 13/08/1992 – 10/9/1992 | (HK$): 8,376,914
BATMAN & ROBIN: 17/07/1997 – 10/09/1997 | Box Office (HK$): 16,776,200.
As for the alien franchise that was teased on my cover, Predator earned H.K.$ 8,201,018 during its run from July 9 to July 29 in 1987. As for Predator 2, it earned H.K.$ 7,412,904 in 1990. Alien vs. Predator earned H.K.$ 11,033,714 from September 9 to October 6 in 2004. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem earned H.K.$ 14,667,577 from December 27 in 2007 to January 27 in 2008. Predators earned H.K.$ 11,385,827 from July 8 to August 1 in 2010. The Predator earned H.K.$ 14,973,483 from September 13 to October 3 in 2018.
Pop Cult Master 