Report on ‘Cinemas in Hong Kong’
Hailed as “East Hollywood”, Hong Kong was once reputed to its thriving filming industry. Cinemas, such as the Grand Cinema, Golden Harvest Grand Cinema, MCL JP Cinema have their ticket booths lined with long queues. However, according to a recent report conducted, the number of moviegoers is dropping and less people are willing to visit cinemas. Only less than 30% of the interviewees mentioned that they would still buy tickets for movies. With this grave phenomenon, it is high time we should square up the situation and give some suggestions to restore the glory of the cinema industry.
There is no sign for the flagging craze for movies among Hongkongers according to the statistics shown in the report. So, what is the factor that we should blame for? It is firmly believed that the advanced technology is what our fingers should be pointed at. High-tech gadgets, such as iPad, tablets, smartphones have evolved to become more internet-connected. When compared to the past generations, 4G smartphones allow faster connection and higher resolution for appreciating the movies online. This severe trend goes viral after the invention of the multi-media players and Set Top Box. With these gadgets, moviegoers swarm to watch the streamed movies online as the online platform provides a vast majority of movie choices and movies that are less costly or even free-of-charge! In contrast, spending about $70 to $100 on one movie in the cinema is not that attractive anymore under the comparison. Desirable as the sound effects and big screens are, money-orientated Hongkongers choose not to go to the cinemas.
In light of the factors mentioned above, measures should be practised to increase the number of moviegoers to the cinemas: government should forward a prohibition of invading the copyright. So, it is hoped that the market-flooding of the Set Top Box and multi-media players, which contain streamed movies that are pirate should not be seen anymore. Together with pirated CDs, which also have an impact on lessening people going to the cinema, the invasion of copyright (e.g. downloading movies illegally) should be banned. Thus, in order to watch the movies, people with no way to download the movies will go back to the cinema. This policy will also protect the copyright of the moviemakers and promote the development of the movie industry too.
As long as the copyright of movies are not protected, watching movies illegally online will still happen. There will be less people going to the cinema. It is high time we should square up the situation and prevent Hong Kong from turning into a cultural desert.