Hong Kong Box Office Down 15% in 2025; ‘Back To The Past’ Brings Late Year Boost

Hong Kong and Macau’s box office continued their downwards slide in 2025, with ticket sales coming in at a combined $155m (HK$1.21bn), a decrease of 15% compared to the previous year, according to figures from Hong Kong Box Office.

In 2024, Hong Kong’s total box office (excluding Macau) came in at $182m (HK$1.42bn) which was a 6% decrease on the previous year. However, local films performed strongly in 2024, including The Last Dance, Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In and Cesium Fallout, pushing the market share of domestic productions above Hollywood for the first time since 2004. In 2025, not a single Hong Kong film ranked in the year-end top ten.

Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie was the highest-grossing film overall last year, pulling in $13.94m (HK$108m) in Hong Kong and Macau, followed by F1: The Movie ($9.30m) and Zootopia 2 ($9.07m). Record-breaking Chinese animation Ne Zha 2, which is the highest-grossing film of all time in mainland China, came in fourth at the Hong Kong box office with $8.23m. The release of Avatar: Fire And Ash has been postponed due to the Tai Po fire tragedy.

However, while it was a tough year for Hong Kong movies, New Year’s Eve release Back To The Past, starring Louis Koo and directed by Ng Yuen-fai and Jack Lai, brought some late year cheer, grossing a record $1.48m (HK$11.54m) on its opening day (December 31) to rank number seven in the year-end chart of local films.

Based on a popular TV series, the film scored the biggest opening day of all time for a Hong Kong film, ahead of The Last Dance ($958,000) and Cold War 2 ($700,000). It was also the biggest opening day for a Chinese-language film, ahead of The Last Dance ($958,000) and Ne Zha 2 ($856,000).

The film went on to gross $5.4m (HK$42.36m) on its opening weekend, which would have made it the biggest local film of 2025 and sixth overall if the year-end chart included the box office of films released in 2025 but still playing in 2026. It also grossed $24m (RMB78.6m) on its opening weekend in mainland China, according to Artisan Gateway figures.

Tommy Ng Kai Chung’s animation Another World was the highest-grossing local film at the 2025 Hong Kong box office (with a cut off date of December 31), taking $1.97m (HK$15.36m), followed by Adam Wong’s The Way We Talk and Nick Cheung’s Peg O’ My Heart (see charts below).

Hong Kong Box Office urged local audiences to support Hong Kong cinemas and their local film industry in its year-end report: “We hereby hope that the citizens who like movies can go to the cinema to watch more movies in the New Year and support the cinema and the Hong Kong film industry,” the industry body said.

Several cinemas closed down in Hong Kong last year, including the four remaining sites operated by Golden Harvest. In addition to declining numbers of cinema-goers, Hong Kong cinema operators need to contend with some of the highest rents in the Asia Pacific region.

HONG KONG BOX OFFICE 2025 TOP TEN FOREIGN FILMS: 

[January 1-December 31, 2025]

1.Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie (Aug 14) $13.94m [HK$108.6m]
 
2.F1: The Movie (Jun 26) $9.30m [HK$72.49m]
 
3.Zootopia 2 (Nov 27) $9.07m [HK$70.68m]
 
4.Ne Zha 2 (Feb 22) $8.23m [HK$64.15m]
 
5.Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (May 22) $6.90m [HK$53.77m]
 
6.Jurassic World Rebirth (July 1) $4.13m [HK$32.18m]
 
7.Stitch (May 29) $4.07m [HK$31.71m]
 
8.Thunderbolts* (April 30) $3.07m [HK$23.93m]
 
9.A Minecraft Movie (April 3) $2.82m [HK$21.98m]
 
10.Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Sep 25) $2.63m [HK$ 20.52m]

HONG KONG BOX OFFICE 2025 TOP TEN LOCAL FILMS: 

[January 1-December 31, 2025]

1.Another World (Oct 29) $1.97m (HK$15.36m)

2.The Way We Talk (Feb 20) $1.76m [HK$13.73m]

3.Peg O' My Heart (March 27) $1.70m [HK$13.28m]

4.Hit N Fun (Jan 28) $1.68m [HK$13.07m]

5.Sons Of The Neon Night (Oct 1) $1.58m [HK$12.30m]

6.My Best Bet (Jan 28) $1.52m [HK$11.87m]

7.Back To The Past (Dec 31) $1.50m [HK$11.72m]

8.Golden Boy (Nov 21) $1.30m [HK$10.15m]

9.Vital Signs (May 1) $1.21m [HK$9.46m]

10.Under Current (Dec 6) $872,593 [HK$6.80m]

Source: Hong Kong Box Office