The top ten Hong Kong films of the last 20 years have been honored at a recent ceremony. The special event also included awards for some of the biggest names in Hong Kong's movie industry.
Comedy star Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer beat out everyone else to take the top two spots on the chart. Kung Fu Hustle, which Chow directed, wrote and starred in, took in around 200 million yuan, or over US$20 million.
The top box office actor award went to Andy Lau. In the last 20 years, Lau has starred in 180 movies. The wide-ranging films took in a total of HK$1.7 billion dollars. But the king of showbiz says his heart lies with comedy.
Andy Lau said: Action and comedy movies are the dominance in Hong Kong movie world. I'd like to star in comedies, as I've said last time, I really hope that I could make some great comedy productions in the future.
Sandra Ng walked away with the prize for number one box office actress: The past twenty years witnessed the maturing of my film image, from a young girl to a mature woman. My record is 13 films in one year, but that absolutely won't happen in the future. If the same award is handed out in another 20 years, it probably won't go to me.
Wong Jing won the top box office director award. His films enjoyed huge popularity, especially in early 1990s.
The top ten box office winners also included Gigi Leung, Ekin Cheng and Simon Yam.
Award organizers said it was a tough job tabulating the top Hong Kong movies over the last 20 years. They're hoping the recognition will renew confidence in Hong Kong's movie industry.
(CCTV December 19, 2005)
