Luxury shop grabs cinema's downtown seat in HK  

香港影院没落 电影“大佬”疾呼“救亡”

　香港商铺租金屡创天价，铜锣湾时代广场的UA戏院(电影院)，因月租狂升20倍至港币2000万元，改租给法国的LV奢侈品名店，电影人纷纷对香港影院萎缩表示痛心。

Hong Kong (CNS) -- Hong Kong's UA Cinemas had to move out of Times Square, it decided when facing the hopeless situation of a monthly rent increase close to twenty million Hong Kong dollars. Local film professionals witnessed the painful transfer of the prime location to luxury brand Louis Vuitton.

"I often went to see films at the UA Cinemas just to support it, but now it has been forced to move away," said Raymond Wong, a famous Hong Kong actor and director. Wong recalled in 1980s he often saw long queues outside the cinema waiting to buy tickets for a locally produced movie.

Cinema used to be a government category under cultural industries, but was reclassified as a commercial activity in 1972, said Jack So Chak-kwong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. He hopes the local government will redefine cinema as a cultural industry and offer more favorable policies to support its growth.