Hong Kong Running Out of Time returned 8.3× its production cost, earning $1.9M against a $225K budget — one of the highest-return Hong Kong films in our catalog.
Synopsis
暗戰
“Let the games begin.”
Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime syndicates.
The 1998–2000 Hong Kong Window
50 Hong Kong films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. Running Out of Time sits at position #3.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Running Out of Time. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Milkyway Image
The 1990s Hong Kong Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1990s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Running Out of Time premiered. 215 total titles in this decade from Hong Kong.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 33m runtime, production spent $2K per minute on screen and earned $20K per minute back.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #62 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (93rd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.0 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.
Among Hong Kong Drama productions specifically: #34 of 311 (top 11%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Cantonese |
| Spoken Languages | Cantonese, English, Mandarin |
| Production Companies | Milkyway Image, Win's Entertainment Ltd. |
| Runtime | 1h 33m |
| Release Date | September 23, 1999 |
| IMDb | tt0216165 |