The movie industry in Hong Kong has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, with productions suspended and cinemas closed since late March.

But there is hope that things will get better, with the reopening of cinemas on Friday (May 8) and an announcement this week of a project to boost the industry.

On Thursday, Hong Kong actor Louis Koo, 49, and movie mogul Albert Yeung, 77, announced that they will work together to produce 10 Hong Kong movies in the next two years.

Koo, who founded film enterprise One Cool Group in 2013, and Mr Yeung, who owns Emperor Motion Pictures, said the movies would be filmed mainly in Hong Kong and they would hire mostly Hong Kong actors and crew members.

They hoped the move would provide concrete support to crew members who have been left jobless or forced to take other jobs to survive.

"We hoped to come up with more good scripts and develop a new generation of movie workers with this collaboration," One Cool Group said in the statement.

The announcement came after the annual Hong Kong Film Awards were announced on Wednesday, the first time that they were announced online in a livestream. The prize presentation ceremony was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 situation.

In an interview with the Hong Kong media, Mr Yeung said the move was first raised during a dinner in April with Koo, the current president of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild. They noted that Hong Kong actors and directors were unable to work in mainland China due to the pandemic, while there were no movies being planned in Hong Kong.

Both Mr Yeung and Koo felt that a collaboration between both companies would help to produce an average of one Hong Kong film every two months.

They said in the announcement that movie production would begin in the second half of the year, with genres from horror, suspense, love to comedy. Both new and veteran actors would be hired, they added.

The move was applauded by several Hong Kong actors, with Simon Yam believing that the Hong Kong government will provide support as well.

"I will help to act, produce or direct if I am approached," said Yam, who won Best Actor for Echoes Of The Rainbow at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2010. "I am even keen to take up jobs behind the scenes."