Times Square - Now and Then

I was in Causeway Bay the other day and took the opportunity to take some comparison snaps at Times Square. For those who don't know the history of the site, it was previously the location of the expansive Sharp Street Tram Depot where the Hong Kong Tramway kept most of its rolling stock. Hong Kong Tramways was taken over by local developer, Wharf Holdings, in 1974 and following the creation of two new depot sites at the other side of the island, Wharf was able to free up the Sharp Street site for redevelopment. It closed permanently in 1989 and Times Square was subsequently constructed and opened in 1994.

The screen shots below are from Lara Croft Tomb raider: Cradle of Life (2003) and Je l'amais (2011). There have been quite a few films shot inside the office part of the development as well, but obviously that's off limits for me.

As you'll see from the more recent images, even since it was built there have been some changes to the place including the addition of mid-atrium escalators and the removal of the external lifts.

The external lifts we see in Je l'amais are no longer there. Initially I thought the whole thing had been removed, but on closer inspection it looks as though the whole wall was simply enclosed in the rather more heavy duty version of boxing. You can see in the modern image that the wall is no longer flush with the corner which suggest to me the lifts, or at least the infrastructure, are still there but just covered up. Perhaps they are still servicable and used by staff? Feel free to comment if you know.

Je l'amais (2009)

View as of June 2026.

Inside, the mall area has changed significalty. The walkways have been remodelled and there are now escalators criss-crossing the atrium.

Looking up towards the roof of the mall area and the film obviously took some artistic license with the view. First, it's not a glass ceiling because above the mall section is the rest of the office tower, and secondly, obviously the 2IFC tower that we can see in the film is a couple of miles away in Central. I was a bit dizzy looking up when I took the modern comparison so I couldn't quite match the same orientation...

I'll finish with a quick shot of the MTR entrance which is probably the least changed part of the whole area.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

The last HK-set scene in the Tomb Raider film is a nice sweeping view of Aberdeen Harbour starting from the western entrance and flying in towards the east with the Aberdeen coastline on the left and Ap Lei Chau on the right.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - International Finance Centre 2, Central

So we have supposedly gone up to the top of 2IFC - which was the tallest building in HK at the time of filming (it was usurped a few years later by ICC) - and are now about to jump off it.

The BASE jumps were for real and the crew filmed 10 of them to get the shots they needed as well as an additional 20 jumps from a helicopter to grab some of the high level wing-suit flying. Anyway, there is a great BTS video here shot by Michael Nordqvist who also filmed the high level stuff - although I have to say there are definitely a few shots that look to have been digitally manipulated in order to get the characters to do very sharp mid-air turns to avoid buildings. Still it's an impressive stunt set piece and worth looking at because it also shows us the 2IFC prior to completion.

Heading up to the top

Jumping out

In the picture above, you can see how high the jumpers had to get in the helicopter. At this point they look to be double the real height of the 2IFC and there is a small sequence in the above linked video that shows you a similar height and angle. The next picture shows the section of the wing suit flight that looks to be digitally manipulated and includes a close bypass of the BOC tower before a sharp left hand turn to avoid the Lippo Centre.

And a boat landing to finish it all off.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Inside Times Square, Causeway Bay

As well as the outside, we also get some glimpses of the interior of the mall and a major piece of film fakery. See if you can spot the deliberate mistake.

Escalators down to the MTR

Wait..hang on a minute...

That's right - look at the obviously fake Vivienne Tam store at the back of the lower picture! Oh, hang on, my wife say's Vivienne Tam is a real store, so I guess it must be the other fake picture showing the 2IFC in the middle of Times Square!

As a nice convenient way of steering the scene towards its rather vertiginous finale, the film makers decided to graft the 2IFC tower onto the Times Square mall. I guess the IFC mall wasn't ready in time for filming (otherwise, why use Times Square?).

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Outside Times Square, Causeway Bay

Times Square features extensively in Tomb Raider 2 because it is the location of the evil boss's main lab. As the scene is set we get a nice panning shot from up high looking down onto the street. For those who didn't know, this mall was built on top of one of the old Sharp Street Tram Depot.

Autostitch made a reasonable effort to join these all up but I think the zoom-in on the lower pictures rendered them unusable. Still, it's not a bad effort.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Tin Hau Temple, Repulse Bay

A nice bright setting that we keep bumping into to on these overseas productions is the Tin Hau Temple at Repulse Bay. I've still not made it down there personally despite living in HK for nearly 10 years, so I may make the effort and try to recreate some of the camera angles.

In the meantime, here is Angelina speaking to her underlings via something very similar to a pair of Google glasses (several years before they were released, mind you).

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Hennessy Road, Wanchai

Busy street scenes like this one can be really tough to locate, but sometimes a clue pops up that helps narrow down the search a little bit. In this case it's a combination of the flyover in the background and the presence of the trams and #681 bus route from Central to Ma On Shan.

Actually, just hidden away on the right hand side of the screen is also the Wing On Jewellery Store which was still visible the last time the Google Streetview car drove past this area.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Angelina Jolie (2003) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Time for a new film and here is one filmed back around 2002/2003. The film was famous for its base jump from the top of the under-construction 2IFC and the fact that it also used a bit of not so convincing CGI to show that said tower was in fact above Times Square in Causeway Bay. But more of that later. As you can see below, the geography isn't so important because in our first glimpse of Hong Kong in the film as a plane lands at an airport seemingly right in the middle of the harbour.

No, it's not an aircraft carrier because the next shot the plane sitting on the apron at "Chai Wan Airport".

There's also something odd about the background that just doesn't seem to match the reality. Of the buildings I recognise, their positioning seems odd. Aside from the obvious inclusion of the airport runway in the foreground, even the background looks to be a composite.