China's own High School Musical
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Cast of High School Musical: China. [Global Times] |
The smash hit film phenomenon High School Musical is about to go Chinese. Partnering with the mainland's two most powerful media organizations, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and Huayi Brothers Media Corporation, Walt Disney Pictures is looking to cash in on the film's record success overseas by adding Chinese elements and casting local actors.
Disney announced Sunday that the Chinese adaptation will loosely have the same plot as the original with a Chinese context and will be uniquely produced for the country.
"Chinese audiences love a great story in a film," said a confident Stanley Cheung, executive vice president and managing director of Walt Disney Company Greater China. "Our local adaptation promotes classic values of teamwork, optimism, friendship, pride and the spirit of self discovery, all of which are highly appreciated by Chinese."
"Disney's ongoing commitment to local content development underpins our strategy to connect with new audiences around the world," explained Jason Reed, general manager of Walt Disney Studios International Production. "The choice of the right stories and best local partners are keys to the success of our localization strategy."
According to Huayi Brothers President Wang Zhonglei, the new partnership was formed after years of cooperation. Disney has helped distribute their films outside Asia for some time. Despite the strong backing, he admitted that the musical genre has never been a popular film type in China.
"Even Perhaps Love directed by Peter Chan with a large budget and strong cast was not successful in box office," he commented.
However, he said the now is the right time to introduce High School Musical to China.
"We have discovered that audiences aged from 18 to 25 contribute 80 to 90 percent of the country's gross box office, who are also our adaptation's target audience."
Wang added that with the recent success of China's film industry, audiences are more likely to welcome various art forms.
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