China film fest highlights flourishing movie industry
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A "fierce battle" is taking place in cinemas across China in December as four homegrown movies, directed by the country's most bankable directors, are competing with each other to become the biggest box office hit.
Two of the four movies, "Sacrifice" and "Just Call Me Nobody", have seen box office receipts exceeding 100 million yuan (15 million U.S. dollars) in just a week after their debuts.
The other two, "Let the Bullets Fly", released Thursday, and "If You Are the One 2", which is slated to hit Chinese cinemas next Wednesday, are also expected to do well at the box office.
December is usually a popular movie-going season in China, but the last month of this year is surprisingly lively.
"This reflects that the Chinese movie industry has entered a period of phenomenal growth," said Wang Yunping, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial and Technological Economics of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body.
The Chinese box office surged 43 percent year on year to 6 billion yuan in 2009, according to a report released in February by EntGroup Inc., a domestic film industry consulting company.
The final year-end box-office take is expected to top 10 billion yuan, and by the end of 2012 the Chinese box office is likely to hit 20 billion yuan, the report showed.
The country's film industry began to turn around after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. The growth rate of China's box office averaged 30 percent in recent years, a record level in world movie history, Wang said.
"I am forecasting the day when China will catch up with the US in box office revenues. It may happen in my lifetime, faster than we expect because of the appreciation of the yuan against the dollar," said Raymond Zhou, a well-known film critic in China.
The 2002 film "Hero", directed by Zhang Yimou, earned 177 million U.S. dollars worldwide. Also, Feng Xiaogang's "Aftershock", released in July 2010, grossed 660 million yuan, setting a new box office record in China.
In addition to blockbusters, low-budget movies also fared well. A black comedy film, "Crazy Stone", directed by Ning Hao, was immensely popular in 2006, earning 6 million yuan in its first week after its release and more than 23 million yuan in total box office, despite its low budget of 2.72 million yuan and cast of unknowns.
A rise in low-cost films in recent years showed China's film industry began to grow into maturity, Tong Gang, an official of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said.
Government support and assistance is deemed indispensable for the continuing development of China's film industry.
In January, the state council, China's cabinet, issued guidelines for the booming industry.
These guidelines promised helping domestic movie makers to expand fund-raising channels, encouraging expansion of digital cinema networks nationwide, and cultivating more movie industry professionals so that the industry could grow at an annual speed of 20 percent by 2015.
"The film industry, as part of the broader cultural industry, will become more important to the national economy in the next five years," Tong said.
On Dec. 9, shares of Bona Film Group, a non-state film producer and distributor, began trading on the NASDAQ. Before that, Huayi Brothers Media Corp., the country's leading film company, became listed in Shenzhen.
"I expect more film companies to go public in or outside of China in the next five years. Going public can not only provide financial support for a company, but also attract global film professionals and bring the company in line with international standards," said Yu Dong, chairman and chief executive officer of Bona Film Group.
Despite much headway in film production, Tong Gang said the Chinese film industry should learn from Hollywood's success in commercial operations because Hollywood productions are often among the best-grossing films in China.
Han Sanping, chairman of the China Film Group Corp., said the number of Chinese moviegoers is much smaller compared with that in developed countries.
"The majority of moviegoers are affluent urbanites who are willing to pay for tickets that are not cheap. But for 900 million rural residents, going to the movie still looks implausibly ambitious," he said, adding that the country should ramp up cinema construction to draw more audiences to screenings.
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