No 1 at box office
Nation becomes moviemakers’ biggest market amid coronavirus
From a sustained expansion between 2016 and 2019 to the promising recovery in the wake of COVID- 19 this year, the Chinese film industry has demonstrated a strong vitality, with the country recently becoming the world’s largest movie market in terms of box- office sales.
In spite of an abrupt halt caused by the epidemic, since Chinese cinemas reopened on July 20, this year’s movie- ticket revenue has reached 14.28 billion yuan ($ 2.13billion) as of Oct 28, exceeding that of North America and securing China’s status as the world’s largest movie market since mid- October, according to movie- information tracker Beacon.
Most industry insiders contacted by China Daily say the Chinese film industry is recovering better and faster than they had estimated, thanks to the country’s efficient control of COVID- 19.
Jia Zhangke, one of China’s most internationally acclaimed directors, says: “Over the last five years, China’s annual film production has gradually increased, and the yearly box- office take has seen considerable growth from 2016 to 2019. As a sizable market, China is now very attractive to filmmakers and distributors across the world.”
Statistics from the China Film Administration, the country’s top sector regulator, show that China grossed 64.3 billion yuan in 2019, up 40 percent compared with 45.7 billion yuan in 2016.
According to the administration, China produced 772 feature- length dramas in 2016, with the total output increasing to 798 features in 2017 and 902 in 2018.
Last year, the number fell slightly to 850. Coupled with other genres, including science education and documentaries, China’s annual production reached 1,037 films in 2019.
“When I started to work as a filmmaker in the late 1990s, China produced only around 100 feature films a year,” Jia says.
“The rapid growth provides a wide selection for local movie enthusiasts and lays the foundation for more international exchanges.”
Domestic films’ market share and box- office takings have also grown rapidly.
In 2016, domestic films earned a total of 26.7 billion yuan, accounting for 58.3 percent of overall box- office revenues. The two figures respectively rose to 37.9 billion and 62.2 percent in 2019, indicating domestic films are becoming more popular among local theatergoers.
Each of the highest- grossing blockbusters from 2016 to this year has been a homegrown work, including Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, Wu Jing’s Wolf Warrior II,
Dante Lam’s Operation Red Sea, Jiao Zi’s Ne Zha and Guan Hu’s The Eight Hundred.
Despite the effects of the COVID19 outbreak, Chinese films had grossed 11 billion yuan as of Oct 15, accounting for nearly 85 percent of total sales, which were boosted by the war epic The Eight Hundred and National Day blockbusters My People, My Homeland and Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification.
Director Lu Chuan, known for City of Life and Death, says: “Statistics can tell us everything. In the early 2000s, China’s annual box- office take accounted for a small proportion of the global total. But since 2016, it has caught up ( with the world’s top players).”
He predicts Chinese filmmakers will create more realistic stories as a result of the nation’s battle against COVID- 19.
“With the collective memory of the nation’s effort to rescue life and reduce death, Chinese audiences will probably want more positive stories,” Lu says.
Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, says Chinese cinema has diversified genres, visual effects and storytelling that have raised it to a new bar, thanks to the growing sophistication of viewers.
A stellar cast and heavy special effects no longer secure films’ commercial success. Instead, a heartfelt story that resonates with the audience is more likely to succeed in the local market, he adds.
Ex amples include Dying to Survive, a 2018 runaway hit examining patients’ struggles with high medicine costs, and the 2019 coming- ofage blockbuster Better Days, a thought- provoking touch on campus bullying.
More successful examples include Wolf Warrior II, China’s alltime highest- grossing film, which sparked patriotic fever, and Ne Zha, the second highest- grosser that retells a household myth from a modern parenting perspective.
While superheroes and visual effects- studded blockbusters from Hollywood continue to be the most appealing imported content, exemplified by the overwhelming popularity of Avengers 3 and 4, nonWestern imports have also seen growth in local markets, with the Indian hit Dangal and Lebanese film Capernaum as two of the most successful examples.
International cooperation
In the era of the global village, international exchanges and cooperation have become easier and more frequent. Ranging from shooting coproductions to recruiting foreign talent and exploring overseas markets more deeply, the Chinese film industry has flexed its muscles to seek a bigger presence within the world’s cinematic landscape.
The latest available figures show China has signed film coproduction agreements with 22 countries, including the United States, France, Russia, New Zealand, Japan and India. Nearly 250 coproductions were made between 2000 and 2019, 49 of which surpassed the 100 million box- office mark, according to China Film Co- Production Corp.
China Film’s general manager Liu Chun says it has become common in recent years to see Chinese studios traveling abroad to shoot scenes or inviting foreign filmmakers to take part in domestic projects, especially in the areas of music, special effects and direction.
Some such projects have garnered attention from such world filmmakers as Danish two- time Palme d’Or winner Bille August, who directed the World War II film, The Chinese Widow, starring Liu Yifei in 2017, and British director Simon West — best known in China for his Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — who helmed the disaster film, Skyfire, in 2019.
Backed by bigger budgets or enticed by exotic flavors, more Chinese directors have been traveling overseas to film major scenes, as in Chen Sicheng’s Detective Chinatown franchise with the three installments shot in Bangkok, New York and Tokyo.
But with the world still battling the pandemic, Liu says the company has received applications for 41 coproductions but none of them have yet started shooting.
Yu Dong, founder and chairman of Beijing- based studio Bona Film Group, says the sudden outbreak of COVID- 19 had a huge impact on the Chinese film industry. He estimates around 10,000 small and mediumsized Chinese film companies have closed.
But he also points to a “silver lining” for Chinese films attempting to break through abroad, as he believes the supply of new films globally will face a shortage due to Hollywood’s sluggish recovery.
Yu suggests that Chinese companies should expand their distribution networks overseas, and he hopes domestic filmmakers can produce more influential movies, transforming the crisis into an opportunity and helping more Chinese stories reach viewers in Europe and the United States.
Recalling that he once saw Chinese hits — such as the animated blockbuster Ne Zha — being streamed on a piracy site in London, Yu calls for local decisionmakers to ally against piracy and attach more importance to copyright protection.
But for most industry insiders, the top obstacle for international cooperation remains a decadeslong struggle over what kind of stories can engage audiences from different cultural backgrounds.
Alongside Kung Fu Panda 3 as the two most commercially successful international coproductions in the last five years, The Meg — a sci- fi horror flick starring Jason Statham and Li Bingbing — grossed $ 530 million globally, with 1.05 billion yuan generated on the Chinese mainland.
Director Lu Chuan, who worked for Disneynature to direct the 2016 coproduction Born in China, says Hollywood’s global success is built on its use of talent and resources all over the world.
“If China wants to realize the globalization of its domestically produced films, we need to cooperate more with international talent. Festivals can be a good way to increase such exchanges and create opportunities,” he adds.
Cinema construction spree
The country had installed 41,179 screens by the end of 2016, exceeding the United States as the highest number globally.
The China Film Administration released a guideline in 2018, encouraging enterprises to accelerate cinema construction in urban areas, as well as financially encouraging theaters to update facilities with stateof- the- art technologies, ranging from installing giant screens to using laser projectors.
Before Chinese theaters were closed due to the COVID- 19 outbreak on Jan 24 and reopened on July 20, nearly 70,000 screens had been installed in more than 10,000 cinemas, with most capable of screening 3D formats.
Entertainment- technology innovator IMAX has seen its giantscreen network expand from 381 in 2016 to about 670 screens at present on the Chinese mainland.
Most analysts believe China’s annual theater admissions, which reached 1.7 billion in 2019, indicate the country has huge potential to draw more moviegoers if more cinemas can be constructed in central and western China.
Insiders have noticed an interesting trend among the cinema construction spree.
A single phenomenal hit can stimulate theaters to upgrade to the latest cinematic technology, with James Cameron’s sci- fi epic Avatar being the most representative example. With its groundbreaking 3D and motion- capture technology, the film — released in China in January 2010 — enticed people to stand in long lines to buy the limited 3D- screen tickets. This inspired the number of China’s 3D screens to rise eightfold in a few months, China Business News reports.
In the last five years, Oscar- winning director Ang Lee’s films Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk ( 2016) and Gemini Man ( 2019) — both shot in 3D 4K at the extremely high frame rate of 120 frames per second ( the norm is 24) — have pushed domestic cinemas to engage even more with technology exploration. The films opened the market for CINITY, a giant- screen system developed by Huaxia Film Distribution, one of the country’s largest film companies.
CINITY, which makes scenes much clearer and brighter, has so far screened more than 30 films and has been installed in around 40 Chinese theaters. In the next five years, the system is planned to be installed in 800 cinemas at home and 300 abroad.
Fu Ruoqing, vice- chairman of China Film Co Ltd and chairman of Huaxia Film Distribution, says he believes, “A good film is naturally born for a big screen.”
He adds that streaming can’t replace the theatergoing experience.
With the impact of COVID- 19 estimated to last for some time, some veterans believe the Chinese film industry will squeeze out speculators, reduce blind investment and shift to quality creations, as well as produce more films with realistic themes.
If China wants to realize the globalization of its domestically produced films, we need to cooperate more with international talent.”
Lu Chuan, filmmaker