Chinese filmmakers banking on new policy
BEIJING: Filmmakers in China are banking on the newly- enforced Film Industry Promotion Law to consolidate their position in the face of competition from Hollywood movies.
In the global market, Hollywood has an annual share of about 80 per cent.
But the performance of recent China productions indicate that home-made movies can still rake in billions because of appealing to local preferences, including its brand of humour which fail to register with audiences elsewhere.
One example was The Mermaid, the sci-fi romance film that screened during the Lunar New Year period in 2016 and set a new record by raking in 3.39 billion yuan..
This feat demonstrates that computer animation coupled with the slapstick comedy of Stephen Chow, for example, can produce a blockbuster on a budget of US$ 100 million.
Currently, there are only four other nations with domestic films accounting for more than half of the box- office share – China, Japan, India and South Korea.
That shows that sensitivity to local culture can bring in long queues to the box office.
Without question, China
The performance of recent China productions indicate that home-made movies can still rake in millions because of appealing to local preferences, including its brand of humour which fail to register with audiences elsewhere.
has huge potential for further growth. From 2005 to 2015, box- office revenues in China recorded an annual average increase of 30 per cent. In 2005, box- office revenue in the Chinese mainland reached two billion, about 2.8 per cent of the North American box office.
However, in 2016, the Chinese mainland box- office revenue reached 45.71 billion yuan, making it the second highest box- office take in the world.
Many middle- aged or elderly Chinese may recall the box office crowds of the 1970s and 1980s. Now, after a slump during the 1990s, demand among Chinese audiences is peaking again.
In a recent interview on the effect of Hollywood movies on filmmaking in China, superstar Jackie Chan maintained that high- class competition can only help improve the quality of movies being produced domestically.
Chinese films must contain the right ethics, have humanistic concerns and stick to their principles.
A growing number of filmmakers in China figure that far too many Chinese studios have become obsessed with romantic comedies that cater to young audiences, instead of focusing on how to tell a good Chinese story and increasing their technical skills, incubating talent and improving in creativity.
This would include realism in script-writing.
When it comes to realism, what comes to mind is the 2016 action crime flick Operation Mekong. It created a more realistic image of Chinese policemen with their imperfections.