Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
global recognition
The sector has grown rapidly as filmmakers developed and embraced new techniques
and subject matter, as Xu Fan reports.
Wolf Warrior 2 is the highest-grossing film in the history of China's movie industry, with box-office receipts of
more than 5.5 billion yuan ($830 million). [Photo/China Daily]
The rapid development of China's movie industry in the past five years has seen the number
of silver screens rise to 49,000, the highest in any country, according to Zhang Hongsen,
vice-minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television.
From The Taking of Tiger Mountain to Operation Mekong to Wolf Warrior 2, China has seen
a surge in domestic blockbusters, and the achievements have attracted attention across the
globe, he said, speaking at a media briefing during the 19th Communist Party of China's
National Congress.
According to the State-owned online movie news portal 1905, the latest figures show that
there are 8,260 cinemas nationwide.
Between Jan 1 and Oct 16 box-office takings topped 46 billion yuan ($7 billion), and industry
observers predict that the figure will rise to 55 billion yuan by the end of the year, signaling
stable, continuous growth from 2012, the year China's movie industry underwent two pivotal
changes.
The first was China overtaking Japan to become the world's second-largest movie market,
while the second was the administration's decision to raise the annual quota of foreign movies
-usually Hollywood blockbusters-from 20 to 34.
In addition, Lost in Thailand, a comedy by actor-turned director Xu Zheng, was China's
highest-grossing movie in 2012, becoming the first film in the history of Chinese cinema to
make more than 1 billion yuan and ushering in a new era for domestic blockbusters.
So far this year, 13 homemade movies have taken more than 1 billion yuan and the number is
expected to rise by the end of December.
Box-office boost
Figures from the administration show that the annual box-office take rose to 49 billion yuan
last year from 17 billion yuan in 2012, signaling average year-on-year growth of 30.35
percent.
Chinese are also more willing to head to movie theaters now than they were five years ago;
annual visits rose to 1.37 billion last year from 466 million in 2012.
Homemade films have now dominated box-office takings for three successive years.
Following the success of Monster Hunt, which beat the Hollywood hit Furious 7 to top box-
office earnings in 2015, The Mermaid made by Stephen Chow, Hong Kong's "king of
comedy", more than doubled the box-office revenue of Disney's Zootopia to become the most
successful movie in China last year.
In addition, the homemade Special Forces-themed action movie Wolf Warrior 2 is now the
highest-grossing film in Chinese movie history, with box-office receipts of 5.68 billion yuan.
"Chinese movies have gained unique influence and power thanks to the rapid development of
the movie industry (in the past five years)," said Zhang at an earlier meeting in Qingdao,
Shandong province.
He added that China may overtake the United States, or even the entire North American
market (the US and Canada), to become the world's biggest movie market by 2019.
For many industry insiders, filmmakers and decision-makers, the rise of domestic
blockbusters is reflected in a number of ways, including a wider list of genres, bigger budgets
and higher-quality production values, scripts and acting.
Jiao Hongfen, president of China Film Group Corp, the largest State-owned studio, said the
development of the domestic movie industry accords with the country's economic rise.
"Now Chinese people are leading better lives they look forward to seeing more-interesting
stories on the big screen," he said.
As a greater number of foreign hits enter the Chinese market, local moviegoers are becoming
more discerning. Last year, 90 foreign movies were shown in China's movie theaters, a rise of
45 percent, compared with 62 in 2015.
Moreover, a number of major Hollywood "tent poles"-movies that support a studio's less-
successful works-have been released in China.
Fresh perspective
The pressure exerted by powerful rivals overseas has resulted in changes to homemade
movies, especially those with traditional themes.
The Taking of Tiger Mountain, a 2014 movie by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark about a
Communist Party agent's crackdown on a group of ruthless bandits in 1947, is widely seen as
a pioneering work that signaled profound changes to stereotypical "revolutionary movie"
genre.
In the past, it was rare for filmmakers from outside the Chinese mainland to make these
revolutionary movies, mainly because they knew very little about the history of the
Communist Party of China. Moreover, auteurs from overseas were rarely interested in
unrealistic portrayals of the main protagonists, who were usually depicted in black-and-
white/good-and-bad terms.
By contrast, The Taking of Tiger Mountain won acclaim for successfully combining dazzling
action scenes, star power and Hollywood-style twists in a fundamentally Chinese tale.
Similar cases include Operation Mekong, based on the true story of the murder of 13 Chinese
sailors by a drugs ring in Myanmar, and The Founding of an Army, which relates the early
history of the People's Liberation Army.
In Operation Mekong, Hong Kong director Dante Lam provided nuanced, human depictions
of Chinese police officers, while in The Founding of an Army his fellow Hong Kong
filmmaker Andrew Lau uses a cast of pop idols and eye-popping battlefield scenes to attract
the younger generation.