China's booming movie industry will likely boost live-music events here, says Ma Le, a veteran concert operator who helped film-director Feng Xiaogang hold his first theme concert last year.
Feng's concert at Beijing Workers' Stadium in November not only surprised his fans but it was a hit, drawing more than 9,000 to the venue and more than 2 million online.
Actually it was Ma's first attempt to hold a movie-themed concert. Titled Mr Six, the concert was named after the award-winning movie of the same name, a crime thriller centered on a Beijing hoodlum.
The movie, which was directed by Guan Hu, stars Feng in the title role. Two other actors from the movie, Wu Yifan and Li Yifeng, also sang at the concert.
Unlike many singers who also dance while performing their songs, Feng sat on a chair. The pressure on him was telling. Having finished the last lyric, the 58-year-old director relaxed and said: "I passed the test."
The news of his concert was prominently covered by many media as Feng won the best actor award at Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival around the same time. It was his first such top honor as an actor in his 25-year filmmaking career.
"I was really worried that Feng would choose to fly to Taiwan instead of performing at the concert," Ma, CEO of Beijing-based company Starry Asia Entertainment, says in a recent interview with China Daily.
The Golden Horse nominees were announced in October, when such procedures as venue rental and official approval for the concert were almost ready.
But the main problem was that no contracts on paper for the participating celebrities had been prepared in advance. Only promises to appear for it were made by Feng to Ma, which meant the celebrated film director wouldn't need to pay a penny if he wanted to go to Taipei instead.
"But we were lucky. Although Feng was initially hesitant as he was too nervous to sing in front of such a big audience, we managed to persuade him," Ma says, smiling.
Tapping into live-music events at the age of 19, Ma, now 31, has organized more than 100 concerts and tours in the country for Andy Lau, Sandy Lam and Alan Tam, among other Chinese superstars.
"But the market for such events is somewhat shrinking on the Chinese mainland," says Ma.
"Only the concerts of top singers can sell well today. We are doomed to fail commercially if we try to hold concerts for musicians who aren't well-known."
Ma sensed the concert business turning fiercely competitive a few years ago, when the trend of top singers in small numbers making the cut started to emerge. He then decided to introduce the idea of theme concerts to adapt to the situation.
China's movie business, which saw 48 percent year-on-year rise at the box office in 2015, appeared lucrative to Ma.
"It could be a win-win for both event companies and film studios. Concert promotions usually last for three months and the phase benefits upcoming films by attracting potential moviegoers," says Ma, who is also a music composer.
The movie, Mr Six, raked in 903 million yuan ($143 million) at the Chinese box office earlier this year, in a sign of stunning commercial success.
After the success of the Mr Six concert, more financers are likely to take Ma's ambitions seriously.
On Friday, Starry Asia Entertainment received its first round of financing for such projects from seven investors, including Huayi Brothers' president Wang Zhonglei, Fashion Group's president Su Mang and Xiaomi's co-founder Wang Chuan. With the money, the company is now valued at around 300 million yuan.
Ma says more efforts to connect the big and small screens to live performances are in the pipeline. Instances include a forthcoming concert adapted from the hit TV series Gui Chui Deng, or Ghost Blows Out the Light.
Su, one of the shareholders in Ma's company, says Ma is "brave" because he is trying to break stereotypical thinking in the concert business.
"The live-music event has become a lifestyle for youth in the West. I hope by combining movies with concerts, we can make music events in China more attractive," she says.