A Chinese film executive blasted foreign film companies for being self-serving in their supposed collaborations with Chinese studios at a summit forum attended by executives of global film studios in Beijing on Tuesday.[Photo/China.org.cn
A Chinese film executive blasted foreign film companies for being self-serving in their supposed collaborations with Chinese studios at a summit forum attended by executives of global film studios in Beijing on Tuesday.
Wang Zhongjun, founder and chairman of Huayi Brothers, told guests and press at the forum organized by the second Beijing International Film Festival committee that collaborations between Chinese and foreign film companies have been one-sided. The summit was hosted by famous Chinese director Chen Kaige.
"We, as well as many friends here, have collaborated with many foreign companies such as 20th Century Fox and Disney. We will have close cooperation with Hong Kong, South Korea companies too," Wang said. "However, all through the years of cooperation, all the companies came to Huayi Brothers and even China Film Group Corporation, their only interest is how much revenue you could make in China market for them. When I asked how much revenue they can bring in for us in overseas market, they just can't answer."
Wang continued: "I think this is a very big misunderstanding regarding collaborations. I hope in the future we can help each other. I hope we can also cooperate on how to sell Chinese film through foreign channels and improve the cooperation structures, products and channels."
Although Chinese domestic film market is poised to become the second largest in the world, the film executive was still worried. "Yes now we can do a US$100 million box office gross for one movie in China, but the best box office performance for Chinese films in the United States is only US$480,000 last year (referring to ‘Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame'). How pathetic!"
Huayi Brothers is one of the biggest Chinese film and media companies operating film and TV productions, music, film distribution, artist management and advertising, occupying 15 percent of Chinese market share.
Last year, China exported 55 films to be screened in 22 countries and regions, grossing 2.05 billion yuan (US$325 million) in box offices. However, the figure was lower than that of 2010. Only 16 films of foreign origin screened in North America were Chinese in 2011. Chinese films made less than a combined US$3.5 million. In comparison, India has more than 30 films screened in the U.S. in 2011 and made US$20 million in box office revenue.
A recent survey conducted in nine countries by Beijing Normal University showed that Chinese directors and actors still lack international recognition. Only 20 percent of the survey's 1,400 respondents said they pay attention to Chinese films.
At the forum, film executives including Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Jim Gianopulos, Village Roadshow CEO Greg Basser and India's Yash Raj Films Vice President Avtar Panesar also delivered speeches and agreed China has huge cultural depth and market potentials. There are many stories that can be told in an international way to global audiences. They said they are willing to do both international and localized films and wanted to learn from their Chinese peers.
Han Sanping, director, producer and chairman of the China Film Group Corporation, was also concerned about ways to present Chinese film on the world stage. In his address to the forum, Han said every production detail was important. "When we talk about a good movie, we say script, director and performance of actors. But besides all of those, every link, every phase, every scene and every detail in a film should be also delicate."
He continued: "A good movie should be a product of a combined effort from all departments. Usually more than 300 different kinds of film production teams serve every filmmaking. We can do it independently; we can also do it by dividing a film into tens of phases and collaborating with relevant companies including foreign ones. We can collaborate on fireworks, lighting, make-up and more."
Several high-profile international joint projects were announced during the film festival to repackage and present Chinese traditional stories to the Chinese audience and the world, including the "Gods" trilogy and "The Art of War." "Iron Man 3," the first high-profile joint production between China and Hollywood filmmakers, will attempt to recruit Hong Kong megastar Andy Lau to add to Chinese involvement.