A poster for The Forbidden Kingdom, co-produced by China and the US. Controls on co-productions will be strengthened. Liu Junfeng / for China Daily
Box-office success spurs increase in number of co-productions
The Chinese film industry's top regulator says it will step up controls on international co-productions, saying present rules are being exploited to gain easy entry into China, which may harm the domestic film industry.
"Some unqualified co-productions have marginalized real domestic films in the market," said Zhang Pimin, deputy head of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, at a seminar in Beijing this week.
On the back of box-office hits such as Kung Fu Panda and Iron Man 3, film producers and investors from the US, Europe and elsewhere are weighing up co-production with Chinese partners to draw on the huge business opportunities in this booming market.
China allows imports of 34 foreign films a year for theatrical release, but co-productions are exempt from the quota and are treated as domestic films.
"A complete American story with a small Chinese element and a Chinese actor in a supporting role, and they call it a co-production," Zhang said.
"We will strictly implement the regulations for international co-production."
But industry experts say the tighter controls will not dampen the enthusiasm of filmmakers for the co-productions, and in the long run will promote the healthy development of China's film industry.
"The tighter controls are essential to regulate the chaotic co-production film market, and are conducive to exchanges of Chinese and American filmmakers," says Huang Shixian, professor of Beijing Film Academy, who is also vice-president of the Chinese Research Society of the Institutions Film and TV.
If a Hollywood movie finds its way into China as a co-production, it can get around the limit on imported films and escape restrictions of screening time, he says.
The attraction of co-production for US filmmakers comes down to the fact that "they can get easy access to China and enjoy the same treatment as purely China-made films", Huang says.
The appeal of Hollywood blockbusters to Chinese movie-goers has brought impressive box-office results for most co-productions in China, he says, but many of those films can hardly be classified as genuine co-productions, because Chinese filmmakers did the absolute minimum in their making.
"With only one or two Chinese supporting actors or with some Chinese investment, it is still a US film, despite the Chinese elements. It's not a real co-production."
Fewer than half can be regarded as true co-production movies, he says, and the rest of the so-called Sino-US co-production titles are simply a marketing gimmick.
"Many domestic film companies dream about doing business with Hollywood movie moguls, but in fact the Chinese side can learn nothing from such so-called co-production.
"All it does is help Hollywood further occupy the Chinese market. It does little to help Chinese film expand its influence internationally, which is very short-sighted and harmful to the growth of China's indigenous filmmakers."
Gao Jun, former deputy general manager of New Film Association, one of China's oldest cinema chains, says the ratio of China's investment should be no less than one-third in a bona fide China-US co-production film, and Chinese actors must play lead roles. The film should also be shot in China, he says.
"What co-produced movies demand is a foreign film company and a Chinese film company sharing copyright, risks and profits in creating a story that involves China.
"The most important thing is that the mainstream values of both sides should be reflected in the film, rather than portraying China through the eyes of foreigners; that's not what we want the world to know about our country."
Gao says that in most cases when Chinese companies work with Hollywood studios, the Chinese have little involvement in the production, and low expectations on their share of the spoils.
"Even if the American partners are more experienced, the Chinese production team should have equal say in a real Sino-US co-production film," Gao says. A good China-US co-produced film should be a good transmitter of Chinese culture and values, but many works have failed to do this, he says.
"We must strive to maintain the independence of the Chinese culture in the co-production films."
EntGroup Consulting Group, an entertainment industry consultancy in Beijing, says that nearly 300 co-produced films have appeared on screens in the Chinese mainland over the past 10 years, of which more than 10 percent were China-US co-productions, second to Chinese mainland and Hong Kong co-productions, and the percentage of China-US co-productions is forecast to grow.
Yang Shuting, an analyst with EntGroup, says she believes that despite the tighter controls, more overseas film producers will look to China for box office success through co-production, meaning that they are not about to go away.
"China's huge market will lure more attention not only from Hollywood, but also other countries. The co-production system has essentially provided a gateway for foreign film makers to get their movies into China's huge film market."
Yang says more stringent controls will benefit China's film industry in the long run because they will force Chinese and US production teams to work more closely together. They will also enrich the way in which Chinese culture is depicted, reducing the reliance on eye-catching cinematography, she says.
"As the Sino-US co-production market becomes more standardized, with a sharing of film talent, including production teams, we'll enter a new era. Hit films that can carry Chinese culture to overseas audiences will then be created."