MCLC: hunger for horror

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hunger for horror
Source: Sinosphere, NYT (11/21/14)
Q. and A.: Kevin Niu on Movies and the Hunger for Horror in China
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE
In a few months, Kevin Niu is set to receive his Ph.D. from Harvard in physics. He’s studying nanotechnology, where he has focused on gallium nitride, which is used in the manufacture of Blu-ray Discs. So what’s he going to do with that Harvard degree? Go back to his native China and teach physics? Work at a prestigious laboratory? No. He’ll be spending time in Louisiana, producing a horror movie called “Abattoir.”
Mr. Niu, 30, is a Canadian citizen who, before he left China at age 14, attended the prestigious No. 8 Middle School in Beijing — Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, is an alumnus. But sometime during his undergraduate years as an electrical engineering major at the University of Illinois, he “found water” — discovered his calling — in the entertainment industry. He was a producer for “Of Mice and Men” on Broadway this year.
In an interview, Mr. Niu discussed why he is marrying Chinese money with American and other international movies that might never be released in Chinese theaters. Excerpts follow:
Q. It’s a big switch from nanotechnology to making movies. How did that happen?
A. I started doing nanotechnology really just because most of my family members are businesspeople. My father is a businessperson. He’s also relatively successful in his business. Everybody was from the tech industry. Toward the end of my college years, and toward the beginning of my graduate studies, I was introduced to the film and entertainment industry and that’s where I feel I found water. The business ideas I learned from the tech industry were useful. These skills could transfer. That’s helped me do things innovatively, and was useful to break certain paradigms and I think that’s where big things will happen.
Q. My guess is that your family is happy, though, that you’re sticking with your degree before you pursue your movie career full time?
A. My family has been very supportive of me. For the first set of connections I had with investors in China, my parents introduced me to some of them. But of course I followed up. I tried to build trust with these people, and that’s actually how I got them to invest. But my parents helped me very much, and as Asian parents they are appreciative of the fact that I’m getting my degree. I didn’t drop out. I’m able to do these things on the side. Everything has been moving in parallel, and I’m actually able to complete them quite nicely.
Q. But “Abattoir” is not going to be one of those movies that can be shown in China?
A. In the beginning we actually had people in China who were interested in getting the distribution rights to the movie. I think, looking at that, I think maybe there’s a way for us to do that, but maybe not theatrically. Theatrically, you know, in China you have to go through censorship, the approval process with Sarft [State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television]. But Internet distribution, that’s something that could be possible. If you look at “Saw,” it was a very successful horror film. The director [of “Abattoir”], Darren Bousman, was the director of “Saw” II, III and IV. “Saw” was not theatrically released in China, but everyone in China knows about “Saw.” There are different domains that can be played in the future.
There are only a limited amount of slots in theaters every year. Horror is a very hot topic in China. People like it. I think it’s something people really want to see.
Q. What kind of projects do you want to focus on?
A. I’m doing it more from a business perspective. The genre that we’ll be focusing on first will be this type of horror thriller, aimed for the international and the U.S. market. We will be thinking about how we can do these in China in the long run. The idea will be to bring Chinese resources, money resources, to projects here in the United States. I’m also thinking about doing romance comedies and lower-budget sci-fi films.
Q. It sounds like your ambition is eventually to land some of these movies in China. How tough is it to crack the movie industry? What about co-productions? What is your feeling on where that’s going?
A. The Chinese market is definitely not an easy market simply because there are so many regulations. There are strict rules for co-productions. For example, a big portion of the story has to be related to China. You may have to get a main lead who is a Chinese actor or actress. Sometimes you can write a screenplay and you can base your story and finish your film following these requirements, but at the end you still have to go through another approval process. By then you have put all your resources on this movie, hoping that it will be released, but you are going to have to go through another master. That actually adds a lot of uncertainties to movie production. So I think more and more people realize that may not be the best way to go.
Q. China is making it difficult to make movies, but it wants to spread its culture around the world. Isn’t that a contradiction?
A. Definitely. Everybody in China including the government wants to show the world what they have. Because China is really a very old country, there are an enormous amount of good stories. To realize a movie you not only have to have ideas but also execute it. Have a team that can really work together, that works efficiently. And these type of things China is not really mature at.
Q. Given the problems making movies in China, is China producing the kind of movies that will consistently draw people to the box office there? Or will Chinese moviegoers be going to watch Hollywood blockbusters?
A. When people go to the theater and watch movies, they really think of it as about location, an enjoyment. They want to go there and actually experience something. And for that reason I think Hollywood movies are doing very well, because — like a romance comedy, you wouldn’t really go to a theater and watch that. It’s good, but it’s not like watching the 3-D “Transformers,” which has so much impact on you.
These can draw a lot of audiences compared to Chinese movies. But now there are Chinese movies, as you can see last year and the year before, there are some good ones that are actually able to attract a lot of audiences.
I think a lot of the audiences in China are driven by young girls. They just drag their boyfriends to go watch it with them. That’s why some of the Chinese romance comedies are doing really well. They are low, low budget. It’s really just because the girlfriends are just dragging their boyfriends to watch it. Those typically do well, but I would say general perspective is the big Hollywood blockbusters are still doing very, very well.
by denton.2 at osu.edu on November 21, 2014
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