MCLC: local flavor at the box office

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: local flavor at the box office
***********************************************************

Source: China Real Time Blog, WSJ (1/3/14):
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/01/03/local-flavor-returns-as-china
-box-office-booms/

Local Flavor Returns as China’s Box Office Booms

Local productions powered a 27% rise in China’s box-office sales last
year, according to one estimate, as Chinese-made films outdrew foreign
movies after losing their top position in 2012.

China’s box office raked in 21.6 billion yuan ($3.17 billion) last year,
according to consulting firm Artisan Gateway. That’s compared with 17.07
billion yuan for 2012 and a mere 950 million yuan in 2002, when China
first began shaking up its state-run movie houses and started allowing
modern theater chains.

Domestic films took in 12.7 billion yuan, or about 59% of total box-office
receipts. China’s highest-grossing film by far was “Journey to the West:
Conquering the Demons,” a domestic action-comedy based on traditional
Chinese stories, co-directed by “Kung Fu Hustle” creator Stephen Chow and
released in February. It pulled in 1.25 billion yuan, according to Artisan
Gateway, ousting the 2012 comedy “Lost In Thailand” as China’s
highest-grossing Chinese-language film.

China’s highest-grossing overall film remains the U.S.-made 2009 film
“Avatar,” which came to China a year later and grossed 1.38 billion yuan.

Second place was old-fashioned special-effects Hollywood blockbuster “Iron
Man 3,” from Walt Disney and Marvel Pictures, which raked in 755.2 million
yuan, while the robots-and-monsters slugfest “Pacific Rim” was No. 4 with
694.3 million yuan.

But after that, a succession of more modestly produced local movies
outdrew bigger Hollywood productions like “Gravity,” “Fast & Furious 6”
and “Man of Steel.” That’s a switch from 2012, when foreign films
accounted for 52% of China’s box office and ended a long run for local
productions.

“Hollywood blockbusters are becoming increasingly homogeneous while local
audiences are becoming more interested in recent domestic films that they
are relate to,” said Dai Di, product director of EntGroup, a Beijing-based
film market research group.

“The diversity of marketing approaches by local film marketing also helped
to boost the attraction of local films,” said Ms. Dai, adding foreign
films were suffering from lack of local promotion.
Ms. Dai expects 2014 to see more sci-fi and mystery films, together with
local films that relate to people’s daily life, have an impact in China’s
cinemas.

China has long limited the number of foreign films companies can release
on its screens and still doesn’t allow content that it views as
controversial. Competition rose in 2012 after Beijing agreed to increase
the number of U.S. films it allows into the country to 34 from 20 if the
14 new slots are taken up by 3-D or jumbo-screen IMAX films.

Still, China has emphasized building a domestic movie industry as part of
an effort to win greater cultural sway and to put greater emphasis on
economic growth through consumer spending. Chinese companies have
responded – last year property and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda
Group Corp. said it would build a 30-billion-yuan to 50-billion-yuan
studio complex in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao that would include a
theme part and film museum.

Domestic films won a number of head-to-head matches last year. The
bittersweet romantic comedy “The Stolen Years” took in more than 142
million yuan in China in about two weeks after it was released at the end
of last August, according to consulting firm EntGroup. Baz Luhrmann’s
flashy remake of “The Great Gatsby” featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and
opening a day later, took in about 80.51 million yuan, according to Box
Office Mojo.

Other popular Chinese films included “So Young,” a story about people
reminiscing about their campus days, which took in 719 million yuan and
ranked No. 3 in China’s box office; “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea
Dragon,” about a detective investigating a sunken boat, which generated
601.3 million yuan in ticket sales, and “American Dreams in China,” about
young Chinese entrepreneurs, which took in 539.3 million yuan and became
the seventh highest-grossing film of the year.

Two films that did well by audiences came under fire from critics. “Tiny
Times,” directed by Guo Jingming, a prominent writer who adapted it from
his own novel, took in 488.1 million yuan and was the ninth
highest-grossing film of the year. It was bashed by critics, including the
website of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily
<http://culture.people.com.cn/n/2013/0716/c87423-22209717.html>.

Still, its success propelled Mr.Guo to make the next two installments,
with the third film slated to be released this coming summer.

“Switch,” offered a Chinese version of a James Bond-like superspy and took
in more than 300 million yuan despite harsh reviews
<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/06/20/awfully-successful-is-this-c
hinas-worst-blockbuster-ever/>. Analysts said that the film and others
like it benefited from strong demand by a rising number of moviegoers and
the limited choices allowed by regulators.

Though the western moviegoers appear to be tiring of 3D, Chinese audiences
are still showing strong demand. In addition to “Pacific Rim,” “Jurassic
Park 3D” from Universal Studio grossed 348.5 million yuan($57.59 million).
In the U.S. it took in $45.4 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

“We have been making movies that speak to the Chinese market and world
market at the same time,” said Peter Loehr, CEO of Legendary East, part of
Legendary Pictures, which produced “Pacific Rim,” in a recent interview.

Authorities surprised the market at the end of the year by greenlighting
the theatrical release of a domestic film noir “No Man’s Land
<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/12/03/after-battling-censors-chine
se-thriller-finally-premiers/>,” which had been pulled from theaters’
schedules six times after wrapping up production four years ago.

Universal’s hit animation film “Despicable Me 2” finally got approval from
the authority and is slated to be released on Jan. 10, according to the
releasing schedule by the regulator. The first installment of this film
failed to make it to Chinese theaters in 2010.

– Lilian Lin. Follow her on Twitter @LilianLinyigu
<http://twitter.com/LilianLinyigu>