Chollywood rising

[GeneChing]

Bringing the Best in Chinese Cinema to You

At AMC, we scour the world for global gems and bring them to a movie screen near you.

Check out the list of Chinese films that are playing now and coming soon to an AMC near you.

Participating < Theatres
California

Orange 30
Puente Hills 20
Atlantic Times Square 14
Fashion Valley 18
Bay Street 16

Illinois

River East 21
South Barrington 30

Massachusetts

Methuen 20

New Jersey

Deptford 8
Jersey Gardens 20

New York

Empire 25

Texas

Stonebriar 24

I'm bummed about probably missing Young Detective Dee as these showings aren't promoted much. Just have to keep a tab on this site, I guess.

[GeneChing]

Chinese professor calls on to break bottleneck of Chinese martial arts films
(Xinhua) 20:01, October 10, 2013


Xu Haofeng (L), professor of Beijing Film Academy, speaks during the "The Martial Art Film in China" session of 2013 Busan International Film Festival Forum, in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 9, 2013. Xu Said that the unique storytelling, the exploring of the spirit of martial arts and the respect for motion patterns are panaceas for Chinese martial arts films to break its current bottleneck. (Xinhua/Peng Qian)

BUSAN, Oct. 10 -- The unique storytelling, the exploring of the spirit of martial arts and the respect for motion patterns are panaceas for Chinese martial arts films to break its current bottleneck, said Xu Haofeng, professor of Beijing Film Academy.

Xu, also the martial arts adviser and scriptwriter of the film "The Grandmasters" directed by Wang Jiawei, made the remarks on Tuesday during the "The Martial Art Film in China" session of 2013 Busan International Film Festival Forum. "The martial arts became nothing particular worldwide. Chinese martial arts films are facing with threatens from Hollywood," said Xu, adding that Hollywood has seen a surge of China's Hong Kong's choreography directors who are responsible for action sequences since 1990's. They have trained a generation of professional local choreography directors, especially African Americans.

As a result, western films have already adopted the techniques of China's Hong Kong and China's Taiwan martial arts movies successfully and applied them in films such as the series of " Sherlock Homes", "The Twilight Saga" and "Kung Fu Panda". Xu graduated from China's Beijing Film Academy in 1997. His movie debut "The Sword Identity" made its world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the 68th Venice Film Festical. He has learned Chinese martial arts since childhood and also has became a well- known writer of Chinese martial arts for his professional understanding of motion patterns and history. "The martial arts films previously were always telling a very simple story--the revenge. The only factor that can absorb the audience is the splendid actions, which is the mainstream of Chinese martial films in the past 20 years," said Xu.

In 2000, the success of Ang lee's film "Crunching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" catalyzed the rebirth of martial arts movies in the Chinese mainland and led to productions of blockbuster movies featuring international cast of film stars and bid budget. Noticeable directors from this period include Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang.

The blockbuster like "Hero", "The Night Banquet" and " Curse of the Golden Flower" used techniques of traditional Hong Kong martial arts movies in 1990's and deliver artistic considerations at the same time. Although achieving high box office scores, they received a wide range of criticisms from both the audience and film critics due to a weak storytelling. "To some extent, Chinese martial arts films have ended up with the era of artistic consideration. The next step is trying to nourish itself with the social reality. It is urgent to change the situation that current Chinese martial arts films paid excessive attention to action technology instead of the humanity, "Xu told Xinhua, who preferred to set the film "The Grandmaster" as an example for the future development of Chinese martial arts movies.

In Xu's perspective, the previous Chinese martial arts films were full of imagination. But "The Grandmasters" reproduces a real "forest of martial arts" in the film. They use the word " forest" instead of other words like "industry" because martial arts players were teachers for royal families and parts of the noble class in the past. The film chronicles the life and struggles of several Chinese grandmasters in 1930's with a merging of physicality and philosophy of martial arts.

Xu said the collapse of Chinese martial arts films also lies in the rot of their roots--the martial arts novels. The neo martial arts novel in China's Hong Kong and China's Taiwan declined in the 80's and martial arts novels in the Chinese mainland became non-mainstream. "The initial shinning point of martial arts novels is the unique storytelling that vivid depict of various social classes in terms of the emperors, the noble, gangsters or ordinary citizens. But as China's social structure is not as diverse as before, the writers' imagination and creative ideas are blocked, "said Xu who expects a revival of the social vitality.

Furthermore, he anticipated Chinese martial arts films to explore the spirit of martial arts, which in his view is Confucianism and is emphasized in "The Grandmasters". " Understanding the martial arts needs a view of the world. In order to make good martial arts films, we need to insist the original virtue and respect the traditional motion patterns," said Xu. "Our motions have divine nature. It is like Japanese tea ceremony which puts priority to the manners of tea drinking rather than the taste of it," said Xu.

（Editor：WangXin、Liang Jun）

Well, that's a fine concluding diss on Japanese Tea.

[GeneChing]

...but highly relevant.

China: Hollywood Studios Still Face Headaches
SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 | 09:10AM PT
Amid massive opportunity, China remains a reluctant partner despite increased access for their movies, and a territory that continues to grow

Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief

With more and more foreign films now being allowed into China, and potential revenues that can be earned having risen to 25% (from as little as 13%), one might think that doing business in China is getting easier for Hollywood.

But that’s simply not the case.

The U.S. Trade Representative had to intervene when China Film Group — which distributes Hollywood movies in China — tried to pass on a national value-added tax by withholding money on revenues earned by American films that played in the territory. And while that dust-up seems to have been resolved, plenty of other tensions remain.

A recurring migraine is the selection of release dates, determined by China Film Group and industry regulator the Film Bureau. The Hollywood studios maintain they have little advance notice of dates, that slots change suddenly, and that many movies don’t fulfill their potential because they are intentionally programmed in close proximity to each other.

And even though the studios now conduct marketing alongside China Film, the murkiness of release dates makes it is difficult to build sustained promotional campaigns, which in turn makes media-buying tricky.

Moreover, the Film Bureau still appears to be operating blackout periods, in which foreign films are not allowed to open. While this year’s summer blackout was comparatively limited, the studios expect October and December to be largely out of bounds for their films. December sees the release of at least three big Chinese films — “Police Story 2013,” starring Jackie Chan in the sixth film of the franchise; Feng Xiaogang’s “Personal Tailor”; and “The Monkey King” with Chow Yun-fat.

The job of the studios’ Beijing offices remains, crucially, a lobbying effort, trying to persuade China Film and the Film Bureau which pictures to pick for import. And although the quota has expanded from 20 revenue-sharing movies per year to 34, with the additional titles being in 3D or Imax formats, gaining entry into China does not appear to be getting much easier.

China Film seems to be intent on cherrypicking movies that do well at the U.S. box office rather than choosing evenhandedly among all of the studios’ offerings.

And China’s government organizations aren’t the only ones that have been dogging the studios. In April 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter of inquiry to 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks Animation and Disney regarding their dealings with the Chinese government. The SEC was probing the possibility of bribes paid to Chinese officials by the Hollywood companies looking to secure distribution. But there has been little further movement in the investigation.

Slowly, other distributors and rights owners are grabbing small pieces of the pie in China. Bona Film (now 20% owned by 21st Century Fox) is releasing Summit’s “Red 2” and Constantin’s “Mortal Instruments,” and Huayi Brothers Media will distribute QED’s “Fury.” Legendary Pictures, IM Global and Lionsgate are among the larger independents also seeking Chinese deals on specific titles.

Whatever the situation, it rarely pays for foreign players to complain too loudly. That’s never more true than in the case of Hollywood, which experienced a bumper year for its films in China in 2012, with $100 million grosses for the 3D reissue of “Titanic” and for “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” and $90 million performances for “The Avengers” and “Life of Pi.” By year end, foreign films had amassed a 55% market share, with Hollywood accounting for all but 6% of that total.

This year, Hollywood’s China returns have been less triumphant. Although more titles have entered, and overall market size has grown, Hollywood’s revenues slipped, and first-half market share tumbled. That may reflect the paucity of effects heavy sci-fi movies and animation that Chinese audiences still feel nobody does better than Hollywood. “Skyfall,” “Iron Man 3” and “The Croods” were the standouts in the first half of the year. And helping the biz stage something of a second-half revival have been “Pacific Rim” ($110 million), “Fast & Furious 6” ($66.5 million) and “Jurassic Park 3D” ($29 million in its first week).

Tantalizingly though, China remains a mega-market in which profits can never seem to be maximized.

[GeneChing]

Nice recap of the year so far...

China box office up 35% in 2013
By Kevin Ma
Thu, 24 October 2013, 08:30 AM (HKT)
Box Office News

China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) 國家新聞出版廣電總局 released third quarter box office statistics this week.

Total box office revenue for the first nine months of the year is RMB16.4 billion (US$2.7 billion), a year-on-year growth of 34.9%. With a market share of approximately 58%, domestic films continue to rule the market with RMB9.56 billion (US$1.57 billion) in total revenue, a year-on-year growth of 93.8%.

Five of the top ten grossing films of the first nine months of the year are domestic films: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 西游　降魔篇 (RMB1.24 billion), So Young 致我們終將逝去的青春 (RMB715 million), American Dreams in China 中國合伙人 (RMB538 million), Finding Mr. Right 北京遇上西雅圖 (RMB518 million) and Tiny Times 1 小時代 (RMB488 million).

(Opening at the end of September, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon 狄仁杰之神都龍王 has already surpassed American Dreams as the third top grossing domestic film of the year. By Tuesday night, it had taken RMB583 million.)

Several major releases set for December are expected to further lift domestic films: Benny CHAN 陳木勝's The White Storm 掃毒, FENG Xiaogang 馮小剛's Personal Tailor 私人定制, Alan YUEN 袁錦麟's Firestorm 風暴 and DING Sheng 丁晟's Police Story 2013 警察故事２０１３.

Foreign films made RMB6.87 billion (US$1.13 billion) in total revenue, a year-on-year decline of 5.2%. This represents somewhat of a recovery over the summer. In the first half of the year, foreign films were recorded as experiencing a year-on-year decline in box office revenue of 21.3%.

The top five grossing foreign films of the first nine months of the years — three of which were in cinemas during the third quarter — are: Iron Man 3 (RMB751 million), Pacific Rim (RMB694 million), Furious 6 (RMB412 million), The Croods (RMB394.8 million) and Man of Steel (RMB394.6 million).


CHINA'S TOP 10 FILMS 2013 (to 30 Sep)

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (RMB1.24 billion; US$203 million)
Iron Man 3 (RMB751 million; US$123 million)
So Young (RMB715 million; US$116 million)
Pacific Rim (RMB694 million; US$114 million)
American Dreams in China (RMB538 million; US$87.6 million)
Finding Mr. Right (RMB518 million; US$84.4 million)
Tiny Times 1 (RMB488 million; US$80.2 million)
Furious 6 (RMB412 million; US$67.8 million)
The Croods (RMB394.8 million; US$64.88 million)
Man of Steel (RMB394.6 million; US$64.86 million)

[GeneChing]

I've been wondering how the financials for Hulu+ & Netflix work as they aren't quite VOD pay-per-view.

Asian cinema on demand
By Kevin Ma
Fri, 15 November 2013, 16:30 PM (HKT)
Ancillary Feature

Thirteen years ago, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 臥虎藏龍 (2000) set a box office record for an Asian film in North America, grossing US$128 million. While the success of Ang LEE 李安's martial arts film has not been repeated, Hero 英雄 (2002) (US$53.7 million), Fearless 霍元甲 (2006) (US$24.6 million), Kung Fu Hustle 功夫 (2004) (US$17.1 million) and House of Flying Daggers 十面埋伏 (2004) (US$11.1 million) can each be considered successful foreign films in the North America market.

But the days of large theatrical grosses for Asian films in North America may have come to an end.

The highest grossing Asian film in North America last year was Indonesian action film The Raid Serbuan maut (2011) which made US$4.1 million, despite heavy media coverage and strong word-of-mouth. This year, despite opening on 750 screens – considered a major release for a foreign film – and an extended promotional campaign that included an appearance at ComicCon by director WONG Kar-wai 王家衛, The Grandmaster 一代宗師 made only US$6.57 million in North America, representing 10.5% of its worldwide gross.

Yet the demand for Asian entertainment hasn't necessarily diminished. Consumers can now easily obtain the latest Asian films online, and distributors are scrambling to shepherd that audience with new business models. While some distributors have opted to target the diaspora audience with day-and-date multiplex releases, others are making use of new release platforms.

Breaking out of cinemas

In the United States, foreign films are often relegated to arthouse cinemas, regardless of the genre. These films usually open in limited release, starting in the major cities before slowly rolling out across the country. In the past, the wait for a North American theatrical release may be a year or more.

The exception to this rule was the so-called Chinatown cinema circuit. Located in major cities with large immigrant populations from Hong Kong, such as Vancouver, New York and San Francisco, these cinemas carried the latest Hong Kong films on a day-and-date basis. As the Hong Kong Diaspora audience began to rely on home video, Chinatown cinemas virtually disappeared.

Globalisation — and the internet — has helped spread the exposure of Asian cinema to people around the world and driven audiences' desire to get access to the latest Asian films immediately. Meeting that demand has become easier than ever, thanks to access to parallel imports and illegal downloads.

That demand has also spread the Chinatown cinema model to films from other Asian countries.

Indian companies like UTV Motion Pictures have been distributing Bollywood films directly to cinemas in the United States since 2004. South Korea's CJ Entertainment Inc ＣＪ엔터테인먼트 – starting with its own CGV cinema in Los Angeles – began directly distributing some of their own films in the United States in 2009 and has since expanded to home video distribution.

Originally based in Australia, China Lion Film Distribution Inc also brought the day-and-date distribution model to the United States to take advantage of Chinese cinema's newfound success. However, opening on anywhere from just 7 to 150 screens, these films have had a difficult time finding financial success within the traditional theatrical release model.

Instead, Asian films have found a new life in the ancillary market. Parallel imports have affected home video sales, and the physical video rental market has shifted out of traditional video stores to services like Netflix, which now boasts more subscribers than HBO. While the increase in internet speed has helped made illegal downloading easier, it has also boosted the popularity of legitimate video-on-demand services.

In 2009, American distributor Well Go USA Inc began making a number of its Asian releases available digitally on demand in addition to home video. In 2011, the company experimented with day-and-date theatrical and digital release. This year, they took that a step further with their first "Ultra VOD" release – making a film available digitally before its theatrical release.

According to Well Go President Doris PFARDRESCHER, their decision for using an "Ultra VOD" release depends on various factors. For Drug War 毒戰, the company used the positive reviews to its advantage to build momentum for a traditional theatrical release. However, for Ip Man: The Final Fight 葉問　終極一戰 (pictured), Well Go decided to appeal to the genre's established fan base and used the "Ultra VOD" release pattern to reach a wider audience.

"Up to this point, we have been extremely pleased with the early results. One of our biggest fears was damaging our package media business (DVD, Blu-ray), which is still a critical part of our revenue, and so far this has not been the case," says Pfardrescher.

Ever since 2010, Asian Media Rights – founded by the former heads of Asian-American television station ImaginAsian TV – has been acquiring Asian films for their various digital platforms. In addition to home video and video-on-demand platforms on cable networks across the United States, the company also makes part of its 500-plus catalogue available for free on popular video site Hulu.

"It's our goal first and foremost to create the kind of awareness on our films that will allow us to crossover beyond certain segments of population and in order to do so, we need time, assets and talent, which often is not available to us when going out day/date with Asia," says Pfardrescher.

Hollywood online

In July 2012, Apple expanded the music and movies section of its iTunes store to 12 Asian counties, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Some Hong Kong companies also began making their films available on the store alongside the predominant Hollywood films. This is the first time Hollywood films were legally available digitally in several of these countries.

Currently, only 34 foreign films can be released in China under revenue-share basis, although additional titles can be imported without a revenue-sharing deal. Even if nearly all 34 of those revenue-sharing films are from the United States, each major studio can only release a handful of films each year in China.

This was a trouble Universal ran into earlier this year with Despicable Me 2. Even though the film is suitable for a family audience, its local distributor Edko (Beijing) Films Ltd 安樂（北京）電影發行有限公司 reportedly chose not to use one of its limited quota slots on the untested animation series. Similarly, Academy Award Best Picture winner Argo never received a theatrical release in China.

However, these films have since been available legally on Chinese video platforms like Youku Tudou, LeTV and Tencent.

In China, an average 2-D movie ticket costs around RMB35 (US$5.72), while the price of a legitimate DVD can cost anywhere from RMB20 (US$3.27) to RMB40 (US$6.54). As movie-going remains an activity for the middle class, those living in urban areas with low income often resort to extralegal means to see films.

Thanks to a deal signed by the studios and video platforms, Chinese audiences can now see some of the latest Hollywood releases just weeks after their theatrical release in the United States. While the bigger films require a fee or a monthly subscription, most older titles are available for free.

An internet release in China may only bring in a fraction of what a theatrical release can earn, but there are several advantages to this strategy.

Video sites need a large catalog of major releases to attract subscribers to their subscription plans, which means they are more likely to buy films in bulk. Instead of relying on ticket sales, studios can still bring in revenue for older catalog titles through these deals. Not only does this provide a new way for the studios to break into what will eventually become the world's biggest film market, it would encourage Chinese consumers to pay for legal content in the long run.

Theatrical releases in China have to go through the government's strict censorship process, but video sites are in charge of censoring their own content. While video sites do make self-determined edits to films for objectionable content like nudity and graphic violence, censorship on these sites tend to be far more lenient. Films like World War Z that had censorship difficulties in the theatrical market, are available online in China with minor edits.

Like the video-on-demand platform in North America, the long-term benefits of Chinese emerging video platforms are yet to be seen. However, as audiences embrace new ways to watch films, finding new forms of distribution to capture these audiences can benefit both consumers and content owners.

[GeneChing]

Piracy affects the Chinese market more dramatically than the U.S. market it seems.

China 2013 Box Office Surges 27 Percent to $3.6 Billion
12:41 AM PST 1/2/2014 by Clifford Coonan


Huayi Brothers Media
"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons"
Preliminary data from the world's second-biggest movie market shows strength of homegrown films, but a smaller market share for Hollywood fare.

Chinese box office revenue rose $760 million (4.6 billion yuan) to $3.57 billion (21.6 billion yuan), an increase of 27 percent over last year's $2.8 billion (17 billion yuan), data from China's biggest online film review site, Mtime, showed on Thursday.

The figure marks a strong performance for the world's second-biggest film market, but it falls slightly short of the expectation of $3.64 billion (22 billion yuan).

While the data will be cheered by Hollywood executives keen for a piece of this burgeoning market, U.S. titles did not perform as well as in previous years, after a strong showing by local players. Of the top 10 biggest films of the year here, seven were Chinese.

However, the report noted that two foreign movies in particular -- Justin Lin's Fast & Furious 6 and the latest James Bond movie Skyfall -- suffered because they were released weeks after they had opened elsewhere, in order to give local films a head start, while pirates ate into revenues.

The data is expected to be updated with official figures tallied by the state-owned publication China Film News, but the numbers are very much in line with what's already in circulation, which show that China's box office total breached the $3 billion barrier in late November, hitting $3.17 billion by the end of that month.

The biggest movie in China last year was Stephen Chow's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which took in $205.9 million, according to the figures. Journey passed the one-billion yuan threshold ($160 million) in China in just 16 days.

This was followed by Marvel's Ironman 3, directed by Shane Black, which took in $124 million, some distance behind Chow's historical action epic. In third place was another local favorite, actress-turned-director Vicki Zhao’s directorial debut, So Young, which took in $117 million (710 million yuan).

The other big Hollywood moves in the top 10 were Pacific Rim, which grossed $114.7 million (694 million yuan), a fourth-place finish, and Gravity, which pulled in $72.7 million (440 million yuan), good for 10th in the list.

Fifth place went to Tsui Hark's action movie Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, which notched $99.15 million (600 million yuan), while Feng Xiaogang's comedy Personal Tailor, which is still showing in the cinemas, came in sixth place with $96.2 million (582 million yuan).

Peter Chan's American Dreams in China, a comedy drama seen as a Chinese version of The Social Network and stars Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, Tong Dawei and supermodel Du Juan, came in seventh with $87.6 million (530 million yuan).

In eighth was Xue Xiaolu's romantic comedy Finding Mr. Right, which took in $84.28 million (510 million yuan), despite being made for just $5 million.

Guo Jingming's Tiny Times came in ninth place with $79.32 million (480 million yuan).

During the first half of 2013, Chinese films did better than expected, especially small productions like Tiny Times, So Young and Finding Mr. Right.

[GeneChing]

Doris Pfardrescher on Importing Asian Films Ms. Pfardrescher is President and Head of Acquisitions for Well Go USA.

[GeneChing]

Hopefully, Hollywood will reciprocate by distributing Chinese blockbusters. Of course, there aren't too many Chinese blockbusters that will translate well for the U.S. audience right now.

China Mulls Upping Film Quota by 10 (Exclusive)
9:15 AM PST 2/9/2014 by Clifford Coonan



The decision to allow 44 foreign releases into the massive market could come as early next month.

The Film Bureau in Beijing looks set to raise the quota of foreign movies allowed into China by 10 movies to 44 films, a sign of growing openness in the world's second-biggest box-office market.

"We are examining raising the quota of foreign movies right now, probably by around 10 films. It's being discussed but we haven't made a decision yet," a source tells THR.

Raising the quota could do much to improve relations between Hollywood and China, which have been tense in the past few months over difficulties regarding payment and a screening scheduling that favors local products.

While no deadline for the increase could be confirmed, the quota could be raised as soon as March, when China's annual parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC) gathers in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

In February 2012, China raised the number of overseas movies allowed to screen in China by 14 to 34 on a revenue-sharing basis, making way for more 3D and Imax titles.

That deal was announced by China's President Xi Jinping, said to be a bit of a Hollywood movie fan, during a visit to the United States, in tandem with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Hollywood has lobbied hard for the import quota to be lifted completely, saying it breaches rules on trade imposed by China's membership in the World Trade Organization.

The source said that, as it stands, most Hollywood movies that try to get a screening tend to make it unless they don't meet censorship standards.

"Censorship is not going to change, so in some ways it doesn't really matter because if your film doesn't meet censorship requirements, then it wont' get in," said the source.

U.S. releases account for the lion's share of the movies that are released in China. Sources said that Italy and France have been lobbying the Chinese government hard to have their films exempted from the quota.

There is also growing flexibility. Last year the quota filled around one month before the end of the year, and some big movies such as Ender's Game and The Great Gatsby looked set to miss out on a China showing, but space was found for the films -- Gatsby got in as an Australian film.

[GeneChing]

Posting this here just because it's the Beijing Film Academy

Girl protests with Kung Fu outside of Beijing school after failing entrance exam



A girl from Shandong who failed an entrance exam at the Beijing Film Academy let everybody know what that school was missing on when she protested outside of the building on February 15 by showing off her badass Kung Fu skills. Because failure is for the WEAK.


The girl said that she didn't have enough opportunity to show her talents during the exam's first round, which a total of 797 students passed on Saturday.

[GeneChing]

As this is reported in THR, it can go here.

Jackie Chan, Yao Ming Attend China's Annual Congressional Meeting
11:33 PM PST 3/4/2014 by Clifford Coonan


Jackie Chan in Beijing
The Communist Party's legislative conference is expected to approve reforms by President Xi Jinping and was visited by Chinese directors and actors serving in a symbolic advisory role.

Leading Chinese filmmakers Jackie Chan, Feng Xiaogang and Chen Kaige were among delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People for China’s annual rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress and its advisory body.

Wednesday, March 5 marks the start of the strictly choreographed parliament meeting in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing, which is expected to approve efforts to keep President Xi Jinping’s economic reform plans on track.

The event is actually two political meetings, the ‘liang hui’, which combines the annual sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a debating chamber that began on Monday, and the National People's Congress (NPC).

The NPC gives rubber-stamp approval to policy drafts that have already been hammered out and approved by the Communist Party’s senior leadership in closed-door meetings.

The NPC will be closely watched to see what changes it might introduce to help the entertainment industry. There has been much speculation about the possibility of the quota for foreign movies allowed into China being raised, although the Film Bureau has denied the reports.

However, the strong performance of Chinese movies in recent months, plus pressure on Beijing to remove quotas to meet World Trade Organization rules, has some insiders speculating that change might soon be afoot.

The NPC is likely to include some reference to efforts to promote the culture industries, and industry members will be closely watching to see what this means for censorship and attempts to sell Chinese movies overseas.

The celebrities are attending the CPPCC, which is an advisory body to the NPC and has no political power.

However, it does offer a platform. Feng, who has directed movies such as Assembly and Back to 1942, has in previous years used the CPPCC to slam censorship in China.

And it is a high-profile body too. Five people were stripped of their CPPCC membership over the past year, reportedly for corruption offenses, including Liu Yingxia, one of China's richest women.

Other celebrities taking part include the Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan, former NBA star Yao Ming, actors Pu Cunxi, Zhao Benshan and Zhang Guoli, and popular entertainer Huang Hong.

The annual session of the CPPCC opened with a moment of silence for the victims of a deadly knife attack in the Kunming train station in southwest China on March 1.

President Xi marks his first year as president this week, and the NPC will focus on pushing through the package of reforms decided at the Third Plenum meeting in November.

The event is characterized by synchronized rounds of applause and lots of promises to “unswervingly” follow Marxist Leninist diktats and promote the party.

The parliamentary gathering is also one of the wealthiest in the world -- there are over 80 billionaires among its 5,000 delegates.

The Chinese government is cracking down on corruption, which has translated into an austerity campaign. This means no luxury dishes on the menu at the NPC, and only one bottle of water per participant, with no seconds until you finish the first bottle.

Gone are the days when restaurants geared up their special menus for the visiting delegates, including shark fin soup and abalone.

[GeneChing]

It's about censorship.

Jackie Chan, artists launch tirade against film censorship during CPPCC meeting
Authorities urged to allow artistic freedom after delegates spot censorship clause in work report
Keira Lu Huang keira.huang@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 06 March, 2014, 6:29pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 06 March, 2014, 6:50pm


CPPCC member Jackie Chan (centre) is escorted to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for parliamentary talks. Photo: EPA

What was meant to be a run-of-the-mill panel discussion on the government’s work report among art experts in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s (CPPCC) turned into a grumbling session this week, as personalities like actor Jackie Chan and award-winning filmmaker Feng Xiaogang criticised censorship in the country.

Feng urged the authorities to give directors more freedom, saying: “Don’t make directors tremble with fear every day like [they’re] walking on thin ice.”
Is their [censors'] patriotism, political judgment and artistic taste better than ours, the directors?
Feng Xiaogang, filmmaker

Feng quoted a section of the central government’s work report – delivered by Premier Li Keqiang – as “clearly” saying, “We will cancel or delegate to lower-level governments an additional 200-plus items requiring State Council review and approval.”

“Who do you think this message is for?” Feng said at the meeting at Beijing International Hotel. “For the State Film Administration and those who conduct censorship as well.”

“We don’t have a ‘film censorship law’; to kill a film or not depends on examiners. Is their patriotism, political judgment and artistic taste better than ours, the directors?" he said.

“We, as directors, on one hand have to rack our brains to cope with the authorities. On the other hand, we also need to ingratiate ourselves with [the] consensus. Exhausted!”

Jackie Chan, a Hong Kong delegate to the CPPCC and a good friend of Feng, said: “I know there’s a risk to saying this, but I don’t care now, because it seems normal that I speak inappropriately.”


Director Feng Xiaogang gives an impassioned plea for less censorship at the CPPCC panel meeting on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

If a movie is heavily censored, cutting all the “sharp edges and corners”, its box-office performance will suffer drastically, Chan said, adding that it had disastrous results for its investors and producers.

“I have a couple of director friends [who went] bankrupt because of poor box-office results,” said Chan.

“Last year, China box office earnings reached 21.7 billion yuan (HK$27.5 billion), in which 17.1 billion [yuan] was from domestic movies.

"Within five to six years, China will be the biggest market. However, if Chinese films don’t take marketisation seriously, it will hardly have the chance to surpass Hollywood.”

Feng mentioned his films Assembly (2007) and Aftershock (2010) as examples of work that had to be modified to suit the censors’ wishes.

Assembly was almost banned as authorities thought it aggrandised war sacrifice, while Aftershock was criticised as capitalising on the 1976 earthquake tragedy in Tangshan city, Hebei province.

The discussion on Wednesday was recorded by a reporter for Japan’s Kyodo News Agency and published on his personal blog.

Encouraged by Feng’s outburst, comedian and TV star Song Dandan also set aside political considerations and attacked the declining quality of Chinese television shows as studios focused more on ratings.

“China has around 2,000 TV channels. To get a higher rating, many produce shoddy shows. Some even fake the ratings,” Song said. “If this continues, Chinese TV production will be worthless.”

Actor Zhang Guoli tried to shift the attention back to the report and started talking about Premier Li Keqiang mentioning the importance of “cultural construction”.

But Feng interrupted Zhang, calling for a “big loosening” of the state’s grip.


Zhang Guoli tried to steer the discussion back to the work report but was stopped by director Feng Xiaogang's tirade against censorship. Photo: Xinhua

“So what Guoli means is that blasting the White House, having bad guys among the police – these are all acceptable to authorities because capitalism is chaotic,” the director said.

“However, Chinese movies can’t follow it because we don’t have violence and absolutely no bad guys among police. Chinese directors can’t bring shame on China,” said Feng, eliciting laughter from the delegates.

However, if directors are to work within the government’s parameters, the filmmaker suggested eliminating one of two steps in the censorship process, by simply screening the final cut instead of vetting the scripts as well.

He also called for close monitoring of the progress of the premier’s work report. “We can’t just appraise how good this report is. The key is to see whether it can be implemented,” Feng said.

[GeneChing]

Excellent FAQ-style article.

China Cinema 101
By Stephen Cremin
Mon, 24 March 2014, 07:00 AM (HKT)


At the start of Hong Kong FilMart, which positions itself as a gateway to China, Film Business Asia dispels some misconceptions about the Mainland film business, including its quota, its censorship and its love of 3-D.

Why are only 34 foreign films released in China each year?
In 2013, approximately 60 foreign films were released in China, representing just under a quarter of all theatrical films. In the first three months of 2014, 20 out of 69 releases are foreign. This is using a narrow definition of foreign films: excluding co-productions and titles from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The oft-referenced 34 releases is a flexible quota for foreign films distributed on a profit-sharing basis. There is no limit to the number of flat fee deal films.

Will China's film industry be the world's biggest in 2018?
Maybe. With ticket sales of US$3.57 billion, China was the world's number two theatrical market in 2013. For the past three years, China's box office has grown at an average rate of 28%. If that can be sustained, then China's box office will cross US$12 billion in 2018. The US box office was has been just under US$11 billion for two years in a row. Cinemas are still being built at a rapid pace in China. The country had 18,195 screens at the start of 2014, 27.9% of which were added in 2013.

But don't Chinese audiences want to watch Hollywood films?
Sometimes. Local films had a 71% market share in 2013, up from 48% in 2012 and 54% in 2011. The strength of local films is a broader, regional trend. In Japan and South Korea, local films had a market share over 60% last year. In India, local films sustained a market share over 90%. There's a dangerous assumption that audiences around the world primarily want to watch Hollywood films and that it's trade barriers that are preventing that.

Why do Chinese audience's love 3-D films so much?
In China, 3-D films are released exclusively in 3-D. There is no 2-D option. RoboCop was converted to 3-D exclusively for its China release. Because of this lack of choice, cinemas can charge a 50% surcharge on 3-D tickets in what is already one of the most expensive countries in the world to watch movies. If audiences in China are less price-sensitive, it's because going to the cinema is already a luxury. Eight of the ten all-time highest grossing films in China were released in 3-D, of which four are Chinese-language films.

Why are horror films banned in China?
Some superstitious and supernatural elements such as ghosts are forbidden in local films (although demons transformed from animal spirits are permitted), but horror films are not banned. In fact, there's been a boom in horror films in China in recent years, including a number of surprisingly violent slasher horrors. In China, there is currently no ratings system that can restrict selected films to adult viewers.

So what is censored in China?
Violence was cut from Pacific Rim. Nudity was cut from Titanic (1997). The Taiwan flag was cut from You Are the Apple of My Eye 那些年，我們一起追的女孩。 (2011). Local producers have shown that with determination they can explore sensitive subjects in their films. For example, a series of films by director WANG Jing 王競 and producer XIE Xiaodong 謝曉東 have touched on the hot topics of migrant workers (The End of Year 一年到頭 (2007)), Internet vigilantism (Invisible Killer 無形殺 (2009)) and corruption in the pharmaceuticals industry (Vegetate 我是植物人 (2010)).

Why are American animations treated unfairly in China?
You're talking about The Croods and Despicable Me 2, right? The two films made US$117 million in China. The Croods had its theatrical run extended in China, not cut short. (To be precice, its extension was shortened.) It made RMB394 million (US$64.3 million) in seven weeks, its biggest international gross. Despicable Me 2 was never banned in China as widely reported. Universal had a business disagreement with their local partner, set up their own office and released the film this year. It made RMB323 million (US$52.7 million) in China, second only to the UK outside North America.

[GeneChing]

So the rest is worth $320 mil?

IMAX sells 20% of China operations
By Kevin Ma
Fri, 11 April 2014, 13:40 PM (HKT)
Industry News



IMAX Corporation announced this week that it has sold 20% of its stake in IMAX China (Hong Kong) Limited to China Media Capital (CMC) 華人文化產業投資基金 and equity firm FountainVest Partners.

According to a statement released by IMAX, the transaction price was approximately US$80 million. CMC is led by LI Ruigang 黎瑞剛, also the president of Shanghai Media Group (SMG) 上海東方傳媒集團有限公司.

IMAX says that bringing Chinese ownership into IMAX China is likely to lead to an eventual IPO for the subsidiary company. One of the top film brands in the world, IMAX currently operates 173 screens across Mainland China, with an additional 237 screens planned.

[GeneChing]

I love that. I'm so going to use that. Cultural fish bone can refer not only to Chinese film. It plays a huge part in Chinese martial arts.

Chinese cinema on the world map
By Kevin Ma
Tue, 22 April 2014, 09:30 AM (HKT)
Sales Feature



While co-productions have been on the tip of everyone's tongues at this year's Beijing Film Market 北京國際電影節電影市場, local industry insiders took part in a seminar organised by local media sina.com 北京新浪互聯信息服務有限公司 to explore why Chinese films have yet to make a dent on the world cinema map and whether there are new ways to bring Chinese cinema to the world.

Hollywood films have been a great financial success over the world. However, China, the world's second biggest territory for films, has yet to see its homegrown products receive the same treatment around the world. Revenue from foreign sales of Chinese films saw a decrease in 2013, while domestic hits like Lost in Thailand 人再囧途之泰囧 (2012) and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 西游　降魔篇 failed to make much box office abroad.

However, Bona Film Group Co Ltd 博納影業集團有限公司 Chairman YU Dong 于冬 remains optimistic about the situation, believing that Chinese cinema is in a decade of transition and that the industry needs to take three steps to reach the world: 1) Cultivate buyers' taste for Chinese films by selling them in bulk at a low price; 2) Send talents overseas by participating in international co-productions ("Even if they're just cameos"); and 3) Bring international production teams to work on Chinese films and tell Chinese stories.

The first two steps have already been taken — Yu said Iron Man 3 turned WANG Xueqi 王學圻 into one of the most widely seen faces in the world, despite being in just one scene — and the third step is already in progress with Jean-Jacques ANNAUD's Wolf Totem 狼圖騰.

Producer WANG Weimin 王為民 revealed that the 3-D drama has sold very well overseas, including an US$8 million minimum guarantee in Europe. Wang credits China Film Group Corporation 中國電影集團公司 for not only choosing to adapt a story that audiences are familiar with, but also boldly stepping out and invite an international team to tell a Chinese story.

However, Wang and other guests acknowledge the difficulties in getting international audiences to accept Chinese films.

Wang offered a very simple answer to the problem: "Film is a consumer product. As filmmakers, we have to make consumer products that audiences will accept. Why can't Chinese films go to the world? Chinese films-makers don't know enough about the world. Your products have to inspire audiences' desire to see it."

"The problem with Chinese stories is that Chinese society is a sentimental society, a society of acquaintances. We're always telling human stories, but our stories don't explore human nature," China Film Promotion International 中國電影海外推廣中心 general manage ZHOU Tiedong 周鐵東 said.

Zhou introduced the idea of "cultural fish bone", referring to the fact that foreigners have trouble eating Chinese fish dishes because the bones are not picked out. "We must take out the things that make our films difficult for audiences to swallow. This is how Hollywood films succeed. They tell global, universal stories. Their films basically have no 'cultural fish bones'. They connect to audiences of any culture, any age," Zhou said.

However, Wanda Media Co Ltd 萬達影視傳媒有限公司's Jerry YE 葉寧 expressed doubts about stripping cultural specificity for the sake of reaching a wide audience. "We can't just step out for the sake of stepping out. We have to do it while confident about our culture," Ye said.

Yu added that the biggest issue facing China now is deciding which genres have a better chance at selling abroad. He used to opportunity to reveal that Bona is planning to produce an international version of Alan MAK 麥兆輝 and Felix CHONG 莊文強's Overheard 竊聽風雲 (2009) series. Instead of selling remake rights, Bona wants to co-produce an English-language remake with a Hollywood company. The film, about shady dealings in the financial world, would be set on Wall Street and feature mostly American actors as well as several Chinese actors.

"In foreigners' eyes, we may have good stories, but they were not well told. Infernal Affairs 無間道 (2002) had a great story, so Hollywood bought it and made it universal," Zhou responded, "It's a good idea for Bona to lead the Overheard remake project, but the Chinese side cannot lead the story and the script. We may have a good story that Hollywood wants, but the story must become universal."

Ye concluded the forum by pointing out that in terms of export potential, Chinese animation is one of the healthiest genres in the industry because of the possibilities in branding, making it very different from other types of films. "Animated films don't necessarily have to make a profit at the box office as long as they can help build a brand," said Ye.

[GeneChing]

I hadn't put this together so, but Ma is spot on with this.

Remake Fever: West to East

By Kevin Ma

Sun, 18 May 2014, 16:30 PM (HKT)
Production Feature

Inspiration can flow both ways. Asian films have been remade in the west over the decades, from The Magnificent Seven (1960, based on KUROSAWA Akira 黒澤明's Seven Samurai 七人の侍 (1954) to Martin SCORSESE's The Departed (2006) (based on Hong Kong's Infernal Affairs 無間道 (2002) to Spike Lee's recent Oldboy based on PARK Chan-wook 박찬욱 | 朴贊郁's Cannes competition thriller. In recent years, Asian film-makers have turned the table by retooling western stories for local audiences as remakes. With one of them, The Target 표적 by South Korea's CHANG 창 (based on French classic Point Blank), landing at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Film Business Asia maps out the recent history of western stories retold by Asian film-makers.

Greater China
Billing itself as the first official Chinese remake of a Hollywood film, Benny CHAN 陳木勝's action thriller Connected 保持通話 (2008) is based on the 2004 Hollywood thriller Cellular. Co-produced by Emperor Motion Pictures 英皇電影 and Warner China Film HG Corporation 中影華納橫店影視有限公司, the HK$45 million (US$5.8 million) production kept the original's basic premise — a man receives a call from a kidnapped woman and races against time to rescue her – but changes the background of the hero (played by Chris EVANS in the original and Louis KOO 古天樂 in the remake), increases the role of the villain, and plays to Chan's strength as an action director with large-scale set-pieces including an extended car chase through the streets of Hong Kong.

In 2010, Emperor also co-produced What Women Want 我知女人心 (2011), the official Chinese remake of Nancy Meyer's film. Starring Mel GIBSON and Helen HUNT, the 2000 romantic comedy was about an ad executive who gains the power to hear women's thoughts after experiencing a freak accident. Putting the luxurious upper-class lifestyle of young Chinese executives on display, CHEN Daming 陳大明's Chinese remake, co-produced by Bona Film Group Co Ltd 博納影業集團有限公司 and China Film Group Corporation 中國電影集團公司, showed that China is also capable of producing a film with Hollywood's gloss and polish. It also retained the star wattage of the original by casting Chinese superstars Andy LAU 劉德華 and GONG Li 鞏俐 in the lead roles. Released during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2011, the film made RMB68.9 million (US$8.89 million) at the China box office.

Unlike Connected and What Women Want, ZHANG Yimou 張藝謀's A Simple Noodle Story 三槍拍案驚奇 (2009) (aka A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop) is a considerable departure from its source material, transporting the Texas locations of the The Coen Brothers' noir Blood Simple to the desolated desert of Gansu Province. The film marked a significant change of pace for the renowned film-maker with its mixture of over-the-top screwball comedy and suspense thriller. Starring popular comedian Xiao Shen Yang 小瀋陽 and YAN Ni 閆妮 opposite SUN Honglei 孫紅雷, Noodle Story divided critics and audiences, but proved one of the director's biggest hits, grossing RMB261 million (US$33.7 million) in China.

Five years on, Noodle Story remains the highest-grossing Chinese remake of a western film, though its record may not last long. Huayi Brothers Media Corporation 華誼兄弟傳媒股份有限公司 recently announced that it is remaking Italian comedies Men vs. Women and Women vs. Men. Bona Film Group is planning a remake of Hollywood comedy Bride Wars. Its script was recently approved by State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) 國家新聞出版廣電總局.

Japan & South Korea
Co-produced by Nippon Television Network Corp 日本テレビ, Paramount Pictures Japan パラマウント, Shochiku Co Ltd 松竹 and CJ Entertainment Inc ＣＪ엔터테인먼트, Ghost ゴースト　もういちど抱きしめたい (2010) aimed to cash in on the popularity of the original film as well as the latest wave of South Korean pop culture that swept Japan that included pop music and television dramas. Directed by OTANI Taro 大谷太郎, the remake featured popular South Korean actor SONG Seung-heon 송승헌 | 宋承憲 as the male lead but switched the roles around so that the female lead, played by MATSUSHIMA Nanako 松嶋菜々子, is the ghost. Otherwise, the new version adheres fairly close to the original, even recreating the classic sculpting scene in the first act of the film.

Before it turned its attention to China, Fox International also tried its hand in the Japan market. In 2009, Fuji Television Network Inc フジテレビジョン approached the company with the idea for a local remake of Alexander PAYNE's Academy Award-nominated comedy Sideways. Instead of bringing the story to Japan, the remake by Cellin Gluck — an American who grew up in Japan and directed the English-language portion of several Japanese films — brings the Japanese characters to the United States and changes the setting from Santa Barbara to Napa Valley. Unlike the Ghost remake, Fuji and Fox had hoped that the relatively low awareness of the original film in Japan would help attract new audiences that would appreciate the remake on its own terms. However, the US$3 million Sideways サイドウェイズ (2009) grossed only ¥135 million (US$1.32 million) during its modest 185-screen release in Japan.

Similarly, South Korea's Taewon Entertainment Inc 태원엔터테인먼트 took a lesser known western film to retool for the South Korean market with Everybody Has Secrets 누구나 비밀은 있다 (2004), a remake of Ireland's About Adam. Seemingly aiming to capitalise on the sex appeal of LEE Byeong-heon 이병헌 | 李炳憲, the romantic comedy stars the local heartthrob as a playboy who successfully seduces three sisters. It was not considered a huge success in South Korea with 896,000 admissions. However, as part of the first "Korean wave" in Japan, the JANG Hyun-su 장현수 film became one of the highest grossing South Korean films in Japan due to Lee's popularity there.

Remaking Asia
Aside from Hollywood, Asian film-makers have also borrowed ideas from each other by remaking films from other Asian countries.

Directors CHO Ui-seok 조의석 and KIM Byung-seo 김병서 | 金丙書 brings the gripping story of a Hong Kong police surveillance team to Seoul in Cold Eyes 감시자들, the official remake of YAU Nai-hoi 游乃海's Eye in the Sky 跟蹤 (2007). Staying faithful to the original story while significantly amplifying the action elements, the hit remake even included a cameo by original star Simon YAM 任達華.

With director John WOO 吳宇森 on board as executive producer, SONG Hae-sung 송해성 | 宋海星's remake of his Hong Kong crime classic A Better Tomorrow 英雄本色 (1986) retains the film's original premise – a former gang boss trying to rekindle his relationship with his estranged policeman brother – but retools the story to fit South Korean culture. In the Korean-language A Better Tomorrow 무적자 (2010) the two brothers are now defectors from North Korea, and the original film's sole female character was removed.

Reversing direction once again, director HAN Yan 韓延 remade low-key South Korean drama ...ing ．．．ｉｎｇ［아이앤지］ (2003) into Mainland production First Time 第一次 (2012), a polished romantic melodrama. The Edko Films Ltd 安樂影片有限公司 co-production changed the structure of the original by telling the story from dual perspectives. It was also an impressive showcase for its young stars Angelababy 楊穎 and Mark CHAO 趙又廷.

A true Pan-Asian production, Edko's live-action remake of Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) is co-produced by a Hong Kong company, written by Hong Kong writers, directed by a French director and features a cast of actors from South Korea, Japan and the United States. The English-language film featured a strong performance by South Korean star Gianna JUN 전지현 | 全智賢 in her first English-language role, but like many remakes the film failed to make an impact at the box office.