COVER STORY: Inside China’s global entertainment ambitions – and what might get in the way
Nowhere is that more evident than in the film industry. Despite a slowdown in local production, in the past six months alone China has notched its second-highest-grossing film ever, the sci-fi epic “” , and released “Nezha,” which hit Chinese theaters July 26 and took just nine days to become the country’s biggest-ever animated film . Hollywood tentpoles have done well, too, including “” and “The Lion King” .
“It’s massive to go from zero to 40,” says Tommie Curran, QOMM’s former director of production. “Nowhere in the history of cinema has any company built a studio of that size from nothing into something in four to five years.” But while the mainland may be quickly gaining on the U.S. in moviemaking hardware, a talent and experience gap in screenwriting and production remains, creating a continuing need for Hollywood’s superior know-how.
One area where China is leading the way, with world-beating technology and innovative products, is the digital space, despite heavy government restrictions. Much more reliant on mobile for all aspects of their lives, from summoning a cellphone repairman to buying toilet paper or paying rent, Chinese consumers are fast at adapting to new forms of interactive visual entertainment.
For years, Chinese television has been bogged down by the need to bring investors rapid returns, keeping shoots short and production values low. The lengthy, bothersome and unpredictable censorship process makes producers prone to “add water” to their shows — that is, stretch out a 20-episode script to 60 or 70 episodes with product placements and pointless digressions — in order to get their money’s worth.
In March, authorities ordered filmmakers to turn the country from a “big film power” into a “strong film power” like the U.S. by 2035, and to develop 100 movies a year that earn more than $15 million each. “A country’s level of film development reflects its total national strength,” Wang Xiaohui, China’s top film official, said at the time.
With U.S.-China relations at their lowest point in years, there’s been little progress since, though informal discussions continue. The possibility of abandoning the limit on flat-fee imports has been bandied about, as has a promise to raise the quota of revenue-sharing films to more than 40. There is also apparently language in the works that will address the issue of online streaming.
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