Research Paper on "In the Year 2010"

Research Paper 15 pages (4875 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Five years later, Benjamin Brosky produced the first films in Shanghai. He was lured by the amount of profit in this industry. After this, a number of producing companies were opened in China. The popular ones are Mingsin Company and the Commercial Press Limited. (J.R 72-75)

At the time of the Sino-Japanese hostilities, about eight motion picture companies were working in Shanghai but due to the demolition of most of the buildings during the hostilities, none of them is operational now. New investments came in quickly and new companies were made rather quickly after the incident. (J.R 72-75)

The biggest investment belonged to the Chinese Motion Picture Company with a net worth of $200,000,000 in Chinese currency. The company produced great hits like Sable Cicada and Empress Wu Cheh Tieh. (J.R 72-75)

Historical films are very popular nowadays in the Chinese public. They are used as a medium to awaken the lost patriotism in the public. The laws and censorship don't allow the political content to be forecasted and these laws are strictly followed. So the historical films come in quite handy in stimulating the patriotism in the public. (J.R 72-75)

The success of motion pictures and the people working on them lured more and more investments in it. The production of films was costly, but it gave a higher return. These movies made the producers rich and the actors popular among the people as they used to play the roles that the public idolized. Thus, the actors then became stars who were followed by the public. (J.R 72-75)

Male stars in China are more popular than their female counterparts. This is because they play the roles of men with courage and valor in historical films. According to Chinese people these national heroes should return. (J.R 72-75)

Trends in The Market For Chinese Films:

Chinese films are of three types: Commercial, propaganda and art films. They go through the same screening process but have different goals. These films have demand in different markets like Chinese art films have a demand in the western art house, but they are rarely watched by the Chinese crowd even though they are cheaply available on pirated DVDs. Commercial films are popular among the local public. ("CHINESE FILM INDUSTRY AND MOVIE Business") (Stanley )

With the launch of Hollywood movies in China in 1994, the Chinese filmmakers decided to reverse this system and tried to make films, which are successful on the domestic and international level. The main idea behind this endeavor was to give Chinese films the popularity they had before the arrival of Hollywood in China. From 2004 to 2005, the Chinese film industry did capture the limelight internationally with the release of films like Hero and Kung Fu Hustle. The main challenge, however, for the Chinese filmmakers is to promote their films in their own country. The Hollywood films serve as a competition for the Chinese filmmakers to motivate them and they actually have motivated them to produce hits like Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. (Stanley 35-54)

The market for the Chinese film industry has increased over the years. The main reason is the decline in demand for the North American films. North America's share in the total revenue generated by film making was 45.8% in 2004 and it reduced to 29% in the first quarter of 2008. The Chinese films began to become Hollywood hits in the years 2004-5 but before that, these films were not very successful. The films before that time included Crouching Tiger, which was a hit but the rest did not fare very well. Before 2004, these films rarely took the box office hits title. A movie "Shall We Dance" generated revenue of 9.5 million dollars. However, it was remade and the remake version was quite a hit. (Stanley 35-54)

This poses a question. Will the market of Chinese films depend on their remakes? It has become a common practice for Hollywood producers to get the rights to an overseas movie and then remake it. The movie "Ringgu" which did not even make it to the Hollywood theatre was remade and generated revenue of 400 million dollars on domestic and international levels. (Stanley 35-54)

China's box office revenues boomed in 2009-10 with a staggering 44% and 64% increase from the previous year respectively. On the other hand, U.S. box office fell down by 5.72% that year. This success was contributed by hits like Avatar, Aftershock and If you are the one 2. The revenue in 2010 was 1.57 billion dollars, 56% of which was generated by local films. ("FOREIGN FILMS IN CHINA AND CHINESE FILMS ABROAD")

To assess the position of Chinese films in the international market, we see the statistics about the films with a foreign language. The impact of Chinese films has developed in the international markets these years because of the rise in demand for the foreign movies in UK after the breakthrough film "The Crouching Tiger." Before "The Crouching Tiger," only six movies crossed the dollar 1.9 million benchmark in the UK but after its release, 10 other films crossed that mark. The three most successful foreign films in the UK were related to martial arts and this was exploited by Chinese filmmakers. (Stanley 35-54)

The Chinese films have fared better in the U.S. market as well. On the top of the twenty five most successful foreign films, was a Chinese film: The Crouching Tiger. In addition to that, five other Chinese films made it to the list. This is because the Chinese films make the most triumphant art house films. Moreover, the Chinese films mostly consist of martial arts in which the audience can tolerate the subtitles for the action on the screen. Furthermore, Chinese films are simultaneously released in more theatres than any other foreign film. Thus, they enjoy higher penetration than the other foreign films. The Chinese film Kung Fu Hustle was released in 2503 theatres simultaneously. (Stanley 35-54)

On the contrary, the triumph of Chinese films depends on some names such as Jet Li and Stephen Chow. If these names failed to perform, or they are not in a movie, then the success of that movie will be at a risk. This also creates another risk that the movies that have been successful locally will not fare well internationally as they won't have the people whom the international crowd follows and seeks. (Stanley 35-54)

Foreign and Local Films in the Chinese Market

The market for foreign films in China has always been low. The local films cover up most of the revenue and market. One reason for the high share of revenue by the local films is the rules that the Chinese government has made. The foreign films face a lot of analysis on their way to the theatre. The guidelines regarding the content are: no sex, religion, occult or anything that could depict criminal behavior. These guidelines strip most of the films off their key ingredients, which make them successful. ("FOREIGN FILMS IN CHINA AND CHINESE FILMS ABROAD")

The rules in China have always been strict about the foreign films. There is an exemption; however, for joint production and the producers take huge advantages of it. The Chinese government controls the import of foreign films and it thinks that if more than 30 foreign films are shown, the Chinese industry will collapse. Despite the fact that only 20 foreign titles competed with the army of 500 local films in 2010, they still take away 45% of the revenue. Avatar, on its release, generated 190 million dollars, which is a huge amount in front of the 95 million that the best local film Let the Bullets Fly made. On this, the CEO of Emperor Motion Pictures said, 'Imagine if you had 30 Avatars a year. They'd completely take over the market.' The laws help the Chinese producers survive. ("FOREIGN FILMS IN CHINA AND CHINESE FILMS ABROAD")

The Hollywood filmmakers have to face a great deal of problems in China. There are political pressures they have to deal with. The movie "The Lorax" was cleared by the government of China, but its release was delayed six months by the members of China film association that because they wanted to release the movie in competition with another Hollywood movie. ("FOREIGN FILMS IN CHINA AND CHINESE FILMS ABROAD")

The films that are hits on the Chinese box office are the ones with a lot of action. In addition to that, the Chinese crowd prefers films that have less to understand about other people and their culture. A good example of this would be avatar which had no complexities to resolve and thus it became the most successful foreign film in 2010 in China. There is a demand of foreign films in the Chinese market but the laws keep on shielding the local producers from competition from abroad. In the end, people will watch what they want to watch and the controls and the system cannot… READ MORE

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