A recent report has revealed that Chinese-made films are still lagging at the box office in foreign markets, said People’s Daily website April 14.
According to the blue paper issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in 2012 China produced more than 700 films, yet only 75 received a theatrical release in foreign markets. Total foreign box office revenues were a meager 1 billion yuan, a 48 percent drop from 2011.
The report also noted that action films are losing ground and fewer Chinese-made films are being exported. Frustrations over the foreign market, as opposed to the booming domestic one, have prompted film companies to shift their focus more on their own turf.
In 2012, China surpassed Japan to become the second-largest film market after America, with box-office receipts at around 17 billion yuan. In 2013, the market showed even stronger growth momentum. Domestic box office revenues grew by 27.51 percent to 20 billion yuan, and China-made films contributed to more than 96 percent of the growth.
Historically, imported movies accounted for a greater percentage of the overall market in China. But things changed in 2013. China’s domestically-made films beat Hollywood blockbusters to the number one slot in terms of market share, a development that excited filmmakers and investors, and more broadly, the entire country.
Despite robust performance within the country, it remains a lingering question as to how and when Chinese-made films could fascinate global audiences like their American counterparts. The Chinese believe that China, as the world’s second largest economy, needs to project its cultural influence through films, the popularly accepted entertainment at home and abroad.
For example, the low-budget film Lost in Thailand took China’s box office by storm in 2012 when it grossed more than 1.2 billion yuan in box office revenue in China, a hard feat for other films to beat. But it earned less than 400,000 yuan in America and 300,000 yuan in Thailand where it was set.
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