By WangQi (Global Times)08:05, July 15, 2019
Police officer Ke Lu from Chinas Public Security Bureau introduces the methods of film piracy to visitors at a conference in Yangzhou, East Chinas Jiangsu Province, on April 29. Photo: Wang Qi/GT
Chinas film bureau has vowed to push Chinese films to enter the global market and nurture Chinese-style blockbusters that boost patriotism and the national spirit.
During a conference on last week, Wang Xiaojun, head of the Chinas State Film Administration pointed out that Chinas film industry has achieved great success in recent years, media reported Saturday.
Chinas box-office income in 2018 reached 61 billion yuan ($9.1 billion), making the country the worlds second largest film market. China produced 1,082 films in 2018, 20 percent more than the previous year, ranking it third after the US and India, said Wang.
China has the worlds largest number of screens, with more than 60,000 screens, 20,000 more than North America, Xinhua reported.
Wang said a lack of high quality films is an issue that Chinas film industry needs to overcome.
Using more international themes and improving translation will help Chinese filmmakers promote their films on the international market, said Wang.
The Chinese sci-fi film The Wander Earth is the latest domestic blockbuster to successfully enter the global market. The film made $3.28 million in the first 11 days the film was released in North America, the most for a Chinese film in five years. In China the movie was a megahit, earning a reported $699.7 million.
The film was shown in 135 cinemas in 80 cities in North America and 45 cinemas in 11 cities in Australia and New Zealand, according to guancha.cn, which claims 90 percent of available tickets were sold.
Some of Chinas filmmakers lack an international vision and have insufficient understanding of overseas markets, and cannot tell stories with an international context, Zhang Wanmin, an industry insider told the Global Times previously.
Analysts said most Chinese filmmakers always target a Chinese audience rather than the mainstream overseas market. Some critics say Chinese films are often too complicated to understand with abstruse historical references, and Western audiences are not accustomed to watching films requiring English subtitles.