Chinese Films Seek to Rival Hollywood

Look out, Hollywood, the Chinese box office is on course to set new domestic records. The question now is how to keep that upward direction going.
After a record $630 million take last year, the Chinese film industry is on pace to rake in $800 million in 2009. However, at an occasionally contentious panel last Sunday, leading filmmakers in the region suggested the business still needs to grow in sophistication, reports Variety.
Speaking at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival, Yu Dong, head of the Polybona distribution group, said the industry only has "limited kinds of movies." He added that the next five to six years will be critical.
"The market has developed but outsiders will come in soon—like the arrival of Hong Kong directors. Also Hollywood, which was initially scared but now sees opportunities for co-production," said Yu at a forum entitled, "Made in China: What Kind of Films Does the Domestic Market Want?"
If ticket sales are any indication, what they want are more films like Crazy Stone, a Guy Ritchie-ish heist flick, and City of Life and Death, a drama about the Nanjing massacre. Both films' directors — Ning Hao and Lu Chuan, respectively — were on-hand at Sunday’s panel, and belong to a select group of mainland Chinese helmers known as the "100-Million Club", which consists of directors whose films have made more than 100 million yuan ($15 million) in China.
But another panelist, art house filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai, criticized directors who go for commercial appeal.
"These films have all made more than 100 million yuan at the box office but as directors they fail," he said. "People say I should switch to commercial films but I want to stick to art. I believe in art and I believe in culture."
"I’m thinking of a greater good," said Wang, whose In Love We Trust won a Silver Bear for screenplay at Berlin last year.
The growing influence of Chinese films abroad has been helped by improved distribution. However, critics say Chinese filmmakers need to do less multi-tasking — they are often producer-distributor-helmer rolled into one — if they are going to have increased success abroad.
But Lu Chuan said the real problem is focusing on international film festivals instead of domestic audiences.
"Filmmakers are working in a changed market. Instead of deliberately separating art and commercial films, we should follow what the audiences want. The market is growing up and audiences are maturing,"he said.
"Arthouse and commercial films are in there together. What we acutely need in China are films like The Godfather or Apocalypse Now."