Tang Wei stars in the move "Book of Love." (Photo : Getty Images)
Many viewers are expecting more from the highly commercial and big budget film industry.
Jarome Matthew, a Canadian music producer and movie soundtrack specialist based in Beijing, gave a short comment on the movie "Book of Love."
He said, "Chinese filmmakers are not experienced in this movie genre. Watch 'Pretty Woman' or 'The Notebook' and compare it to 'Book of Love', you might know what I want to say."
According to a Chinese Cultural Daily report, the Chinese film industry reaped heavy profits in 2014 and 2015 with hits "Breakup Buddies" and "Monster Hunt" earning 1.1 billion yuan and 2.4 billion yuan respectively.
The dip in sales is speculated to be because of the poor quality of movies that are being shown. However, movies that rated poorly with critics are still doing well.
Based on the data of douban.com, a Chinese social media site, movies such as "Skiptrace" in 2016 and "Forever Young" in 2015, respectively, grossed 0.8 billion yuan and 0.3 billion yuan in the box office.
"Many Chinese [screenwriters], especially those for romantic films, seem to think they can have a very wide creative license, and the audience will believe anything they decide to write," Matthew said.
Because of the influx of capital in the film industry, many believe that producers should change the way movies are made. The growing movie business, they believe, should not compromise the quality of the film.
John Dietz, a Beijing-based American producer, and visual effects supervisor said, "Too much of the market is driven by the current influx of money. Many filmmaking decisions are more business based than quality based."
A moviegoer and an expat, Terry Visser, has been in Beijing for over five years. He is hopeful that the trend will change.
He said, "I would look forward to a movie that's innovative and related to the life of the everyday Chinese, how China has become influenced, how China has changed, and how Chinese people really think and feel."
