To increase Chinese influence and audiences in the global film market, China announced on Friday, Jan. 15, plans to build global networks that will distribute Chinese movies to a bigger overseas audience, according to a report by China.org.
China Media Capital (CMC) Holdings Limited and China Lion Film Distribution Inc., under the guidance of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), will work together to create the platform that will enable Chinese domestic films to actively participate in the global arena.
Jackie Chan and Gong Li, two of the most famous Chinese actors in the world, will serve as promotional ambassadors for the global network.
Jing Junhai, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, hopes that the film distribution platform will help spread, introduce and educate people from different parts of the world about Chinese culture and film development.
SAPPRFT's deputy director-general, Tong Gang, is also optimistic that the new platform will point Chinese film industry's development to the right direction.
"It was very hard to distribute Chinese films in previous years," said Jiang Yanming, founder of China Lion Film Distribution Inc. "Chinese films lack international distribution potential and audiences have not established a movie-going habit for Chinese films.
"But we still have faith for future Chinese releases overseas, and we have continued to explore the foreign market for more than five years. Now, we have reached a turning point. The distribution channels we have can already satisfy the needs of Chinese film companies and of Chinese audiences overseas."
In 2015, Chinese-made films performed well in the domestic market. Total grosses of films screened in China, both local and foreign, reached over 40 billion yuan ($6.08 billion). In the foreign market, Chinese films earned a total of 2.77 billion yuan, which represents a 48.13-percent increase.