Hollywood.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
The Chinese film market showed incredible performance in 2014 with a 36-percent increase in sales than the previous year. This entails that, despite the penetration of Hollywood films, the country's domestic film industry is able to compete and remain profitably strong.
According to Entgroup, a leading research center in Chinese entertainment industry, China screened 388 films in 2014, earning some 29.6 billion yuan ($4.76 billion). Interestingly, films from North America dropped by 6 percent.
The report indicates further that the quality of domestic films is improving. Translated in numbers, this shows that 54.5 percent of box-office earnings came from local films.
Although the country's industry watchdog increased the quota for foreign films from 20 to 34, Chinese films still performed and grossed gold.
"What domestic filmmakers need to do is to improve their own quality, particularly making more 'high-concept' movies," the report said.
This means that the threat to the local film industry will not be from high-grossing blockbusters like "Transformers 4: Age of Extinction," but from the people making the films themselves.
Entgroup also touched on how the local film industry helps generate jobs for the country. The report said that, in 2014, the industry generated over 50,000 jobs directly and indirectly that accounted to an output of 68.7 billion yuan.
China's influence will continue to penetrate the global box-office market, with many domestic films being shown as well in worldwide screens. Last year, China's film outputs contributed to a 75-percent increase in the total number of films made worldwide.
Further, all six Hollywood filming studios--Walt Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Columbia and Universal--have decided to set up bases in the mainland.
Add to this fact that renowed directors like European Jean-Jacques Annaud are looking to China--not the U.S.--for co-productions. The director helmed the 2014 film "Wolf Totem." According to reports, China has ongoing 10 co-productions with foreign filmmakers as of year-end 2014.
