SIFF Special 1:Sellers Conservative, Buyers Optimistic on Chinese Movies Going Abroad

Nearly 50 Chinese movies are played in North America every year but very few of them are able to make their way into mainstream theatres. Only one or two succeed at the box office.

As Su Yi reports, while the distributors here in China are worried about box office sales abroad, movie distributors over on the other side of the Pacific Ocean are saying they need more Chinese works.

Promoting and selling movies abroad under state-level supervision is an international practice. China is no exception.

Zhou Tiedong is the CEO of China Film Promotion International. He says the overseas market for Chinese movies is small although domestic box office earnings hit 10 billion yuan last year.

"Most Chinese films are not visible to audiences. This is because they are not accessible to the market. Because of this lack of visibility and accessibility, they are not popular."

Christmas romance "If You Are the One part two" made more than 400-thousand dollars in the US, which was among the highest grossing Chinese films in the US last year. Another Chinese movie, disaster epic Aftershock, only made 60-thousand dollars there. By contrast, the movie earned over 100 million US dollars in the Chinese domestic market.

Even so, international figures such as the News Group's Rupert Murdoch are still encouraging Chinese movies to go overseas.

"I believe an open market in films and ideas is the key to inspire even more creativity. Only a thriving market willing to invest and nurture creativity, and eager for global competition will thrive in the coming years."

This was more than just a motivational speech at the Shanghai international film festival.Sun Dee Larson is the Vice President of the Film Marketing and Communications department of AMC, the second largest cinema group in North America. His company is responsible for screening movies that have been recommended by a small Chinese distributor. These movies are screened in major theaters across the US.

Larson says they want more works from China.

"It would be great if we had Chinese films constantly in these theaters. I mean right now a movie will open up and play for a few weeks and be several weeks until the next one comes. So if there is a consistent flow of Chinese films, I think that will help our box office."

However, China Film Promotion International CEO Zhou Tiedong says he wants to develop the industry step by step.

He suggests that besides Asian markets with similar cultural backgrounds, overseas Chinese communities will be their target group for a long time.

"Their memories of local culture and even the local language are a mindshare of our movies. We should try to do a lot of publicity works and marketing works to translate their mindshare into market share."

In 2010, Chinese movies, mostly co-productions, earned over 500 million dollars around the globe, representing about one third of what was earned domestically.

In the same year, Hollywood movies earned twice as much in the US market alone.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi reporting from Shanghai.