Jan. 28, 2015
Xu Haofeng: The Savior of Martial Arts Movie ROUNDTABLE
Producer’s Forum
3D Films in China
new perspectives for coproduction?
PART.III
focus on chinA
4th-6th February 2015 Paris & Ile-de-France Event organized as part of France-China 50 - www.france-chine50.com
Jan. 28, 2015
Contents GLOSSARY 06
-A list of buzzwords, a reflection of the current Chinese society - archetypes or gender stereotypes in local films
Wang Kefei: Contemporary story, new talents and marketing
In this roundtable, we invites producers and distributors to share their values and insights about the industry and its future.
BOX OFFICE 07-10
Top 50 Box Office Winners in 2014
3D REPORT 26
B.O. of Imported Films in 2014
3D Films in China A bird’s eye view on 3D films’ market performance in China
COVER STORY 12
Xu Haofeng: The Savior of Martial Arts Movie
PRODUCTION 29
What Scripts Were Registered in SARFT in 2014? Location Scout Outside China
more and more Chinese films choose to shoot in foreign cities DIGITAL 32-36
The Video-on-demand Business in China BAT’s Film Business, and More
FESTIVAL 18
Homeland Lost ROUNDTABLE 19
Producer’s Forum Terence Chang: story should have no boundaries Du Yang: Vision matters Fang Li: Producing quality films as a pleasure Howard Chen Hongwei: When you are in Beijing, think what the Chinese think Helen Li Yaping: Swift adaptation from a popular IP into a blockbuster
CHAMBERS 38
Major Legal Issues in China’s Entertainment Industry Top lawyer Allen Wang Jun talked about recent cases and his suggestions to individuals and companies in the entertainment industry. MARKET 40, 42
Hou Keming and the China International Children’s Film Festival He Leads HAF – A Film Financing Tribune That Defies Boundary
VENICE FILM MARKET September 3 - 8, 2015
The business platform dedicated to cinema professionals Exclusive access to: Market Screenings Digital Video Library Industry Business Centre Industry Club Exhibition Area Panels, seminars, meetings Main events > European Gap-financing Co-Production Market > Final Cut in Venice Info www.labiennale.org Industry Office – Registration Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia 72. Venice International Film Festival Palazzo del Cinema, Lungomare Marconi I – 30126 Lido, Venice Ph. +39 041.2726595 Fax +39 041.5218800 indoffice@labiennale.org
in collaboration with
Index *
H
Liu Cixin 21
Silver Bear Best Actor 17
3D films 26
Han Han 22
Location Scout 30
SO YOUNG 25
A
Helen Li Yaping 24
LOST IN BEIJING 22
SOPHIE’S REVENGE 21
Heyi Film 37
Lotte 37
StudioCanal 37
Hollywood 23
LOVE IS NOT BLIND 25
SUMMER PALACE 22
Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum 42
Lu Han 39 M
SWORDSMEN 14 T
Hou Keming 40
MARCO POLO 25
Tencent 36
Howard Chen Hongwei 23
Martial arts movie 14
Terence Chang 20
Baidu 36
Huace Film & TV 36
Mergers &Acquisitions 22
THE BODYGUARD 25
BALL LIGHTNING 21
Huahua Media 25
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II 20
THE BOURNE IDENTITY 17
BAT 21
Huayi Brothers 21 I
MY 3S LADY 25
THE CONTINENT 22
Imported films 8
MY OLD CLASSMATE 21 N
THE CROSSING 20
iQIYI Motion Pictures 36 J
New trends 30 0
THE MISSING GUN 21
Jack Ma 25
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BAD JOKES 23
THE OLD DONKEY 18
Original IP 23 P
TMS 25
AIM Entertainment 24 Alibaba Pictures 36 Allen Wang 38 Apichatpong Weerasethakul 42 B
Beijing Film Academy 40 BEIJING LOVE STORY 24 Beijing Skywheel 21 Berlinale 42 BREAKUP BUDDIES 21 Busan 18 C Censorship 29
Jacob Wong 42 Jet Li 14 John Woo 20
China Film Group 25
JUDGE ARCHER 15 K
China International Children’s Film Festival 40
King Hu 14
Co-production 23 D Du Yang 21 F FACE/OFF 20 Fang Li 22 FLY WITH THE CRANE 18 FLYING TIGERS 20 FOREVER YOUNG 21 Fridrik Thor Fridriksson 42 G Gao Xiaosong 21
Kris 39
Paramount Pictures 25
THE SWORD IDENTITY 15
TRANSFORMERS 4 25
POLICE STORY 2013 21
TWILIGHT 25 V
Production trend 29 Q
Venice 18
L
Qihoo 360 37 R
Laurel Films 22
RED CLIFF 20
Lawrence Fajardo 42
RIVER ROAD 18
Lawyer 38
Rotterdam 18
Legal issues 38
RUNNING MAN 24 S
LEGEND OF A RABBIT 40
THE HUNGER GAMES 25
VOD 32 W Wanda Media 23, 24 Wang Kefei 25 WHAT WOMEN WANT 25 X Xiaomi Tech 37
LeTV 33
SARFT 29
Xingyi Quan 15 Y
Li Ruijun 18
SBS 24
Youku Tudou Inc. 37
Liao Fan 14
Script examination 29
Lion Rock Productions 20
Showbox 37
Yugu nationality 18 Z
PRESIDENT: Wang Yu MANAGING DIRECTOR: Yin Xiang Editor-in-Chief: Xu Jia INDUSTRY CONSULTANT: Wang Fenglin, Isabelle Glachant, Lorna Tee EDITORIAL: Li Shuwen, Xu Lu, Chen Xue, Guo Dan, Ding Mengqing STATISTICS: Li Furong, He Zhutao BUSINESS MANAGER: Song Yiran PUBLIC RELATIONS: Ren Jie GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Xie Xuequan The Chinese Film Market is a monthly published by Chinese Film Market Publishing Hong Kong. Follow us on twitter, facebook, instagram and tumblr @cfilmart. Please send email to: cfilmart@qq.com for any questions or collaboration. Registered Publication Number: ISSN 1801-2409 © 2015 The Chinese Film Market Publishing. All rights reserved. Content is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.
Zhang Yimou 14
ADVERTISEMENT INDEX P2 | PARIS IMAGES CINEMA - L'INDUSTRIE DU REVE P4 | Venice Film Market P28 | 13th China International Children's Film Festival P41 | TIFF Industry P43 | The Chinese Film Market P44 | HKTDC - Filmart
06 / GLOSSARY
A list of buzzwords, a reflection of the current Chinese society, which in a way, are archetypes or gender stereotypes that got featured in a number of local blockbusters:
Also as: Diaoser, Diors, Loser, Poorcancer Meaning: A person who is not aspiring or useful. A cynical nobody who talks more than he does, with no money or social status. Quite often used as a self-deprecation. Usage: He is such a diaosi! I don’t think he has a future. Case:
Meaning: Tall, rich and handsome guys with luxury cars and big houses. Origin: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM Usage: Those spend lots of on the microblog are merely bragging – they are not real gao fu shuai.
Michael Stephen Kai Sui (Mike Sui) he wrote and directed a short film about a diaosi taking a train to Tianjin, in which he speaks 18 languages in 18 different characters.
Case:
Meaning:
Also as: girl man, wo-man
Beautiful rich girls with fair skin. The opposite to gao fu shuai. Usage: There are too many films featuring diaosi winning bai fu mei’s heart. Case: SAY YES directed by Leste Chen
Too many!
Meaning: Tough girls who are self-sufficient, quick in words and deeds, negligent of their looks. They are considered to hate pink or anything quite feminine. Usage: Parents worry that nv han zi can hardly find a spouse. Case: WOMEN WHO FLIRT directed by Pang Ho-Cheung
Follow
/ 07 BOX OFFICE
China Box Office 2014 830,000,000
23,600
830 million admissions in urban cinemas
32.25% 1,870,000,000
1,130,000,000 1.13 billion RMB Chinese animation BO 36 films’ BO cross 100 million RMB
1.87 billion RMB of Chinese films’ overseas BO
618
329
259
29,640,000,000 Annual BO: 29.64 billion RMB (4.76 billion USD)
Have signed co-production agreement with 11 countries: South Korea, India, France, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain and Canada. Negotiations with Russia, Brazil, Greece, Iran, the Netherlands and Malta are on going.
08 / BOX OFFICE
Top 50 Box Office Winners in 2014 1
Title
BO (in millions of USD)
Genre
Origin
Transformers: Age of Extinction
318.2
Sci-fi, Action
US
2
Breakup Buddies
188.0
Rom-com, Road movie
CN
3
The Monkey King
168.2
Fantasy
CN/HK
4
Interstellar
120.8
Sci-fi
US/UK
5
X-Men: Days of Future Past
116.4
Superhero
US/UK
6
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
115.9
Superhero
US
7
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
114.3
Sci-fi
US
8
Dad, Where Are We Going?
111.9
Documentary, Family movie
CN
9
The Breakup Guru
107.3
Rom-com, Drama
CN
10
The Continent
101.3
Comedy, Road movie
CN
11
Guardians of the Galaxy
95.7
Superhero
US/UK
12
Superhero
US
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
95.0
13
Fleet of Time
92.4
Romance
CN
14
The Man From Macau
84.4
Crime, Comedy
CN
15
Tiny Times 3
83.9
Drama, Romance
CN
16
Godzilla
77.3
Sci-fi, Monster movie
US/JP
17
Gone With The Bullets
74.7
Comedy, Romance, Adventure
CN
18
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
74.6
Fantasy, Adventure
US/NZ
19
My Old Classmate
73.3
Romance, Drama
CN
20
The Expendables 3
72.8
Action
US/FR
21
Need for Speed
66.2
Action
US
22
The House That Never Dies
66.1
Thriller
CN
65.4
Sci-fi, Action
US/AU
23
Edge of Tomorrow
24
How to Train Your Dragon 2
65.3
Animation, Action, Fantasy
US
25
Beijing Love Story
65.3
Romance
CN
26
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom
62.7
Fantasy
CN/HK
27
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
61.9
Sci-fi, Action, Comedy
US
28
Dearest
55.2
Drama
CN/HK
29
Despicable Me 2
52.1
Animation, Comedy
US
30
The Taking of Tiger Mountain
51.7
Action
CN/HK
31
RoboCop
50.7
Sci-fi,Action
US
32
Overheard 3
49.7
Crime,Thriller
HKzz/CN
33
Frozen
48.1
Animation, Comedy, Musical, Fantasy
US
34
Maleficent
47.6
Fantasy
US/UK
35
Coming Home
47.0
Drama
CN
36
Lucy
44.7
Sci-fi, Action
FR
37
The Great Hypnotist
44.1
Thriller, Mystery
CN
38
Penguins of Madagascar
40.4
Animation, Comedy, Action
US
39
Boonie Bears:to the Rescue!
39.7
Animation, Comedy, Adventure, Family movie
CN
40
Rio 2
39.1
Animation, Comedy, Adventure, Musical
US
Follow
/ 09 41
Women Who Flirt
37.0
Rom-com
CN/HK
42
But Always
36.7
Romance, Drama
CN/HK
43
Old Boys: The Way of The Dragon
33.4
Comedy
CN
44
Girls
33.0
Romance, Drama
CN
45
Black & White:The Dawn of Justice
32.8
Crime, Action
CN/TW/HK
46
The Crossing : Part 1
31.9
Drama
CN/HK
47
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2
31.5
Rom-com
HK/CN
48
The Four Final Battle
31.0
Action
CN/HK
49
Brick Mansions
30.4
Action
FR/CA
50
Rise of the Legend
29.3
Action
CN/HK/UK
market share of different genres B.O.: Imported films vs. Chinese films Animation
Action
44%
56%
Fantasy
Comedy Adventure
Drama
Romance
300
Breakup Buddies
$188M
Breakup Buddies
$111.9M
200
The Continent 100
$101.3M
The Taking of Tiger Mountain
$51.7M
11/12 5/23 4/4 8/29 10/10 5/4 6/13 2/21 9/1 3/14 6/6 8/14 10/31 1/10 2/28 2/5 6/20 10/24 11/14 4/11 8/1 1/17 10/28 1/7 4/18 3/28 11/21 9/12 9/19 8/15 10/21 9/8 3/17 3/7 3/7
120.8 116.4 115.9 114.3 95.7 95.0 77.3 74.6 72.8 66.2 65.4 65.3 61.9 52.1 50.7 48.1 47.6 44.7 40.4 39.1 30.4 25.8 24.2 22.4 20.3 19.5 19.0 17.7 16.8 15.7 13.3 12.3 12.0 9.1 8.0
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Godzilla
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Expendables 3
Need for Speed
Edge of Tomorrow
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Despicable Me 2
RoboCop
Frozen
Maleficent
Lucy
Penguins of Madagascar
Rio 2
Brick Mansions
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
The Maze Runner
Ender’s Game
Transcendence
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Fury
Into the Storm
Non-Stop
Pompeii
Hercules
Divergent
Snowpiercer
Malavita
Free Birds
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Release
6/27
BO (in millions of USD)
318.2
Title
Transformers: Age of Extinction
1
Follow
US
FR/US
KR/US/FR/CS
US
US
CA/DE/US
UK/FR/US/CA
US
UK/CN/US
US
US/CN/UK
US
US/CA/UK
US/RU
FR/CA
US
US
FR
US/UK
US
US
US
US
US
US/AU
US
US/FR
US/NZ
US/JP
US
US/UK
US
US
US/UK
US/UK
US
Country
7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8
6.6 9.1 8.3 8.0 7.5 8.0 7.3 6.4 8.1 6.6 7.3 8.1 7.9 6.4 8.0 6.3 8.3 6.9 7.0 7.4 7.7 6.9 5.6 6.8 6.9 6.5 7.4 7.7 6.7 7.5 5.9 5.9 6.3 7.2 7.0 5.9
Douban Rating Mtime Rating
10 /
BOX OFFICE
B.O. of Imported Films in 2014
DE/FI
US UK/ZA
8/21 9/12 12/26 3/28 8/15 11/28 4/30 9/5 9/16 11/7 12/26 6/13 9/5 1/25 5/9 12/31 7/8 11/21 7/18
2.7 2.5 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.0 1.0 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.1
La belle et la bête
The Nut Job
Justin y la Espada del Valor
Tom Yum Goong 2
Fire with Fire
Zambezia
Delhi Safari
Cold Eyes
African Safari
Los últimos días
Schutzengel
Metegol
Saving Santa
Eyjafjallajökull
Khumba
The Company You Keep
21 and Over
Mandela
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
US
ZA
FR
US
ES/AR/US/IN
DE
ES/FR
BE/FR
KR
IN
ZA/MN
US
TH
ES
CA/KR/US
FR
DE
IN
RU
7/25
49
US
ES/BG
3.1
3.4
Autómata
48
3.1
2/2 11/28
3.9
Niko 2: Lentäjäveljekset
47
US
FR/US/BE/IT/CH
Tarzan
4/11
4.1
The Legend of Hercules
46
KR
Dhoom 3
6/20
4.2
Grace of Monaco
45
52
12/12
4.2
Roaring Currents
44
FR/BE KR/US
51
5/1
4.7
The Outback
43
7/4
8/22
4.7
Minuscule: la Vallée des Fourmis Perdues
42
UK/US US/DE/CA
1/10
1/3
4.8
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
41
3.2
5/9
5.2
Humming Bird
40
US
US
3.4
3/14
5.2
Homefront
39
Metro
10/13
7.1
Ice Age: The Meltdown
38
US/DE
50
3/28
7.5
The Monuments Men
37
7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8
6.1 6.2 5.3 7.9 5.4 7.0 6.7 4.8 5.8 6.1 6.6 6.9 6.9 5.8 6.3 6.1 5.7 5.2 5.5 6.6 5.4 7.6 7.3 5.4 6.4 7.0 5.8 6.7 5.7 6.5 5.9
7.8
7.8
8.0
6.9
7.8
5.4
37
700,400,000
358,600,000
flat-fee imported films
revenue-sharing imported films
special format films: 3D or IMAX
19
14
1,084,900,000
2,143,900,000
/ 11
12 /
COVER STORY
Jack Ma
Follow
/ 13 In Xu Haofeng’s new film THE MASTER, he depicted a Wing Chun practitioner moved northward to Tianjin, the center of China’s Kung Fu, to promote Wing Chun. The local way to establish a new school, one needs to find a local as his disciple, teach him and watch him succeed in challenging eight established schools. After that, this disciple will be forced to leave the city while the teacher is able to start new a martial art school. It is the first time that Wing Chun Butterfly Swords are featured in a film. This is Xu’s third feature and his first commercial film. Liao Fan, the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, is the leading man in this film. Another martial arts star rises. Xu is the one who can single-handedly revive the martial arts movie genre.
14 /
Xu Haofeng The Savior of Martial Arts Movie The late 1920s and early 1930s was a turbulent time in China when people needed emotional support: martial arts movie came into being as an emotional support, a spiritual shelter to the masses. Adapted from classic novels or fantasies, those films feature heroic fighters with supernatural power. In a rather unpredictable period of time, they were made to help people escape from their immediate reality. By the end of 1950s, Louis Cha (Jin Yong) and Liang Yusheng’s works built a literary foundation for the 2nd wave of martial arts movie from the 1960s to 1970s. Chang Cheh’s THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN; King Hu’s DRAGON GATE INN, A Follow
TOUCH OF ZEN and Bruce Lee’s THE WAY OF THE DRAGON influenced how people make and perceive martial arts movies. A new type of job was created in the film industry: “action director”, an inseparable role in contemporary filmmaking. THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE made by Zhang Xinyan in the early 1980s not only launched the 3rd wave of Chinese martial arts, but also promoted a new kung fu star Jet Li. From then on, an array of Shaolin films were created. Also in this period, Hong Kong filmmakers saw the advantage of human and natural scenery in Mainland China and travel northward to make co-productions, mostly martial arts movies.
This trend rose to the peak in 1993 when most of the 23 martial arts movies produced that year were co-prods with Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers, hence the advent of the 4th wave of this genre film. However, King Hu’s SWORDSMEN initiated a new era of marital arts movies and exhibited a new way to make such films. After that, Tsui Hark stood out with GREEN SNAKE, NEW DRAGON GATE INN and the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA franchise, extraordinary visuals won the audience and high box office returns. Ang Lee’s CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON refreshed this genre as well as swept 4 Academy
/ 15 Awards – this ushered the martial arts genre into the 5th wave of development. More Chinese filmmakers started to make such films: Zhang Yimou made HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, Chen Kaige THE PROMISE, somewhat in the hope of moving towards the Oscars, but failed. The world had to wait until 2011 to see a really different martial arts film – THE SWORD IDENTITY. Director Xu Haofeng uses minimal lines and neat composition to present a kung fu world in his stylish black humor and cool character design. Instead of portraying martial artists wannabes, he presents the anxiety and moral dilemma of kung fu man, and the age and field they are in. His second film JUDGE ARCHER continues to tell a story about how a kung fu fighter makes his life choices in an age of disorder. His films are different because his scripts are distinctive – adapted from his own novels and based on the knowledge he learned from two elderly masters. Xu Haofeng is probably the only active director in China who is adept with both the pen and the sword. In a world flooded with special effects and superheroes, Xu Haofeng’s command of ancient culture heritage crowns him the savior of martial arts movie for good reasons. He has got an inexhaustible pool of stories to make films. After graduating from Beijing Film Academy majoring Film Directing, Xu had worked for two years before he went back home, reading books. He later explained that at 26, he had realized Chinese cinema was waning and that was not a perfect timing to enter this industry. He could not spend 10 years in the business just to build connections in order to be a director. That was an age of transformation – new BFA graduates found what they had learned in school was long ditched in the industry – Bye bye, Soviet poetic montage and French way of narration; hello, Hollywood
and Hong Kong style. His lucrative job at a TV station unsettled him because he felt if it was not for artistic creation, his life was wasted. The young Xu quit the job and followed master Taoist Hu Haiya and Xingyi Quan master Li Zhongxuan to comb through the timeline of wushu. Eight years later, he published SHIQU DE WULIN, or THE DEPARTED WARRIORS and has published 10 books ever since. He has morphed what he learned from the two masters and from the books into his own narration of novels and reviews. Xingyi Quan master Li Zhongxuan was a grandpa of Xu’s and shared a number of mnemonic rhymes with him, something he could not utterly understand at the moment, but later proved inspirations when he was writing THE GRANDMASTER for Wong Kar Wai and needed to practice Wing Chun for a better delivery. Today, it is very difficult, if not impossible to find another filmmaker who was a longtime disciple of masters from the previous two generations. Heritage nurtures Xu Haofeng. Producer Chen Kuo-fu recognized the value of his works and purchased the film adaptation rights of SHIQU DE WULIN; director Chen Kaige, DAOSHI XIASHAN – the film A MONK IN A FLOATING WORLD will be released in China this June. Xu’ s third film THE MASTER is adapted from his original novel The Master that has won the Best Short Story Golden Award in People’s Literature Competition. In 2014, Xu has won the Best Screenwriter Award in Hong Kong for writing THE GRANDMASTER. Xu Haofeng is making martial arts movie because he knows what others do not know about this peculiar world, its customs and rules. Let’s hear his remarks about his new film SHIFU, aka, THE MASTER.
The Chinese Film Market: What is special about the story in THE MASTER? Xu Haofeng: In 1930s, one man’s life choice reflects and affects the whole Kung Fu society in Tianjin. A Kung Fu practitioner is not on his own: he has his position in the field and there is a class of such people. When one from a new martial art school comes to a northern hub of Kung Fu, he needs to face a whole spectrum of rules and order. There are particular values and regulations: one cannot be to idealistic, because to build a new school in a city full of Kung Fu experts, safety becomes a prerequisite. Previous martial arts movies tend to polarize people’s desires and behaviors. The 1930s is special because it was a transitional period of time when people still kept the measure and follow a certain conventions. But when the measure begins to bend, conflicts emerge. What I want to present is just when a person begins to buy the rules and is about to follow them, but he finds the rules have changed – should he go with the change or fight against it? CFM: What is your opinion about the concept of “master”? Xu: Unlike a teach who only passes on knowledge, a master needs to take care of the disciple’s life. One of the biggest changes in modern China is the annulment of apprenticeship in all fields. In traditional Chinese ethics, the master should be responsible in nurturing the students’ personality, talent, will force and temperament. A master shall distinctively divide students into different categories: those who were his real disciples, those who were mere followers, those who could use his name but received no instruction, etc. It was like once you became a member in my school, I shall be responsible for what you do or say. Conversely, you needed to be
16 /
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/ 17 responsible for my school once in. CFM: THE MASTER is your first commercial film. I was wondering what is your definition of a “commercial film”? Xu: I think what is generally referred to “commercial films” are films with selling elements, like some so-called golden rules of blockbuster emphasizes the importance of muscles, breasts and blood – “film for the masses” might be a more proper name. If a film resonates with the masses, it is such a film – this is what I want to achieve in THE MASTER. In a disoriented age, I choose to talk about values and worldview: all the publishers had told me that books like SHIQU DE WULIN could only sell 2000 copies, but in the first month, 30,000 copies were sold. It is because the book resonates. In fact, the masses are quite interested in learning what the Chinese were like back then: in an age of chaotic values, it is important to examine the great-grandpa’s generation and their way of behavior. Their firm determination would be truly inspirational. Most of the characters we now see in Chinese films are only pretty or sexy faces with no vivid personality or class distinction, but the masses need a frame of reference to relate to them. More details should be delivered via the portrayal of the measure and how people react to different life events. I intend to present a sample of the way of behavior in those times, thanks to my masters. CFM: Why your films look so different from the Hong Kong martial arts movies? Xu: Because we belong to totally different schools of martial arts and aesthetics. Hong Kong filmmakers have already seamlessly integrated Peking Opera Wushu with practical
Wushu: to dramatize the fighting, turn a somersault and other visual changes – all these are a great heritage, but not something I could make as I did not spend any time in the traditional opera house. What I want to do is to build up a new set of audio-visual language to display a new way of cinematic fighting of the northern style of pushing hands. Our biggest difference lies in the way of fighting: they will jump to fight, but in the north, people fight with bare fists – pushing hands or wrestling. Nowadays, the top action film should be the THE BOURNE IDENTITY franchise, but it has completely abandoned the Hong Kong-style of fighting, since it has been popular in Hollywood for over a decade. Bourne uses something close to special agent’s way of fighting – to vague his movements via a documentary-cinematography. However, such special agent’s way of fighting originated from our Wushu during the early period of The Republic of China. CFM: How did you train Liao Fan to be a Kung Fu actor? Xu: I taught Liao Fan all the moves myself and his Kung Fu surprised us all. I chose him as the leading role because I liked his charm and explosion in HALF FLAME, HALF BRINE, so when he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor, I was very happy – I then had more solid reasons to cast him. Liao Fan is a great actor. What’s more, he looks like Bruce Lee, both physically and spiritually. It’s a pity that Bruce Lee did not use much Wing Chun in his films. Liao Fan is a brilliant actor who was strictly trained in the theater and he is industrious. He stayed with the crew for the entire shooting period: getting up at 4 o’clock to practice for 92 days. His fighting surprised us all. CFM: How do you balance your
roles in directing, screenwriting and fiction writing? Xu: Kung Fu helped me realize my dream to be a director. Everything I do, I do it for directing – what was on my mind when I first became a student at Beijing Film Academy. Why did I begin to write novels? I wrote to be ready for my directing. It would be convincing when people see you can write good novels, so you could say that I worked as an undercover to sharpen my saw. Kung Fu is the unique theme that I want to present to the world. CFM: Will you be making the fourth film, right after THE MASTER? Xu: This totally depends on my producer. Because for a director it doesn’t make much difference whether he does 2 films in one year or one film in 1o years. He might look busy but in fact he is quite idle, and vice versa. It is quite interesting to be a director as you are closely related to the masses, but also in conflict with them. If you just look into yourself and explore your journey within, the audience might be interested in your quest. But if you do it the opposite way and declares to do something for them, they might be scared and escape from your statement and preach. The director’s job looks quite bustling, but the truth is, most of the time, you are faced with yourself.
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FESTIVAL
Homeland Lost After Rotterdam, Venice and Busan, director Li Ruijun brings his new film JIA ZAI SHUI CAO FENG MAO DE DI FANG (RIVER ROAD) to the 65th Berlinale. The film is set in the Yugu nationality at Gansu Province who has only 14,000 people today about the search for homeland – 2 brothers ride camels into the desert in order to return to them home by the oasis. Along the way, they reconcile after constant bickering, but the homeland is nowhere to find. Here is the director talking about why and how did he make the film. The setting of RIVER ROAD is only one desert away from where I made my previous two films THE OLD DONKEY and FLY WITH THE CRANE. I have seen the change of their living conditions and found that most of the Yugu people cannot speak their own language, so I feel the urgency to make a film about them. If I don’t act fast, I am afraid the language and even its culture will disappear soon. I chose these two kids actors and taught them how to speak their own language, how to ride the camel and horse, to learn the
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by Amy Lin
Yugu way of living. This was done during the summer vacation and I even guided them to finish their summer homework. At the end of the day, this sounds somewhat like a performance art. I grew up in a village where there was no electricity until I turned 7 years old. Each month there were 2 screenings in the open air that all the villagers would go and watch. Then I went to college and took courses in filmmaking, where I found there is actually a kaleidoscope of films that are different from what I had seen as a kid. I considered to be a director and moved to Beijing right after graduation. In the first several years, there was no investment so I used my family savings and borrowed money to make my first film. But that film didn’t sell so in the next few years, I worked hard to pay off the debts. It was never easy, but I had already made up my mind to be a director and I will stick to this dream no matter what. On the whole, for young filmmakers who want to make personal art
house films, the situation is not getting any better in China. Luckily, RIVER ROAD has a bigger budget because I met producer Fang Li, who offered me very solid support in post-production. He had faith in the story and in me, for which I am very grateful. It is noted that all my films focus on older people, kids and the nature because I think the relationship of the three will determine the society’s future, or even affect a nation’s destiny because nobody can escape from the 3 aspects of life. Our environment is getting tougher while our population is aging. In the countryside, where young people have gone to the cities to work, there are millions of left-behind old people leading a hard life. As for the kids in the film, if one day, the Yugu language no longer exists, it is quite sad – How are they going to distinguish your own origin and culture? In a way, they are walking on the debris of the mind, the culture and the environment, looking for a homeland that is lost. The film ends when they find their dad, but their life journey just begins.
ROUNDTABLE
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Producers' Forum In the year 2014, the Chinese film market has harvested over 29 billion RMB at the box office and the growth of local films is remarkable. In this roundtable, we invites producers and distributors to share their values and insights about the industry and its future. We would also like to hear about your opinions. Please write us to cfilmart@qq.com to express your comments or ask questions. Terence Chang: story should have no boundaries P20 P21 Vision matters Producing quality films as a pleasure P22 P23 When you are in Beijing, think what the Chinese think Swift adaptation from a popular IP into a blockbusterp P24 P25 Contemporary story, new talents and marketing
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Terence Chang Story should have no boundaries On meeting John Woo:
Producer Terence Chang has been working in Hong Kong, Hollywood and Beijing over the past 4 decades and produced about 40 titles in different languages. He and John Woo co-founded Lion Rock Productions and made films like FACE/OFF and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II together. Terence Chang received the “Producer of the Decade” award at CineAsia 2011. Besides running a talent agency and supporting young directors, he is now producing FLYING TIGERS,
I went back to Hong Kong in the late 1970s. I started working for a studio called Golden Harvest and John Woo was a contract director there. Later I found my niche in distribution and then we met again at Film Workshop and did THE KILLER in 1989. We continued to work on over 20 or 30 titles in different continents, I learned a lot from him. I think we complement each other. We went through some tough times, but he was always very encouraging to me. He was very open-minded at that time. On working in Hollywood: John is a great craftsman but I think he needs to break out of the genre, gangster films, that he was so used to doing. So when we got an opportunity to make movies in the United States, I encouraged him to give it a try. And we made it, finally. I didn’t think much about it and just plunged in it. That’s the only way to do it. I didn’t think myself as a guy from Hong Kong. I think I am one of you guys, but maybe I have to work harder. I just did it, by sheer luck or will force? I don’t know. I went to school in the U.S. for nine years, so I was not foreign to the way of behavior in Hollywood. I loved that period in Hollywood. On coming back to make Chinese films: Actually, I never thought of returning to Asia. I kind of cut myself off. I didn’t know what’s going on in Hong Kong. I didn’t watch any Chinese movies except for some made by director Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, and so forth. But at that time, I have never thought of returning to Asia to make films. I had a great run and I wanted to keep on doing things in Hollywood until one day John Woo told me that he wanted to make “Three Kingdoms” and I had to force myself to come to Beijing for the first time in my life and tried to make that happen. I liked challenge. RED CLIFF was John Woo’s first Chinese film for about 15 years, so everybody had high expectations of the film. It was my first independent film and I raised all the money by myself. My distribution background came
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to play. The film was presold to almost the world before we started principal photography, but the film was really very expensive. The box office was great in Asian territories, but Europeans and Americans couldn’t follow the story because there are too many plots and characters. On THE CROSSING: We spent nine years working on THE CROSSING. It was not fair for people to make remarks on the film because they haven’t seen the entire film yet. The sinking of the ship takes places in the second film to draw climax, so the first film is kind of paving the way for the character. The audience may have seen nothing happen except for two wars and battles. I can understand the frustration, but I think it would feel much better when they see the entire film. Advice for young filmmakers: Plunge into it, try to get experiences, and find out what your strongest point is, and move from that direction. But what you learn in school and what you actually do in the industry are two different things. After trying and shifting you will know what you like. As a producer you have to be responsible, with organizing skills and people skills. You have to understand every aspect of filmmaking from pre-production to post-production. On talent: The biggest problem for nurturing actors and actresses is that once the actor became popular, his status or ego gets elevated. I like back when we were working in Hong Kong in the 1980s, we had dozens of movie stars to choose from, but the choices are now quite limited. On the Chinese film market: Chinese audiences are getting better that they can smell the good of it. Of course there will be more Hollywood titles flooding into China: that’s why Chinese movies have to be strong. We need to make films related to the Chinese audience. I’m really hopeful about the future in China.
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Du Yang Vision matters On the market: I think the China film market began to take shape in 2007 or 2008. 2014 has witnessed quite a diversified line-up of films distributed in China. On production: MY OLD CLASSMATE is a commercial film that is adapted from a pop song. It is song written by Gao Xiaosong. We both were born in the 1960s and have deep attachment to this song. That year, I happened to watch a quite music-based Chinese film called FOREVER YOUNG. It is a film targeting the post-1970s, but it does not tell the universal experience of those born in that age. We did a lot of market research and location scout on the campus – whether this song is still popular after almost 2 decades. To our surprise, people are still singing this song, even those born in the 1990s, so naturally, we made a decision to develop this film. I have always believed marketing is as important as production. So since day 1 of shooting, we made moves on promoting the film – we released the first poster of MY OLD CLASSMATE. On the final day, we did a flash mob on Times Square in New York with 300 Chinese students – that video got 300,000 clicks overnight. The message of this film then spread like wildfire. On project development: The essential issue in the China film market is script development – quite likely a universal problem. The prevalence of all these remakes and sequels is because original ideas are a rarity. Beijing Skywheel’s priority is to make films that the market wants to see. Also, we won’t just follow the craze, and we will make quality films. We search for ideas in classic Chinese literature – understandably, it takes time. We also buy adaptation rights from authors. For example, we have purchased Liu Cixin’s BALL LIGHTNING. Last but not least, we look at the freshest pieces that published online, those most grounded stories.
On distribution: It is all very exciting that Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – BAT – want to have some market share in the film industry, but content is still key. What BAT brings in are more grounded marketing devices and approaches, for example, the film BREAKUP BUDDIES chose to cooperate with maoyan.com and this is quite an innovation. Maoyan is a part of China’s largest group purchase website Meituan and this film has presold 100 million RMB film tickets before its screening. It can bring new perspectives and ways into the industry if film professionals can look beyond what they are doing every day. But of course, such an impressive sales is based the quality of the film. Why Wang Yibing, producer of BREAKUP BUDDIES, chose a new company like Beijing Skywheel to distribute this film? We have only established the company in 2013, but we have already had a team of 170 to secure distribution. We divide the whole country into 13 large areas, do grid search about local people’ preferences – use their own dialects and tastes to design slogans and other materials. What is more, we were audacious enough to sign a minimal guarantee of 500 million RMB for the box office. We had confidence in the film and in our distribution team. On building a team: Above all, it is vital to build up a good team. Most of my team members are young people. For the young, proficiency is important, but vision is even more important. No matter you are a director or a producer, you need to look into different fields and think out of the box. Lots of inspirations come from life itself – if you don’t have a general idea about what life is, how could you make a good film? So my advice is do not stay in your own cocoon – go out and see things, experience things, in order to make different films.
Du Yang, General Manager of Beijing Skywheel Entertainment Co., Vice President of Beijing Culture Group. Producer of MY OLD CLASSMATE, POLICE STORY 2013, SOPHIE’S REVENGE and THE MISSING GUN, Du Yang has worked in films grossing over 2billion RMB. Du used to work for Huayi Brothers and Wanda Media for a few years.
22 / great fun. The audiences’ cheers, tears and laughter are the reasons why I make films – anything I earn from producing films, I invest it back again in making new films. On life:
Fang Li Producing quality films as a pleasure Fang Li built Laurel Industrial Company Inc., an earth sciences technological company, in 1992 in the United States. He then founded Laurel Films in 2000 and produced films like THE ORPHAN OF ANYANG (Wang Chao, 2001), SUMMER PALACE (Lou Ye, 2006), LOST IN BEIJING (Li Yu, 2007) and THE CONTINENT (Han Han, 2014). Fang Li is also an influential public speaker.
On Production: I loved watching movies at a younger age and watched a diversity of movies while studying in the U.S. Then I met director Wang Chao and produced one of his films, which entered Cannes – that festive atmosphere touched me so I continued producing films and gradually become a full-time producer. It’s quite natural that I produced Han Han’s first film. Ever since I met Han, I have liked this liberal, kind and gentle young man – somewhat reminded me of myself at a younger age. Quite a free spirit. So when he decided to make a film, I felt we could build a team. Together with his publisher Lu Jinbo, we realized THE CONTINENT. I work with different directors in different themes, as the society evolves. I produced small-budget art-house films and I produce commercial films – it’s not like my taste or preference has changed; it’s just that I have a wide range of interests and can work with different talents as long as it is a good project. When I was a student in the U.S., I watched all the documentaries available on WWI, WWII, Vietnam War, etc. I am also a football fan. Now I am developing a disaster film and a sci-fi. When the market is more mature, I will try even more genres. I produce films not for profits, but for the film itself. I consider myself a volunteer, because a volunteer only does what intrigues him. To attract the audience to watch a quality film made by a dedicated team is
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We are just one spot in a cycle, from life to death. We are just one of the million moments, so understand how short your life is, but you are so lucky – you are part of the cycle, you are part of the human civilization and development. But it is also sort of sad – the limit of your duration. The good thing is, even you only stay an average of 30,000 days, you can learn and then you can put your feelings onto so many lives, and you can learn so much unknown knowledge about the universe and about our civilization. We can stay very very (short period of time on earth), in comparison with human history, but you can experience one billion things. When you establish your own frame of reference in time and space, you’d be amazed by the contrast between a short life and the infinity of possible creativity. With no anxiety to make a bigger fortune, I do whatever I like. I don’t care how much others earn. I only care whether I am doing what I like, unaffected. The most important return is not money, but pleasure, because your biggest investment is not money, but your life. Money is only an indirect return, but pleasure is a direct return. Think about the law of nature: it is amazing to be human and be able to change your destiny. If you set up your standard much lower, very quickly you enjoy your freedom. Then you can choose your lifestyle, and decide where to go, what’s good and what’s bad. On the weakness of the Chinese film industry: The major threat lies in the director-centered system – if it continues to be so, the industry will not go far. Just because a director has so much power and influence here in China today that everybody wants to become a director, be it a screenwriter, an actor, an editor, or a costume designer – as being a director means the elevation of one’s social status. This results in the lack of different professionals in the industry. One dangerous thing to mention is the huge bubble – too many film companies are doing mergers and acquisitions, not so many are doing creative stuff, or build up a young team. Too much M&A could be dangerous, just like what the Silicon Valley experienced in 1999.
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Howard Chen Hongwei When you are in Beijing, think what the Chinese think On co-production: A lot of people are considering making co-productions with China, but to present the liveliest scene in a Chinese film, you have to examine what are the audience’s concerns: What do they purchase? What they do for entertainment online and offline? What are they thinking everyday? Just imagine the market potential, once you understand all the details. I don’t think you can come up with a good script by drinking champagne at various parties. I don’t think a mere story about a Chinese living in a foreign country or a foreigner living in China can be labeled as a co-production. The basic thing is to understand the audience. To make a co-production that can work in China, the film has to be dominated by the Chinese side, because the foreign partner could not get a better gist of the Chinese culture than us, vice versa. Without decades of experience in this country, you can hardly understand what makes people sad and what makes them happy. On developing an original IP: The case of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BAD JOKES means we can spend a moderate budget in developing some popular Internet content into an animation for theatrical release. Before this film, people only make animation for very small kids, because they did not realize there is actually a huge group of audience watching 2D animation film in China. Such content is embraced by those recently grown up to their adulthood and soon to become the major purchasing power of this film market. We have seen the market potential, developed the film and promoted it into headlines. This film means much more than what we have harvested at the box office – a vast blue ocean is unveiled. Hopefully, it can usher the local industry to a wave of cinematic experiments within risk control. On Internet companies’ new attempts: The Internet companies are now looking at the film industry, with a content awareness to
boost traffic, increase O2O interaction, etc. Conversely, it inspires the film industry to hunt for quality content from different channels and platforms, to use new talents, new directors and creators, even those with no filmic experience – because a lack of experience does not mean he or she cannot succeed. In this fast growing industry, what matters more is not experience, but the ability to innovate. To young filmmakers: I think the fresh graduates are now enjoying the best timing for their career advancement. The China film market is changing at a rapid speed every year, every day. They are now on a fast track with countless opportunities. Some make it almost overnight, but such phenomenon also makes people anxious, too eager to achieve something. As for me, I began to work in Wanda Cinema Line Corporation in 2006 and moved onto Wanda Media to do marketing and then project development. It is advisable to find a spot in the industry and dive in it. Too many idle thoughts won’t help. To learn about the market and have one’s own judgment, one needs to work through every detail on one’s own, instead of counting on luck or shortcuts. Comparing with Hollywood: In terms of creative ideas, we are no inferior to Hollywood, but it’s got a comprehensive industrial system. We have achieved more segmentation over the years, for instance, we’ve now got professional teams to do trailers, posters and social marketing, but it is far from enough. This system takes time and talents to build. What ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BAD JOKES brings is a conception, a judgment and a breakthrough that this can be done, but it is not influential enough to uplift the whole industrial standard. It takes a film like AVATAR to make an extensive influence to promote the whole film industry, in terms of technology and innovation.
Howard Chen Hongwei, Producer of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BAD JOKES, is the Vice General Manager at the Develop Center in Wanda Media.
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Helen Li Yaping Swift adaptation from a popular IP into a blockbuster On the market:
Helen Li Yaping, founder and CEO of AIM Entertainment, is the Producer of BEIJING LOVE STORY and RUNNING MAN,.
Before the huge success of LOST IN THAILAND, it was difficult to make it in the film industry. There were not many opportunities for newcomers. Then it is like a wave rushing towards us and our ship drifts along. I am not sure whether the sailors resting at the port are ready for the wave or how far it could take us. Although it has suggested more possibilities, there are still lots of things to do in this industry to achieve some real accomplishments. On the career path: Prior to my first feature, a children’s film, kind of a China’s LES CHORISTES, I was basically a cinephile who had worked for the national TV channel for several years before I started my own audio-visual business. That film didn’t stand out, and I went on to look for a proper story for my next film. On the adaptations: Actor Chen Sicheng is the creator of the pop TV series BEIJING LOVE STORY and I talked to him that it could be developed into a feature film because first of all the romance in the TV series becomes a reality – the two protagonists fall in love and get married; meanwhile, Chen’s charisma is a constant reminder of BEIJING LOVE STORY to the mass audience. We discussed about the film project and managed to find Wanda Media as a production partner in 2012, when the market was not so optimistic as it is now. We had doubts in casting, making the budget, and some other problems, but whining is not my way. Editor’s note: the film BEIJING LOVE STORY ended up earning 65.3 million USD at the box office, quite impressive for the leading actor Chen, also (a first time) director of the film. RUNNING MAN is another experiment, for me and for Zhengjiang Satellite TV – to
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adapt a household reality show, to a theatrical film. We learn a lot from Seoul Broadcasting System, the original creator of this IP, who has been running this program for 4 years. We need first to introduce and spread this idea, and to make it local for the Chinese audience. In less than 3 months, ZTV broadcast the show and my team devised the possible film adaptation: what should be kept in the film and what should not; how to surprise the audience when they see their favorite show on the big screen. On China’s film industry: It is now like a jigsaw puzzle. The canvas is vast and it silhouette is still vague. I hope that one day, in China, we can make films like THE ATTORNEY, or something more commercial like THE TERROR LIVE. I always hear people say that Korean filmmakers are so lucky that they can make whatever stories they create. However, you cannot blame the system for everything, and it takes time for creators to get there. When you think about it, the current Chinese film industry is like what the Korean film industry was like 15 years ago – that was the era when lots of young filmmakers were coming back from the US after studying filmmaking. Right now in China, there are a growing number of young filmmakers coming back from the US and elsewhere, who could also have the potential to reshape this film industry. Young talents have untold creativity and possibility. Look at what Jeong Tae-sung and Bong Joon-ho have been contributing to the Korean cinema, and attempt to make a difference. I have bought the adaption rights of a Korean film in 2014 at the Asian Film Market in Busan and will make a Chinese film based on it in 2015. We will announce this project soon.
/ 25 GAMES. I tend to use new talent to earn high box office via solid production and novel marketing. We focus on three parts of the film business: producing local indie films and co-productions; promotion and distribution; investing in and importing overseas films. Our core values lie in the distribution of films by extensive marketing. For example, in 2015, we are going to make THE BODYGUARD based on our research on the local market. We collaborate with foreign companies so as to spot better stories, learn higher technology and introduce more talent.
Wang Kefei Contemporary story, new talents and marketing Wang Kefei founded Huahua Media in 2014 and managed to distribute TRANSFORMERS 4, which turned out to be the highest box office hit in the China film market. The B.O. record of nearly 2 billion RMB immediately made Huahua the talk of the town. In 2015, Huahua is going to make several local films and distribute imported films.
On career path: Before entering the film industry, I worked in Founder in 1998 and in Intel in 2001; in 2005 I started to work for Dadi Digital Cinema, so I learn from different sources. In the United States, there is no lack of urban rom-com like WHAT WOMEN WANT, but in China, there are too many realistic films. I am now developing a project called MY 3S LADY, with a touch of fantasy and urban fairy tale. On business priority: Founded in April in 2014, Huahua Media is an international company, quite different from other film companies in China. We have already done the promotion and distribution of the 3D blockbuster TRANSFORMERS 4 in China and we are now developing the MARCO POLO film with China Film Group and Paramount Pictures. The current China market relies too much on a handful of film stars. But look at the case of Lions Gate, who values promotion and working with relatively modest actors, like in TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER
Since 2010, over 500 titles are produced each year; sometimes it reaches 600 or 700 a year. The market is steadily growing. A recent survey suggests the No.1 means of entertainment for those born after 1990s is movie-going. In China, going to the movies has become a daily behavior, rather than an act that requires considerate planning. You can see that each week, there are at least 4 or 5 new films screening. On the China film market: On the other hand, it is noted that the production still needs major improvement. And there is too much copycat production: after the success of LOVE IS NOT BLIND, many similar films get made; when SO YOUNG turned to be a blockbuster, making nostalgic films about youth became a fad. The terminal management system – TMS is widely utilized in other industries. However, the film industry is yet to pick it up. In fact, we can transm On the future of the film industry: it the HD by putting materials on the Internet; you can login and download what you want without the CD material, which would promote the efficiency tremendously. Jack Ma has set a great example for businessmen. By integrating traditional business with e-commerce, logistics and other fields, he has launched a major breakthrough. Now, each success in the business world is to reshuffle and reorganize the conventional system and order, to stimulate new demands or services. We are now building a digital ticketing platform, which may change the film distribution channel in China, imaginative and groundbreaking, the new channel will rely on the Internet instead of the theater.
26 / Data: Guo Dan, Ding Mengqing, Grant Ge Datagram: Xie Xuequan
3D REPORT
3D Films in China
There are 4,453 thearters in China, of which 4,436 thearters can screen films in 3D , in 2014.
numbers of screens 25k
23,349 20k
18,398
15k
3D released in china 19,146
13,915
(2012)
Total No. of Screens
$1196.53M
12,607
10k
(2013)
$1353.13M
9,885
No. of 3D Screens
(2014)
1,689.03 M
5k
2012
2013
2014
3D flims screened Titanic 3D
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
$155M
$200.4M
Iron
$12
CZ12
$141M
Painted Skin: The Resurrection
$116M
$2,700
M
$845
$3,500
M
$1,400 M 2012 Follow
2013
M
/ 27 Animation
2012
2013
19
2014
Animation
15
Animation
11
Action
10
Action
9
Action
6
Sci-Fi Fantasy
Adventure
2
4
Comedy
5
Sci-Fi
5
Adventure Thriller
2
1 Genres of 3D films B.O revenue of 3D imported films
4
Musical
2
Comedy
1
Thriller Thriller
2
Fantasy
Romance
4
Romance
2
2
others
2
1
B.O. revenue of imported films
Total B.O. revenue
Transformers: Age of Extinction
$301M
The Monkey King
$167.8M
Man3
21.5M
Pacific Rim
$111.9M
X-Men: Days of Future Past
$116.5M
$4,770 $933
M
$1,148
M
$2,170 M
$1,500 M 2014
M
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PRODUCTION
What Scripts Were Registered in SARFT in 2014? In China, movies for theatrical release have to go through script examination before making a film. Moviemakers who are involved in politics, government, police, medical institution, and other government departments should first send their scripts to relative institutions to check before they hand in the complete screenplay to The State Administration of Radio Film and Television of China (SARFT). In the end, SARFT will issue the production permission and release the projects on its website. Table1.
Period setting of registered Number of projects After 1949 1852 Before 1949 339
movie programs Percentage 84.45% 15.46%
This website presents 2,193 registered preproduction feature movie programs in the year of 2014 in China. According to SARFT, there are 1,852 scripts that are contemporary – set after the year of 1949 (the year PRC was founded). Recent years witnessed the obvious trend to produce modern subject matter movies, which avoid expensive historical production design, greatly reducing the production cost and risks. The fact that contemporary low-budget movies have gained satisfactory box office revenue also strengthens this trend. The 2014 registered film catalogue includes 84 co-production movies. Co-production movies involve the cooperation of Chinese film companies and foreign film companies, and the programs also need to go through the censorship procedure. As Chinese audience number increases and Chinese capital is more and more poured into film market, many foreign film companies are likely to involve in the Chinese film market, and therefore, an increasing number of co-production movie programs are registered in recent years. The romance movies take up to 30.67%. Those include stories fall into three categories: 1. Traditional love stories about men and women at different ages (mostly, young people); 2. Love stories with funny plots (most important purpose is not present love itself, but to make people laugh based on a love story); 3. The combination of love story and career development, and sometimes the man and woman cooperate to
by Xu Liang
achieve a common purpose. Generally, romance accounts for the largest part of the registered projects. 9% of the movie programs are about family. Stories include: children from rich family; love between parents and kids and relationship between sisters or brothers. Also, there are relationships between old person and a youngster. 3.01% of the movies in the program catalog are Chinese road movies or comedies. These kinds of movies are quite popular in Chinese film market and recent box office data indicate that this genre could sell well here. The most prominent characteristic of those movies is funny but with very local jokes (which explains why they don’t sell in other countries). Movies about friendship take up 5.39%. 9.57% of the registered scripts are about social issues including philanthropy, urbanization, environment protection, caring for the old people and the disadvantaged. The registered Sci-fi programs also takes up 2.4%, quite a rise compared with previous years. 9.59% of the registered movies are about career development, job arena, people who strive for their ideals and dreams. 5.41% of the movies are thriller and crimes, and these films are becoming increasingly popular among film companies because of their low budget and high revenue. Besides, there are several Chinese genres: 1.8% of the movies adapted from Chinese history, ancient mythology and classic novels. 4.19 % of the movies are from politicians, biographies of teachers, governors, firefighters, and people in other fields. Movies about Chinese-Japanese war take up 1.19% of all the projects. All in all, the registered programs to some extent represent the basic production trend in China as an objective reflection of Chinese audience’s propensity, government’s incentives and other market index.
Table 2 indicates the genre configurations of the registered projects Genre Romance Family Comedy Friendship Social issues Sci-fi Career development Crime & thriller Biographies Chinese- Japan war %
30.67%
9%
3.01%
5.39%
9.57%
2.4%
9.59%
5.41%
4.19%
1.19%
30 /
Location Scout Outside China
My Big Fat British Wedding
Gao Bo My Best Friend's Wedding
Li Xiao, Yu Miao
A Fairy Tale in New York
Fashio
Lu Nei Old Boy: The Way of the Dragon
W
Xiao Yang
My Old Classmate
Ao Li, Gao Xiaosong, Song Jichuan
Vancouver Diary
Britain London
Liang Jun
Brussels
A Chinese Girl in Manhattan
Vancouver New York Manhattan
Welcome to San Francisco
Sui Yanjie
Paris
Liu Zhennan
San Francisco Las Vegas Los Angeles
My Big Fat Venetian Wedd
Romance in 15 Time Zones Havana
Yan Liye Las Vegas Counterattack in Mind
Zhang Yanxi
Love in Havana
Zheng Dawei
Love in Milan
Xiao Shiyao
Hui Hui
Hollywood Adventures
David Fickas
Fall in Love with Italy
Ning Ying
The Cities of Love
Chen Shu, Dong Runnian, Qing Haiyan films already made film projects to be realized
Follow
/ 31 A Fairy Tale of Prague
Xu Chao The Love in Brussels
Somewhere Only We Know
Zhong Lufei
Wang Shuo Horse Trader
The Nightingale
Li Zhiyi
Philippe Muyl, Ning Ning
Somewhere Only We Know
Wang Shuo
on Brokers
Wang Pingi Tiny Time 3 Because I'm A Girl
Guo Jingming
Wang Jian The Loss of the Violin Venice Milan Roma Ltaly
Yan Jiming, Duan Peng
Prague
Across Turkey
ding
n, Wang Bo
Making Family
Li Jian
Turkey Aegean Sea
Jeju Island
Fly over Aegean Sea
Korea Busan
On the Road
Li Jian I Left My Heart in Aegean Sea
Poogki Kim
Sam Lee Bangkok
Xuan Chengyan Bad Sister
Bo Bonnie
Death Trip
Zhao Suqiu, Liu Chen, Liu Xueying Lpoh
Hello Babies
Internship Stewardess
Sabah
Guang Xiaojie, Du Xiaobing
Chen Maoxian Blingbling Mauritius
Fiji
Dai Yan
Fiji Love
Shen Xingyu
The Breakup Guru Australia
Yu Baimei
Five Minutes To Tomorrow
Anne Horiizumi My Big Fat Australian Wedding
Yang Shuo
32 /
DIGITAL
The Video-on-demand Business in China
1.Research subjects
been acquired by iQIYI.
This research and analysis on the Chinese video-on-demand market condition focuses on China’s top video websites. This is reasonable because results suggest that large sites generally have more purchases.
56.com has no such film available.
The researched video sites are: Youku, iQIYI, Tencent, Tudou, LeTV, Sohu, PPTV, PPS, and 56. The preliminary searching criteria are “full-length U.S. films made in 2014”. “U.S. films” is chosen because technically a specific country must be chosen rather than the whole idea of “overseas”, and Hollywood is the dominance. The year 2014 is selected because the market condition changes rapidly each year hence the most recent situation is preferred. Only 5 video sites have purchased enough 2014 American films to be researched in this article (Part 1). Among them, Tudou has merged with Youku, but still keeps its sites and operations. Sohu has only six films, all with very few clicks. In fact, its whole American film window consists only relatively unknown films with lukewarm viewing result. Sohu’s competitive edge lies in screening overseas TV series. It is famous for owning exclusive rights on hot series such as HOUSE OF CARDS. PPTV shows not only full-length films but also trailers and its own film programs. Overall, it has less than 10 entries. PPS has 13 films, but it also has millions of average clicks. PPS has Follow
for the content in various ways), charging is becoming a norm now. Prices are always much cheaper than film tickets (5-10 RMB versus 60-120 RMB or more if in 3D or IMAX). An array of payment schemes is applied, including monthly payment or yearly membership.
2. Key takeaways 2.1 Large business, large buyer The average number of clicks is positively related to the number of films available. In other words, the larger the site, the more the clicks, the higher the tendency of buying more online distribution rights of overseas films.
From the Part 2 tables, we can see that many sites now allocate more resources under the “pay” category, even though logically clicks for free content can be multiple times higher. However, the whole content purchasing business is still yet to make money.
The current top buyers are Youku, iQIYI, and Tencent.
Nonetheless, whether the content is free or not is an operational decision made by the video site; it is all the same for copyright business.
One noticeable point some of the films are labelled 2014, like HUMMINGBIRD. This could be the result that the film is bought by the site in 2014.
2.3 Timing is more important Beyond pricing strategy, when an on-line content is released is more pivotal. For example, THE EXPENDABLES 3 has appeared on three out of five “top 20” lists (Part 3), and the film is charged. This is partly because its on-line format has become available virtually right after its theatrical release.
2.2 VOD is common now, but still can’t make ends meet Due to historical and societal reasons, watching content for free is still the dominant habit of Chinese film audiences. However, with the pushing effort from the video sites that show content legally (who need to recover the high IP cost and thus are trying to induce consumers to pay Part 2 Tables:
Youku No. of films Average Clicks
by Snow Li
Free vs paid VO
iQIYI
Tencent
Tudou
Letv
Free
Paid
Free
Paid
Free
Paid
Free
Paid
Free
Paid
70
80
25
82
18
51
38
28
31
26
11M
6M
9M
3M
12M
6M
8M
N/A
*Number of viewing can only be seen for free viewing films
0.9M 0.4M
/ 33 PART 3 20 most viewed films on each site Youku
Clicks (million)
iQIYI
Clicks (million)
Tencent
Clicks (million)
1
Mr.Peabody& The 52.11 41.07 The Expendables 3 76.85 Sherman Expendables 3
2
The Legend Of 43.74 Hercules
3
Non-Stop
4
Pompeii
5
Grace Of Monaco
6
7
8
The Expendables 3
35.49
How to Train 20.50 Your Dragon 2 The Legend Of 21.04 14.26 Hercules
22.35
16.26
X-Men:Days Of 14.05 Future Past
Swelter
14.11
Fury
11.92
How to Train Your 44.01 Dragon 2 The Legend Of Hercules Godzilla Mr. Peabody &Sherman
Tudou
Clicks
LeTV
Clicks
Pompeii
3.13
The Expendables 3
56.90
Non-stop
2.79
How to Train Your Dragon 2
32.56
1.80
Pompeii
19.61
1.75
Maps to the Stars
18.03
Mr.Peabody &Sherman
6.14
The Legend Of Hercules Grace Of 28.46 Monaco
35.59
(million)
21.39 Walk of Shame 1.64
Mr.Peabody &Sherman
1.54
Mr.Peabody &Sherman
6.13
Maleficent
Dawn Of The 15.28 Planet Of The Apes
1.39
Non-stop
4.66
Non-Stop
14.98
Stuck
1.38
Hummingbird
3.08
8.27 Edge Of Tomorrow 12.59
Divergent
1.19
Atlantis: The Last Days of Kaptara
3.07
Dawn Of The Dawn Of The Planet Of The 12.10 Planet Of The 11.16 Apes Apes How to Train Stuck 10.70 Your Dragon 2 10.09 b
Guardians Of The 19.75 Galaxy
(million)
9
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
9.99
X-Men:Days Of Future Past
10
War Of The Worlds: Goliath
9.88
Pompeii
7.12
The Legend Of Hercules
12.06
Fury
1.11
The Expendables 3
2.12
11
Godzilla
9.53
Non-Stop
6.12
Need For Speed
11.91
Sector 4
1.10
How to Train Your Dragon 2
1.41
Penguins of Madagascar
4.76
How to Train Your Dragon 2
8.95
War of the Worlds: Goliath
1.08
P-51 Dragon Fighter
0.91
Goodbye World
4.63
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
8.63
X-Men:Days Of Future Past
1.03
Hunting the Legend
0.94
Dracula Untold 8.02
Blood Widow
4.42
1.01
Sleeping Beauty
0.89
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Need For Speed Guardians Of The Galaxy Journey Of Elisa Lam Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Guardians of the Galaxy The Amazing Spider-Man 2
0.93
Apocalypse Pompeii
0.63
0.64
Grace of Monaco
0.57
0.61
Sector 4
0.55
12
13
14 15 16 17 18
19
20
Walk of Shame 9.09
Edge Of Tomorrow
Fury
8.35
7.98 7.40
4.21 3.86
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Mr.Peabody &Sherman Penguins of Madagascar
7.04
8.45
3.45
Penguins of Madagascar Guardians Of The Galaxy Journey Of Elisa Lam Maps to the Stars
7.03
Scorned
3.48
Divergent
3.29
6.98
Haunting Cellblock 11
3.30
Into the Storm
2.60
Seal Patrol
0.57
Hercules Reborn
0.35
Mega Shark vs 2.75 The Purge: Anarchy 2.14 Mecha Shark
Maleficent
0.53
Shock Attack
0.23
Opposite Sex
0.51
Road to Paloma
0.13
5.99 5.84
Rio 2
2.47
300: Rise of an Empireb
2.11
34 / PART 4 Which are the most welcomed genres? Youku Genre
Number of films
iQIYI
Top 20 average viewing nunber (million)
Number of films
Tencent
Top 20 average viewing nunber (million)
Top 20 a nunb
Number of films
Action
51
1045.8
41
946.3
Adventure
27
1011.4
——
——
27 24
1
Animation
18
361.6
9
440.9
16
5
Biography
6
298.6
——
——
3
Comedy
42
458.2
22
243.3
22
3
Crime
12
87.2
35
606.4
9
1
Documentary
2
272.8
——
——
——
Drama
56
403.1
——
——
29
2
Fantasy
14
317.7
15
387.9
7
3
History
2
1053.7
——
——
—— 8
Horror
14
101.8
23
65.6
Musical
——
——
——
——
2
Romance
13
408.9
19
95.7
3
1
Sci-fi
19
746.6
15
212.4
9
1
Suspense
11
289.4
15
122.4
4
3
Thriller
40
382.3
48
708.2
17
8
War
8
241.3
12
922.2
2
1
Western
1
73.7
——
——
——
NB: A film can be labelled as more than one genre, thus overlap in entries of calculation is inevitable. Summary of part 4 Youku Genre with highest avaliable numbers
iQIYI Genre with highest clicks
Genres with highest avaliable numbers
Genre with highest clicks
Genres with highest avaliable numbers
Drama
Action
Thriller
Action
Drama
Action
Action Comedy Thriller Adventure
Adventure Sci-fi Comedy Romance
Action Crime Horror Comedy
War Thriller Crime Animation
Action Adventure Comedy Thriller
Adventure Sci-fi Thriller Animation
2.4 Everybody loves blockbusters As you can see from Part 3, top viewed films for each site remain largely the same. That is, those have been shown in China and have great box office performance. Therefore, their traits share the same with what constitutes current trendy films – sci-fi with action and adventure elements. Animation films are also highly welcomed. The price of purchasing overseas content for online distribution is very much similar to those of the domestic films. Namely, the ones with big budget, star power, heavy marketing would suggest high box Follow
Tencent
office. However, as many rights are pre-purchased, minimum-guarantee and multi-step quotation are used. For example, suppose that a film is sold for 2.5 million RMB with the guarantee that its Chinese box office would exceed 500 million RMB. If the film is underperformed, then a lower charging is applied. In addition, awards help. An Academy nominee or winner can see its price rising due to higher attention and potential viewing rate. Apart from Oscar, other film festivals and awards are also valued. For instance, iQIYI and the Venice International Film Festival have partnered last year, so that iQIYI has gained the
Genre with highest clicks
right to exclusively hold the on-line distribution of the festival films in the China territory. Frankly, commercial blockbusters tend to generate more clicks after all. THE GRAND BUDAPEST only has tens of thousands of clicks, though it can be seen on multiple websites. 2.5 Genres Summarized tables for Part 4 can be seen as below: Actually, the general trend is quite consistent among video sites. For instance, action films are in high demand in both quantity of purchase
/ 35
Tudou
average viewing ber (million)
Letv
Number of films
Top 20 average viewing nunber (million)
Number of films
(Free viewing only) Top 20 average viewing nunber (million)
1511
23
85.8
20
1348.4
1331.1
16
80.7
14
1578.4
542.5
7
43.7
8
1157.3
4.4
2
87.3
3
56.5
325.7
19
35.5
10
All paid vod
147.2
2
0.8
2
308.4
——
1
0.5
1
All paid vod 257.5
249.7
25
49.5
30
362.9
——
——
3
6.3
——
——
——
——
——
46.1
8
7.9
2
All paid vod
5.3
——
——
——
——
152.9
8
85.9
4
7.6
1227.8
8
97.3
4
90.9
384.7
6
60.9
2
278.4
818.4
14
51.3
10
972.6
180.7
5
46.8
2
54.8
——
——
——
——
——
Tudou Genres with highest avaliable numbers
LeTV Genre with highest clicks
Genres with highest avaliable numbers
Genre with highest clicks
Drama
Sci-fi
Drama
Adventure
Action Comedy Adventure Thriller
Romance Action Adventure Suspense
Action Adventure Thriller Comedy
Action Animation Thriller Crime
and viewing terms for all top five video sites. However, one should notice that genre classification in China is different from the common U.S. system, sometimes even confusing. For example, THE EXPENDABLES 3 is marked as a “war” film on iQIYI, and animation films tend to be categorized as “comedy” on this site. Look closely at Part 3, you can find out that same films can have different main genre labels on different websites. Despite mislabelling, another trend is “over-labelling”: to assign every occurred element as a genre. The
main reason is that genre system is not well established in the China market. The idea does not exist until quite recently. Also, it has been used unsystematically. Therefore, a film can have five or even more genres. Of course, multiple genre labelling is used on sites like IMDB as well, but often confined to at most three types. However, multiple labelling is inevitable. Sometimes the dominant genre can help, for example HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 has its “adventure” element, but first of all it is an animation. Unfortunately, other cases are not that obvious. For instance, is CAPTAIN AMERICA a sci-fi product, or is it an adventure
with tons of actions? In fact, almost all superhero films have all three genres. Like mentioned previously, sci-fi films tend to include action film and tend to be adventure film. Therefore, different sites may assign different dominant genre labels for the same film, hence research results can be misleading. For example, during the process, the writer observes that many times the genre “adventure” is actually referred to those sci-fi films. Last but not least, when there are too few films under a genre, the corresponding result can be misleading. For instance, films on history may have the highest clicks, but this is due to the fact that there are only two options available and one of them is a top viewed film POMPEII. In the analysis and summary, biased results as such are already eliminated from consideration. Nonetheless, the general trend deducted from Part 4 is still reasonable. It can tell us what kind of on-line film content are mostly welcomed by the Chinese audience, and thus are more likely to be purchased by the local video sites. 2.6 You never know what would happen Study regulations are the must-to-do homework. Sudden change can have profound impacts. For example, in 2014, the State Administration of Radio Film and television of China has published a rule to ask all imported American TV series to be examined FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON before it can be broadcast. This regulation basically blocks the channel for the Chinese to see episodes “simultaneously” like they have already got used to. If this largely deterred the overseas TV series VOD business, more resources may be switched to film content purchasing.
36 /
DIGITAL
BAT’s Film Business, and More “In 2015, iQIYI Motion Pictures will work with Emperor Entertainment Group in TO THE FORE and Filmko Entertainment in THE MONKEY KING 2 in terms of marketing and distribution. Also, we’ll continue our talks with big studios in Hollywood and Europe in the hope of shrinking the theatrical window. What’s more, iQIYI will develop theatrical films based on the immense tank of TV series and variety shows made and distributed on iQIYI. ”
by Ninja Tsui
Jan 11, 2015 Alibaba Pictures announced its first film production: THE FERRYMAN, a comedy to be directed by writer Zhang Jiajia, produced by Wong Kar Wai and featuring Tony Leung Chiu Wai. Aug 5, 2014
Jan 25, 2015
Oct 14, 2014
GONE WITH THE BULLETS, a film co-produced by iQIYI Motion Pictures has won $82 million USD in Mainland China. The film has also made into the 65th Berlinale Competition section.
Tencent announced to develop movie-related books with Shanghai Century Press Group, to develop merchandising with JD.com, which it had took in 15% stake of in March at $215 million. JD is China’s 2nd largest e-commerce platform, only next to Alibaba.
Jan 9, 2015 Baidu Pictures was announced to take shape, with the first business coming from Nuomi.com, a popular group-purchase site and APP that it had acquired a year ago. Aug 27, 2014 iQIYI will work with Huace Film & TV to make VOD films, TV series and variety shows. So Baidu, after acquiring iQiyi and PPS, might now have the access to Huace’s share of Guo Jingming’s Shanghai Zui Culture Development. Jul 17, 2014 iQIYI Motion Pictures was established by iQIYI.com, a leading online video site affiliated with Baidu. Follow
Sept 17, 2014 Tencent Interactive Entertainment was established with Tencent Games, Tencent Literature, animation and cartoon departments. Aug 27, 2014 Tencent and Huayi Bros. announced to build an O2O social entertainment platform Star Alliance, to stimulate fan-based interaction, merchandising, etc. Jun 27, 2014 Tencent (QQ.com), bought a 19.9% stake in 58.com, China’s Craigslist, at $736 million. May 5 Tencent bought an 11.28% stake in NavInfo at $189 million, one of China’s major digital map providers.
Zhang Qiang, Former VP of China Film Group, was announced to be CEO of Alibaba Pictures. Apr8, 2014 Jack Ma and Shi Yuzhu, founder of Internet game operator Giant Interactive paid $1.05 billion for a 20% stake in Wasu, a state-owned media company, to build original content, video telecommunication, games, music, cloud computing, etc. Apr28, 2014 Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital acquired an 18.5% stake in China’s leading online video company Youku Tudou, with an investment about $1.22 billion. Mar 11, 2014 Alibaba Group bought a 60% stake in production company ChinaVision at $804 million to access film and TV content and mobile social media business, renamed as Alibaba Pictures on May 23.
/ 37
After launching Mi Box, Mi TV and Mi Pad, Xiaomi Tech has entered the film industry by investing in Huace, a production house behind lots of popular TV series, via a company owned by Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi. Mind you, Xiaomi’ s Mi Phone is now China’s No.1 smart phone in terms of market share. “Xiaomi’s top 3 directions are: software, hardware and Internet services,” as Lei Jun always emphasizes. Famous for its weekly updates, Mi Phone’s MIUI system boosts 70 million users worldwide. Xiaomi’s recent moves suggest it has an ambition in Internet services such as content production and distribution. With various home and mobile channels, Lei Jun has realized the urgent need to build content, so he managed to have Chen Tong, who served as Chief Editor of Sina. com for 17 years, join Xiaomi. Chen Tong has previously led Sina win the battle in blog and microblog . It is believed that Chen’s advent can help Xiaomi re-structure in the content-hungry age, build the criteria in content evaluation, connect with relevant resources and talent, and above all, enhance the brand image of the fast-growing Xiaomi Tech. Two months ago, it was announced that Xiaomi had invested in Youku and iQIYI. It will participate in Youku’s content construction and distribution, and offer the Mi Phone channel for Youku’s interaction with users. It is noticeable that Xiaomi has invested about $300 million USD in iQIYI.
“To make films for the mainstream audience is Alibaba Pictures’ mission and values. THE FERRYMAN will have an A-lister cast with a top-notch crew. Besides, Alibaba Pictures has purchased the film adaptation rights of HUAN ZHU GE GE (the nation’s best-known TV series in the past decade), and has signed strategic partnership with directors like Wong Kar Wai, Peter Chan and Stephen Chow.”
Among all the Internet companies that have invested in the film industry, Youku Tudou Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) has proved to be the leader so far. Its film wing Heyi Film was established on August 28, 2014 and has since been involved in 11 films’ production and/or distribution, with a box office grossing of 3.32 billion RMB, that is, $530 million USD. This impressive line-up includes THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN 3D, THE CONTINENT, FLEET OF TIME, LOVE ON THE CLOUD, GIRLS and OVERHEARD 3. Earlier in 2014, Youku presented OLD BOY: THE WAY OF THE DRAGON and that marked the first time in China a short film expanding into a full-fledged feature with a national theatrical release. This film also resulted in the nation’s craze for a song named “Xiao Ping Guo” (Little Apple), China’s answer for GANGNAM STYLE. Youku announced to work with Busan International Film Festival to discover young filmmakers and has bought a sizeable tank of films from Lotte, Showbox and StudioCanal.
On Dec 23, 2014 Enlight Media announced to work with Qihoo 360 Technology (NYSE: QIHU) to do VOD business. Enlight will invest 48 million RMB, i.e. $7.74million USD, in creating this new company. With over 600 million users, Qihoo360 is an Internet security company known for its antivirus software like 360 Safeguard and 360 Mobile Safe, 360 Browser, etc. Announced its IPO in March 2011, Qihoo360 has set up a VC fund in Silicon Valley last July and invested 400 million USD in a local smart phone brand Coolpad a month ago. Thanks to this collaboration, Qihoo 360 now has access to Enlight’s two decades of popular entertainment programs, TV series and such. In the recent 3 years, Enlight has produced several top-grossing blockbusters like LOST IN THAILAND, SO YOUNG and THE BREAKUP GURU, all directed by young actors turning into directors.
38 /
CHAMBERS
Major Legal Issues in China’s Entertainment Industry
by Pascal Ahlberg
An Interview with China’s Top Media & Entertainment Lawyer Allen Wang Jun In China’s entertainment industry, various issues including copyright infringement and break of engagements between actors and their companies arise, due to the poor awareness of law, and insufficient monitoring and execution of the contracts. Also, China is still yet to have its own MEDIA LAW or FILMS ACT. Talking about the films and television programs, the core issue is IPR. It is caused by the IPR owner’s improper authorization of his work, and it also reflects the cutthroat competition as well as money-driven orientation in this field. Allen Wang Jun talks about several cases in the entertainment industry and his suggestions to relevant individuals and companies. Allen Wang Jun helped Chiung Yao win the case versus Yu Zheng on IPR. CFM: Could you introduce Chiung Yao v.s. Yu Zheng, literally the most noticed lawsuit regarding IPR in China’s creative industry?
Allen: On April 8th last year, Hunan TV started to show THE PALACE-THE LOST DAUGHTER. And the leading actress who performed the princess Xingdai says in an interview that THE PALACE-THE LOST DAUGHTER resembles PLUM BLOSSOM SCAR very much. Later, Chiung Yao, the most remarkable female writer in the Chinese world and author of the script PLUM BLOSSOM SCAR, got one script edition of THE PALACE-THE LOST DAUGHTER and found that it resembles hers so much that she cannot tolerate. She tried to communicate with Hunan TV to ban it from screening this TV series but failed. Then she posted an open letter, accusing mainland director Yu Zheng of plagiarism, stating her position and expressed her grief. Comparing with PLUM BLOSSOM SCAR, Follow
THE PALACE-THE LOST DAUGHTER is like a bucket of water, which contains the PLUM BLOSSOM SCAR thoroughly. Except for the ending, other things like construction of characters, relationship among characters, core plots and storyline are all quite similar. Such kind of copyright infringement was not a novelty so there was so much support for Chiung Yao due to the pent-up public anger. Actually the public was not simply supporting Chiung Yao or the rights protection of this individual case, they were hoping that the creative industry in China can develop well and the awareness of copyright protection can be raised. And due to the influence power of the works by both parties, the degree of infringement, and audiences’ perception, this infringement is so terrible that we require not only the damages but also the banning of it. CFM: Break of engagements between actors and their companies also is not a new issue
/ 39 nowadays. What is your opinion about this?
Allen: The management and restrictions of actors, which include dividing up money, publicity and promotion, are usually very strict. As a result, it sometimes limits the development of an actor. This kind of brokerage sometimes is interpreted as some compound relationships such as delegation, investment, cooperation, labor, service and so on. So it is important for actors to find a company that can be trusted and relied on. Or it would turn out to be a suffering for both the actor and his company since the term is often 7 years or more. LU Han and Kris all withdrew from EXO because they were burdened with a heavy load. But in the case of Yang Yang, he doesn’t have as much work to perform as he expected. The break of engagements between actors and their companies is mainly caused by divergence in their cooperative target. Once the orientation and cognition are changed, it’s difficult for them to cooperate again. If Yang Yang doesn’t terminate the contract with Rosat Film Production, he has to work for it for another six years which is a big challenge because the publicity, promotion and cultivating in this company cannot reach his expectation. Terminating the contract with his company is no longer a big issue for an actor. But even though it is his right to terminate the contract, he may still have to assume the responsibility for breach of contract. CFM: What do you think are the main problems and circumvention methods of cooperation between Chinese and foreign film companies?
Allen: China has become a popular investment spot recently, however to build collaboration in China is not that simple. There exist cultural differences, dissidence in how to make decisions as well as the logic of internal appraisal. For us Chinese, we tend to be more perceptual than rational, but they are more rational. In terms of decision-making model, the logic of two sides is not very matching but on one helps it. In my opinion, the renegotiation in 2017 requires us to make marketing plans for next
stage, but we are not forced to do it. It doesn’t mean that we have to give up some rights or open the China film market completely. The renegotiation only means that we have to renegotiate something. Because we still own the market, we can dominate the conversation as a result. The things we need to renegotiate are whether to increase the quota or not, some requirements of co-production, how to make the market more transparent, whether it is possible or not to release the limitations of introducing, importing, and distributing foreign movies moderately, and if the foreign companies have rights to enter and compete with Chinese companies. CFM: What is your general comment on the current Chinese film industry? What kind of advice can you offer to the individuals and companies in this field?
Allen: The whole cultural industry is a Blue Ocean for the future legal service. The future legal service will be cultivated and it will become better and better. We are also looking forward to the enactment of Chinese Film Industry Promotion law. For scriptwriters, they have to raise the awareness of and the ability to defend their legal rights while writing. The legal status of an individual work, work created by commission or work owned by a legal entity is different. If it is an individual work, the scriptwriter should register the copyright as soon as he finishes writing to crystalize the basic copyright ownership and completion time of the work. In this way, once it is plagiarized or adapted illegally by someone, you have proofs to safeguard your legal rights. In terms of authorization and adaptation, the permissions would be quite different according to the way it authorizes, including authorization by assignment and license with or without certain requirements. For companies, there are three main sections: legal issues, business issues and financial issues. For foreign companies, it is important to find credible partners. There are too many film companies in China, don’t be anxious to achieve quick success and get instant benefits or get discouraged too early. You have to go through numerous hardships to have a better understanding of this market.
Allen Wang Jun is a senior partner at Yingke Law Firm, one of the largest in China. He has been named an Asia-Pacific leading TMT/ Entertainment lawyer by Chambers & Partners in 2013 and 2014. Allen represents more than 20 of the leading Chinese entertainment industry companies and advises some of China’s top talent. He is also chief legal counsel for the Beijing Film Market of the Beijing International Film Festival.
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Hou Keming and the China International Children’s Film Festival He Leads work to grow up to well-rounded human beings; the other is about left-behind children whose parents going to the cities to work and leave the kids with their grandparents, without paternal or maternal love and care; the third is the encouraging type, coming-of-age story. CFM: You also lead China Children’s Film Association. What is its mission? Recent years have witnessed the growth of children’s film and its market in China. Here is an interview The Chinese Film Market has with President of China International Children’s Film Festival, Professor Hou Keming from the Beijing Film Academy.
Hou: China Children’s Film Association has established for 30 years with basically 2 kinds of members: filmmakers including producers, directors, actors, distributors and film critics; and people working in the education field. The goal of the association is to connect people from all walks, to communicate and learn from each other. We also promote children’s films: launching screenings in China and enhance their international exposure. Last year, we promoted LEGEND OF A RABBIT at the EFM in Berlinale. This 3D animation sold pretty well to a number of countries. We also recommend excellent children’s films to attend international film festivals.
CFM: What do you think are the reasons behind the fast growth in children’s films? Hou: After the industrial restructuring in 2002, private film companies could make films and this has definitely contributed to this growth. Also, in terms of the numbers of new children’s films, China is leading in the world. This is due to adequate funds and support from government and society. CFM: What are the major themes of these children’s films? Hou: Roughly speaking, there are 2 categories: films about children, or films for children. More specifically, there are 3 kinds of stories: one is to care about children’s education – they are to much bothered by the amount of homeFollow
In recent 2 years, we have also invited professionals to train young filmmakers in project development, production, and so on. In 2013, we taught kids in Siping, where the 12th China International Children’s Film Festival took place, to make short films by themselves, to increase their involvement in the film creation, and we’d like to make it a convention. This year, we will have the festival in southern China, in Sanya, Hainan Province, and create even more chances for such interaction and creation. CFM: What are the problems in developing children’s films and how to solve them? Hou: We need to go back to the films in the first place. What is more important, we need to understand their varied situation. For example, they don’t income, so they could not pay for the tickets; also, they probably are not able to go to the movies on their own. So we need to understand the basic bargains and ask the parents to accompany kids more often to the theaters. In terms of international promotion, one of the most distinctive problems might be the language barrier: most of our English translations – no matter the title of the film, the subtitle, or the lines are quite problematic and it hinders deeper communication.
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HAF – A Film Financing Tribune That Defies Boundary
Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the most important film-financing platform in Asia, has been helping over one hundred directors in the past eight years to win interested investors in their films. The list covers Jia Zhangke, Bong Joon-ho, Arvin Chen and Chang Tso-Chi as well as Ann Hui, Stanley Kwan, Tsai Ming-Liang, and Kurosawa Kiyoshi. Every year, a Script Development Fund Reading Committee reads a few hundreds of projects. Around 25 will make into the final selection and get a chance to present in HAF during Hong Kong International Film Festival. In the first four years, 10 Hong Kong projects got selected each year, together with those from Vietnam, Singapore, Mainland China, etc. Gradually, HAF open its arms to a bigger world and each year there are five local projects presented in HAF while Korea, Japan and Mainland China get the other biggest share. Up till today, HAF is generally supported by the government. Besides, projects from Australia, Great Britain, Finland and Iceland are also get presented in HAF: as long as it is a good story takes place in Hong Kong or Mainland China, it Follow
gets a chance to make it in HAF. A good story knows no boundary, plus professional experience seems to outweigh geographical distance as in the case of a 2012 HAF project from Icelandic Academy Award nominee Fridrik Thor Fridriksson. Jacob Wong, Director of HAF said, 3 years ago, we introduced documentary projects, as we understand there are people looking for documentaries. Meanwhile, we do have documentary projects submitted to HAF. Also a delegate for Berlinale, Wong commented: “Film markets, or these co-production markets are like airports: they are all the same although they all think they are different – they show films, they run a market and they set a platform for filmmakers to meet people with money. There’s subtle difference though, every year in Locarno, they concentrate on a country or a region, say, China, the Subcontinent or the Middle East. In Berlin, they don’t support rich Europeans but filmmakers coming from the third world country.” What are filmmakers think of HAF? Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL: I come to HAF to see what kind of
people are coming and looking for what. Of course, I know what I am looking for, but I’d like to see what other buyers, producers are interested in. because I live in a village in a small town in Thailand, coming here is like updating myself about what’s going on in business. My producer had many meetings in HAF and my first HAF experience did help me to understand the practicality of the film business, for example, my last film is a bit expensive. To know what we are capable of, so we can deliver the best project by working within a budget. Lawrence FAJARDO: We are here to discover things. HAF is a very positive experience: I have shown my films in Busan, Moscow, Edinburgh, Cairo and Île-de-France, but HAF is my first film market experience to see the business side of movie-making. We realize that as my films have traveled somehow, maybe now is the timing we take things slower and think a bit bigger, rather than hurry up film-making and production with a small budget. HAF is great for us to improve ourselves, helpful not just in terms of contact, but also our knowledge and perspective in movie-making.
AFM ISSUE 2013, ISSUE 17 NOVEMBER 15, 2013
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