Han Sanping

To celebrate this year's 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a stellar cast of China's top filmmakers and actors are making a film temporarily named "Founding a Country." The film stars many household names--Andy Lau, Jiang Wen, Ge You, Vivian Wu, and prestigious directors Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang--who all make appearances. Han Sanping is behind the camera.

As chairman of China Film Group Corp., Han insists only commercialization can promote China's films. In 2008, China Film Group Corp. movies took over 50 percent of the country's film market. Han was elected as one of China Economic Leaders of the Year 2008, an honor organized by China Central Television.

According to State Administration of Radio, Film and Television data, Chinese box offices made 4.215 billion yuan ($617.13 million) in 2008, up 888 million yuan ($130.01 million) from 2007's returns. These numbers put China in the top 10 of global film markets for the first time. Chinese films brought in 2.563 billion yuan ($375.26 million), taking over 60 percent of the total domestic market.

"Maybe it's a good chance for China's film industry to further develop," said Han.

Selling out or selling big?

"I have experienced the development of Chinese films over the last 30 years," said Han, whose career has been intertwined in a tumultuous period for domestically produced films. Two years after he entered the movie business in 1977, film audiences in China reached a historic peak of 29.3 billion person-time.

But ticket sales soon began to fall sharply. By the late 1980s, China's film industry began to seriously shrink. The number of Chinese films decreased by over 50 percent in 1993 and the audience shrank to less than a third of the peak number.

In 1994, Han was inaugurated as director of the Beijing Film Studio. The China Film Group Corp. was established in May 1999 and he was made vice chairman and vice manager. In that post, Han made a series of reforms to the corporation and led it into a new stage. Today, China Film Group Corp. has become the largest production base for Chinese films.

"Today's film industry is still in a dangerous situation," said Han. "If we don't speed up our development pace, local films will be kicked out of the market."

For a long time, Chinese filmmakers like international award winner Zhang Yimou enjoyed a carefree life in the bosom of the state-owned film production system. Under such a structure, they could make films in their own ways and not worry about the box office. They did not have to concern themselves with the market.

It soon became apparent that they would not be able to compete globally without considering the market. Audiences watched Hollywood films and compact discs took over the Chinese film market.

In recent years, concerned government agencies realized they needed to become aggressive in their marketing operations and reform the Chinese film system. Now state-owned film production studios are not the only film-making and distributing operations in the country, with many independent companies entering the marketplace. Filmmakers are now obliged to adapt to market realities.

In 2002, Zhang directed his commercial blast "Hero." The film created a box office sensation in the Chinese mainland film market, earning over 100 million yuan ($14.64 million) in the first week and 243 million yuan ($35.58 million) in three months. In the following years, Zhang shot several more commercial films. "We should attach enough importance to the commercial films," said Zhang, even though he had endured many doubts from his audiences.

Today, more and more audience members accept commercial films. When Feng brought his New Year's film "You Are the One" into the cinema at the end of 2008, moviegoers flooded theaters and spent 310 million yuan ($45.39 million) at the box office.

Before 1995, cinemas on the Chinese mainland would be closed during the Spring Festival (Chinese lunar New Year). But in 1995, Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx" lit up movie screens during the Spring Festival, taking in 110 million yuan ($16.11 million). The following year, Jackie's other kungfu film, "First Strike," took away about 100 million yuan ($14.64 million) from the Chinese mainland's audience during Spring Festival. Using Jackie Chan as a model, Feng directed his first New Year's film, "The Dream Factory," and defeated Chan's "Who Am I" in 1997. In the ensuing 10 years, films released over the Chinese lunar New Year have experienced a flourishing period.

John Woo, a Chinese director well-known to Hollywood, was invited to direct the ancient war movie "Red Cliff" in 2008. Being a famous war with familiar characters from Chinese history, the film's title virtually guaranteed box-office success in China. With Woo attached to the project, the film's future success became a lock. Investors put 600 million yuan ($87.85 million) into the film with little hesitation, and they were rewarded. Total Chinese box-office returns have topped 400 million yuan ($73.21 million), breaking breaking the 359.5 million yuan ($52.64 million) record held by Hollywood blockbuster, "Titanic" for a decade.

Longing for legal guarantees

During 2009's Spring Festival, "Yip Man," a film that tells the story of Bruce Lee's master and stars Donnie Yen, made 30 million yuan ($4.39 million) in the first weekend. However, many cinemas put the film on only one screen and disregarded audience interest. More of their screens were devoted to films by big directors.

The incident showed that China's film market is still underdeveloped.

"Film's industrialization needs a mature market, and a mature film market needs legal regulation and protection," said Wang Xingdong, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body. Wang has been a screenwriter for 33 years.

As part of China's film industry reform, Film Promotion Law shaped a draft as early as 2004 that has yet to be implemented.

"Legal guarantees are the basis for further reform of the Chinese film system," said Ye Hongming, a member of the CPPCC. He believes Film Promotion Law must have full power to regulate and monitor China's film market.

Early in December 2001, Regulations on Administration of Films was confirmed by the State Council, or the cabinet. From then on, many other policies and regulations have been issued by authorities. And the structure of China's film industry has begun to change.

"Chinese films have been increasing for six years in numbers released, quality and investment each attracts. It's a great time to enact Film Promotion Law. It will provide a looser and more flexible environment for Chinese film production and it will be beneficial to the up-and-coming state of China's film industry," said Zhou Xing, a professor at Beijing Normal University's College of Art and Communications.

"Film Promotion Law should focus on restricting government's administrative powers, forbid unjust competition and monopolization of some film production companies, encourage the participation of the public and gradually reduce consumers' costs. This will change the film industry into a burgeoning sector that is beneficial to millions of audience members," said Qiao Xinsheng, an economic law professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

(Beijing Review March 10, 2009)