Winning box-office success of 250 million yuan, the award winning period drama, Hero, has boosted the domestic film market, ensuring film supervision departments push for reform upon the establishment of a film industry here. Insiders say that new policies are likely and in turn, film classification, cinema upgrading via foreign investment, and permission for private companies to invest in film as well as a new criteria for orthodox film awards are on their way.
Film as industry
Hero’s box-office legacy inspired the domestic film market at the end of last year. Favored during Spring Festival and Valentine’s Day, cinemas cashed-in following the blockbuster’s success, as well as Harry Porter II (50 million yuan), When Mouse Loves Cat (20 million yuan), Zhou Yu’s Train (15 million yuan). This splendid market feedback indicated that the film market has become more mature in many places, and consequently, leading an incentive to reform. The film supervision departments have defined film making as an industry and say that the establishment of a film industry here is the only way forward. In order to design appropriate policies, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television commissioned a nation-wide survey on subjects related to the sector.
Original criteria awards
Film classification, as proposed by Wang Xingdong, a noted screenwriter, which was widely spread on the Internet this year, won strong consensus in the sector; some reports suggesting that central government is acting on it. An insider from the Film Bureau answered that it was “hard to say” what was happening but he did confirm that there will be rapid development in the next half years. In addition, some officially-sponsored traditional format film awards may transform their present criteria to its original, and have greater emphasis on entertainment as well as ideological content, with box-office performance being considered key.
Distribution takes priority
Insiders mentioned some possible items on the reform list: film classification, coalition filming standards, access to non-film private enterprise, cinema development with foreign investment and domestic film distribution. Amongst these items, domestic film distribution needs the greatest reform. Incidentally, all the successful films of last year were managed by domestic private companies: Hero under New Picture Company, Love for All Seasons under International Shanghai Creative Star Company and Together under Beijing Bona Culture Company.
(China.org.cn by Li Liangdu, March 27, 2003)
