Warner Brothers on Saturday signed an agreement with China's
Wanda Group to create 30 Warner Wanda International Cinemas,
bringing more movie-going opportunities and options to people
across China.??
According to the agreement, Wanda Group, a well-known Chinese
real estate company, will invest in the building of the 30
multiplex cinemas, while Warner Bros. will provide overall
technical, operational and management services. The multiplex
cinemas will use the brand names of both Warner Bros. and Wanda
Group.
The first of the 30 multiplex cinemas is already set to open
Sunday in north China's Tianjin Municipality, while another 29 will
finish construction during the coming three to four years in the
municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, north China's major cities of
Harbin, Dalian and Shenyang and central China's cities of Wuhan and
Zhengzhou.
Millard Ochs, chief executive of Warner Brothers International
Cinemas, told Xinhua that "China's cinema market is young and full
of opportunities," adding that Warner intends to further invest in
China and help nurture China's cinema industry.
China issued new rules in December 2003 allowing foreign
investors to hold an up to 75 percent stake in joint venture
cinemas in seven of China's largest cities, which took effect on
Jan. 1 this year.
Zhang Pimin, vice director of the Film Bureau under the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said the new
regulation makes China a more attractive place for foreign cinema
giants and the coming of Warner Bros. is just a prelude of the
foreign inflow in China's movie market.
China currently suffers poor cinema conditions. The whole
country only has 35 cinema groups, including more than 1,200
cinemas and about 2,000 screens, which means every 650,000 Chinese
have merely one screen. In a sharp contrast, the United States has
more than 30,000 cinemas.
Experts said the great lack of cinemas means some home-produced
movies have no chance to be shown to the public. Besides, the
facilities of most Chinese cinemas are poor, making some Chinese
prefer to watch VCDs and DVDs at home.
China's annual film revenue in 2003 was 1 billion yuan (about
US$120.4 million), half of which was earned by foreign films. The
domestic movie masterpiece Hero recorded box office sales
of 250 million yuan (US$30 million), while dozens of other
home-produced movies earned a combined 250 million yuan. And some
local movies had no opportunity to be shown at all.
"If there were enough cinemas to show films, the enthusiasm of
local film makers would surely be sparked and therefore, the local
film industry will be pushed forward," said Zhang.
Previously, Warner Brothers, the world's movie giant, also inked
a framework agreement with Guangzhou Performance Co. to build
cinemas in south China.
Xing Yan, a public relations officer of Hua Xing Cinema, the
most luxury cinema in the capital Beijing, personally believed that
the foreign capital influx into China's cinema market will erode
the interests of local cinemas.
But Zhang said the government only allowed joint ventures to
exist in the country's film industry, but still banned foreign
companies from solely investing in cinema construction. This policy
somewhat protected local cinema operators.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2004)