Scheduled to be released worldwide Thursday, Chinese director Chen Kaige's movie The Promise represents patriotic movie makers' new effort in pushing Chinese movies into the world market.
Following The Promise, another movie Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles by Zhang Yimou, who is becoming increasingly known as a blockbuster director, will be released this weekend.
The two films are highly anticipated by Chinese movie lovers, like their predecessor Hero. They have been optimistically predicted to top the overseas box office, also like the Hero. The two films promise to stimulate a national discussion about Chinese cinema.
At the International Forum for the Centennial Anniversary of Chinese Cinema, concluding in Beijing Wednesday, Huang Shixian, professor at the Beijing Film Academy, said Chinese cultural identity in the world has been rebuilt through a Chinese film rebirth marked by its entry into overseas markets.
"The rebirth has overcome an ice-age in which Hollywood movies not only dominated the world market, but also came in and ate up the Chinese film market," he said. In some certain sense, Chinese films have learned how to "dance with the wolves" and fight their way into the world.
Huang explained that ever from first imported foreign film, the Fugitive in 1994, to Garfield at the end of 2004, a total of 142 foreign blockbusters have been screened on the Chinese mainland. In the last ten years, blockbusters have been the dominant attraction at the box office.
Statistics show that from 1997 to 1999 Hollywood movies earned 1.45 billion yuan (about US$180 million) in China, accounting 44 percent of the total Chinese box office revenue.
"The import of blockbusters has totally changed the structure of the Chinese film industry and even altered the direction of Chinese film," said Ja Leilei, vice director of the China Art Research Center.
He pointed out that imported blockbusters changed the appearance of theatrical systems, stimulated the flow of domestic capital into the Chinese film industry and inspired the production of Chinese blockbusters.
In the recent domestic movie market, home-made blockbusters like Big Shot's Funeral, Hero and Cell Phone all had a pretty good achievements in box office revenue.
"Good profits greatly encouraged the local movie makers," Jia said, explaining that these movies were all invested in by private-funded movie companies.
Up to now, the number of private Chinese movie making companies has developed seven to more than 20, and a total of 146 private-funded companies are involved in film-shooting currently, the capital of which accounts for more than 80 percent of the total Chinese movie investment.
In the United States, Chinese movies have announced their presence in recent years, said Hong Junhao, associate professor with the department of Communication of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
In August 2004, Hero became the first Asian movie to top the box office charts in the US and grossed more than US$54 million.
House of Flying Daggers also enjoyed extreme popularity thanks to Zhang Ziyi's frequent appearance in the US mainstream media.
More Chinese movies are emerging as rising stars in prominent international film festivals, such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and even the Academy Awards. Chinese movies have been staples at international movie festivals, regularly winning in important categories.
"The continuous success in international competition illustrates that Chinese movies are getting more acknowledgement and respect globally," Hong said.
Stanley Rosen, professor with the East Asian Studies Center and Department of Political Science, University of Southern California, attribute the rise of the Chinese movie to a national dual strategy.
He said that since Hollywood movies were introduced, Chinese moviemakers and relevant officials have been seeking methods by which Chinese movies can vie with their Hollywood counterparts domestically and also score profits overseas.
"If the last year is indicative, the outlook for Chinese films is encouraging," he added.
Despite having a market share of 0.9 percent of the global box office, box office revenues in China hit 1.5 billion yuan (about US$183 million) in 2004, up 50 percent over the previous year.
Out of the 1.5-billion-yuan box office revenue, 55 percent was generated by homemade movies, with the top three also being homemade -- Kung Fu Hustle by Hong Kong comedy star Stephen Chow (US$20.3 million ), House of Flying Daggers by Zhang Yimou (US18.5 million) and A World Without Thieves by Feng Xiaogang (US$13.3 million ). It was the first time homemade films overshadowed foreign ones, despite a record import of 21 the same year.
However, Rosen noted that although the Chinese moviemakers shot a record 212 films in 2004, the three blockbusters "incredibly" accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total box office revenue for Chinese films, with most films never even receiving a theatrical release.
"Such kind of situation will lead to imbalanced competition and even suffocate some good moviemakers who are not skilled in drawing investment."
Another fact that cools the Chinese movie circle is that most Chinese movies, even the most profitable, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, was not that profitable to Chinese investors, due to the low price copyright sale to Hollywood.
Therefore, Rosen believed there are sufficient reasons to suggest that the overall situation for the Chinese cinema should best be "cautiously optimistic."
Huang Shixian stressed the Chinese film industry is marching forward "daringly" yet "carefully" despite a commercial onslaught from Hollywood.
Seeing a promising rise of Chinese film, Huang called for more cultural effort in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to enhance Chinese movies' worldwide influence.
(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2005)
