Chinese Filmgoers Journey Away From the West; home-grown films take six of the top 10 spots. China’s box office gross $2.7 billion, up 35% from a year earlier. The growth in sales for Chinese films: a whopping 94%
October 24, 2013 Leave a comment
October 24, 2013, 2:02 PM
Chinese Filmgoers Journey Away From the West
In the surprising battle for China’s box office so far this year, the Monkey King gave Iron Man an improbable beat down and a gaggle of Chinese college kids managed to hold their own against a group of tower-sized monster-destroying robots. If you want to be mega-successful in the movie business these days, you have to win the hearts of Chinese filmgoers. For years, Hollywood has raked in the lions share of China’s film spoils despite import restrictions designed to protect domestic movies. But as WSJ’s Wayne Ma and Laurie Burkitt report, that tide appears to have turned in 2013, with home-grown films taking six of the top 10 spots so far this year:Last year, Hollywood had significant pull in Chinese theaters, with foreign films accounting for 51% of box-office sales. Chinese films faced stiff competition from Hollywood blockbusters including “The Avengers,” “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and “Titanic 3D.” Only three of China’s top grossing films of 2012 were domestic. So far this year, foreign films accounted for 42%.
Industry insiders say that China’s domestic filmmakers have stepped up their game, producing better-quality movies such as “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” a 3-D production that pulled in 1.24 billion yuan, and “So Young,” a coming-of-age story about a group of college students that made 717.3 million yuan at box offices.
The spoils are getting larger, with China’s box office grossing 16.42 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) through September, up 35% from a year earlier. The growth in sales for Chinese films: a whopping 94%
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