Crowdfunding, which allows a project to raise funds from a large number of people via the Internet, has been a vogue in China's movie industry, with several blockbusters, including the Tiny Times franchise, rolling out such projects to pool funding and fan popularity.
The concept is gaining traction in China where the government has been encouraging innovative fundraising to help money-strapped business startups. Statistics from Yingcan Consulting show China's crowdfunding platforms increased to 211 by the end of June, raising more than 4.6 billion yuan in the first half of the year.
Despite the boom, crowdraising remains distant from the general public. Ai Haiqing, co-founder of a crowdfunding website keddoo.com, said most projects have high capital thresholds and only solicit professional investors.
The projects on large platforms (with low or no investment threshold) are mostly rewards-based or are public interests activities. Equity crowdfundings (promise shares in a company or film) are rare, Ai said.
Their foray into China's booming film market to target ordinary movie lovers is also viewed as more of a marketing stunt to encourage "investors" to go into the cinema to support their own "products" rather than suppliers of much-needed funds.
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