All the right movies

By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-13 09:19

Wang Zhonglei and his brother have grown their small advertising firm into the largest private film production house in the Chinese mainland.

Movie producer Wang Zhonglei works from a large ranch-like homestead hidden in green woods about 30 km northeast of Beijing. From the French-style windows in his plush office, he can see the front door of his villa home and can watch his horses graze on the beautifully manicured lawns.

In a city like Beijing, where the journey to work for most people often takes more than an hour, Wang's commute to his office involves a leisurely, one-minute stroll in the fresh countryside air.

The 38-year-old and his elder brother Wang Zhongjun are now enjoying a little of the trappings of their movie making success.

They have come a long way in 14 years since they opened a small advertising firm in Beijing. Today they operate No 1 privately owned media corporation - Huayi Brothers - on the mainland.

Their company is responsible for a string of hit movies, including Feng Xiaogang's Cell Phone (Shouji) and The Assembly (Jijie Hao), which have topped the domestic box office.

Their latest release, The Forbidden Kingdom (Gongfu Zhi Wang), the first film pairing Jackie Chan and Jet Li, is not only conquering China, but also making a killing overseas.

"We never considered it as a Hollywood film. It was a global film," Wang Zhonglei says.

So far the film has earned more than $40 million in North American market.

Its box-office gross in China has reached 150 million yuan ($21.4 million) since the premiere on April 24.

The story of an American teenage kungfu fan's time-travel to ancient China marks a milestone in Huayi's international co-productions.

Huayi joined the project about two years ago as a co-investor and distributor in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Chinese companies seldom handle a film's distribution outside the mainland market, and normally sell the rights to local companies, which better understand their own regions.

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