Make Chinese movies more competitive

CAI MENG/CHINA DAILY

As an important part of China's cultural industry and soft power, Chinese movies made great achievements during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period. In fact, in the past five years the box office returns of Chinese movies have on average grown 35 percent a year and China has become the world's second-largest film market. More importantly, China's film industry is expected to maintain its rapid growth rate for at least two years.

The success of the Chinese film industry in recent years can be attributed to several factors. For example, the marketization of China's film industry has largely improved. The film industry's infrastructure construction has been rapid - recent years have seen a 28 percent annual growth in the number of cinemas and screens. This has expanded the movie market and led to booms during the summer holidays and Spring Festival.

Also, the rapid development of the Internet saw 70 percent of the movie tickets sold online during the National Day "golden week" in 2015.

Besides, Chinese filmgoers in recent years have been flocking to cinemas in larger numbers. And the authorities' support to and protection of the domestic film industry have vastly improved ticket sales.

On the other hand, Chinese film companies business models have matured over the years. Internet companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and LeTV and many cultural organizations have entered the film industry with huge investments, which has helped expand the movie market further. As a result, the value of intellectual property has increased remarkably in the movie industry, and overseas investments have expanded.

But the Chinese movie industry still has plenty of room for improvement. First, although China makes a huge number of films every year, the quality of many leave much to be desired.

Second, Chinese films lag far behind Hollywood productions in terms of competitiveness. Almost half of China's box office returns come from Hollywood movies. And if the Chinese film market is opened completely, that percentage could be much higher.

Third, the Chinese film industry's industrial chain is still very short, and the overall income scale of China's film companies is comparatively small.

And fourth, Chinese films don't perform well in overseas markets. In fact, the export of Chinese films has declined in recent years.

The market space for the Chinese film industry is huge. And the key to promoting China's film industry lies in improving the productions, business models and international competitiveness of Chinese films. To achieve the goal, we have to pay more attention to three factors.

First, the focus should be on the production of "family movies". China's film audience is comparatively young: more than 70 percent of Chinese filmgoers are between 18 and 32 years of age. So movies that can be watched by families together (mainly cartoon films) will draw more children and adults to the cinemas.

Second, more efforts must be made to capitalize on the international market by making Chinese movies more competitive. If Chinese movies have a larger market, they could lower their cost of production and increase their profitability.

Third, the authorities should make efforts to lengthen Chinese movies' industrial chain, including box office returns, intellectual property protection, product placement and theme parks, which will effectively increase their added values.

If Chinese movies can move steadily toward the international market, they will not only improve China's soft power, but also boost exports of products related to Chinese culture. In this sense, the film industry is one of the most significant sectors of Chinese cultural industry, which makes improving Chinese films' quality an urgent necessity.

The author is vice-dean of the Institute for Cultural Industries, Peking University.