Hollywood Movie Studios See the Chinese Film Market as Their Next
Rising Star
 
A film crew works on
the set of the James Ivory movie "The White Countess" in Shanghai
in November
SHANGHAI, July 3 - Snow White and the seven ...
monks?
Like the rest of American industry, Hollywood has
seen the future, and it is China. Some of the biggest movie studios are now
scrambling onto the mainland and planning to invest more than $150 million
over the next few years in China's burgeoning film industry.
Walt Disney Pictures may even spend part of its
legacy, with a plan for what some people involved say is a live-action
martial-arts remake of "Snow White" that would be shot in China
and replace the dwarves with Shaolin monks. The director is expected to be
Yuen Woo-Ping, the Chinese director and choreographer who arranged the fight
scenes for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" series, as well as
"Kung Fu Hustle" and the "Matrix" movies.
Other studios intent on China include Sony's
Columbia Tristar Pictures unit, which is already producing and financing
feature films here. Time-Warner's Warner Brothers studio recently formed
joint ventures to make films in China. And Merchant Ivory Productions'
latest film, "The White Countess," set in 1930's Shanghai and
starring Ralph Fiennes, was filmed on location here last year.
A few weeks ago, Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder
of Miramax Films and one of Hollywood's biggest producers, told a gathering
at the Shanghai International Film Festival that the company he will run
once he leaves Disney's Miramax will also produce and finance feature films
in China.
Drawn by China's fast-growing economy, inexpensive
film production sites and its increasingly popular martial arts and feature
films - most notably "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000 -
Western studios are stepping up their presence here and looking to
eventually turn China into a major film production base.
"China is going to grow, so a lot of
companies want to come in here and produce films," said Li Chow, the
general manager of Columbia Tristar Film Distributors, a division of Sony
Pictures Entertainment. "Chinese films have done well internationally,
ever since 'Crouching Tiger' came out. So this is a trend."
The moves come as Hollywood officials are still
fighting to get their own American-made movies shown here. And they are also
putting greater pressure on the Chinese government to crack down on rampant
film and DVD piracy, which costs Hollywood millions of dollars every year.
But Hollywood executives also say they are making plans to produce and
invest in movies with a Chinese theme or Chinese language movies that could
later be exported to the rest of the world. And American studios are laying
the foundation to produce movies solely for China's domestic film market.
China's box office receipts are still small
compared with ticket sales in the United States, where box office revenues
were a record $9.4 billion in 2004, according to Exhibitor Relations. But
analysts here say affluent Chinese are becoming avid movie-goers,
particularly in big cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The
domestic market is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by 2007, from about $500
million in 2004, according to China E-Capital, a private investment bank in
Beijing.
Hollywood is also coming here to tap into China's
growing television, Internet, gaming and mobile phone markets, which
producers see as new and potentially lucrative outlets. A few weeks ago,
Warner Brothers Online announced that it would team with Tom Online, an
online and wireless service based in Beijing, to distribute Warner Brothers
film content on the Internet and to mobile phone users across China.
Perhaps more significantly, Hollywood executives
recognize that China now has a collection of talented film directors who are
breaking box office records at home and selling well overseas.
Over the last year, for instance, two movies from
the acclaimed director Zhang Yimou - "Hero" and "House of
Flying Daggers" - have together grossed more than $190 million outside
China.
And this year's "Kung Fu Hustle," a
comedy produced by the Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow, has
already pulled in more than $54 million overseas.
The biggest Chinese language hit so far was Ang
Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which in 2000 introduced
American audiences to the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and went on to earn
$128 million, making it the highest-grossing foreign language film ever
shown in the United States.
But Chinese directors are doing far more than
martial arts pictures these days. Chen Kaige ("Farewell My
Concubine"), Feng Xiaogang ("Cell Phone") and Wong Kar Wai
("In the Mood for Love") are considered established storytellers
who can appeal to broad audiences.
"We now have a group of world-class actors
and directors," said Ren Zhonglun, president of the Shanghai Film
Group, which produces movies and has also formed a joint venture to operate
cinemas in this country with Time-Warner. "These people can attract
investment from all over the world."
Disney's "Snow White" remake, which is
still in development and subject to change, will be in English. But the
Hollywood studios hope to produce a mix of Chinese and English-language
films.
"There are going to be a lot of American
films with a Chinese component," said Dede Nickerson, a producer who
has handled Miramax's Asia operations for the last four years.
So far, Sony Pictures' Columbia TriStar film
division is probably the most aggressive Western film company operating in
China. It has already financed, produced and distributed Chinese-language
films that include "Kung Fu Hustle," and "House of Flying
Daggers" and the "Road Home." In August, the company will
release Wong Kar Wai's latest film, "2046," a Chinese-language
feature starring Zhang Ziyi, in the United States. TriStar is also planning
to finance a Chinese-language sequel to "Kung Fu Hustle."
Time-Warner is investing in China as well. Through
various joint ventures, the company is putting money into more than 70
cinemas around the country in preparation for a potential theater-going
boom.
And its Warner Brothers unit has said it will form
a partnership with the state-owned China Film Group of Beijing and the
privately owned Hengdian Group, one of China's largest film companies, to
co-produce mostly Chinese language movies here. One advantage in forming
such a venture is that any film produced in China is exempt from the
country's quota of 20 foreign films a year.
Then there is the powerful producing tandem,
Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films.
Last month, at the Cannes Film Festival, the
Weinsteins said that their new business, the Weinstein Company, had already
acquired the distribution rights to Chen Kaige's next film, "The
Promise," which at $35 million is one of the most expensive Chinese
language films yet made in China. The Weinsteins and the IDG New Media Fund,
an investment vehicle controlled by the giant technology publisher, the
International Data Group, purchased the North American, England, Australia
and South African distribution rights to the film, which is expected to be
released in December.
It is not Mr. Weinstein's first foray into China.
During his time at Miramax, Mr. Weinstein signed deals that brought Chinese
language films to the United States, including "Farewell My
Concubine," "Chungking Express" and "Hero."
And Miramax produced Quentin Tarantino's
"Kill Bill" series, much of which was shot in Beijing, as well as
the forthcoming "The Great Raid," which was also shot largely in
China.
In June, Harvey Weinstein appeared at the Shanghai
International Film Festival with a group of financial advisors from Goldman
Sachs and a team from IDG Films. The group is believed to be looking to
produce or acquire the rights to additional Chinese films.
"This can be a major production base,"
said Steven Squillante, a former Miramax executive and independent producer
who is now a partner at IDG Films. "L.A. has doubled for everywhere in
the world. And so can China. They have high-quality crews, stunt men and
good facilities. Backlots are backlots, and sound stages are sound stages.
And the construction costs are manageable."
Hugo Shong, a senior vice president at IDG who
grew up in China and invests heavily in technology companies here, recently
set up the company's New Media Fund with $150 million in startup capital.
IDG also formed a film and content production unit, and hired several film
executives including Mr. Squillante and David Lee, a former Sony executive.
Perhaps the most telling sign of the movie world's
interest in this country has been the appearance of a Chinese language
version of Variety magazine, published here by IDG, and the opening of a new
Beijing bureau of The Hollywood Reporter.
"Why am I here?" Jonathan S. Landreth,
the new Beijing bureau chief of the Hollywood Reporter, asked rhetorically.
"Because everyone else in Hollywood is." - by David
Barboza NEW
YORK TIMES 4 July 2005
How China is changing Hollywood
Hollywood films are increasingly showing the influences of
Chinese cinema, says director Zhang Yimou
House Of Flying Daggers received widespread acclaim
Thanks
to his two international hits, Hero and House Of Flying Daggers, Zhang
is one of China's most high-profile directors.
The particular style of martial art in these pictures, termed wushu,
has cropped up in a number of US movies - most notably in Quentin
Tarantino's Kill Bill films, he says.
"Because of the influence of Chinese martial arts films,
Hollywood movies are changing," Zhang told the BBC's The Culture
Show.
"The actions in the films are more beautiful, more rhythmic, and
use some enhanced special effects. I think it's a great thing."
'Refreshing'
Martial arts epic Hero tells the story of Emperor Qin Shihuang's
campaign to unify China more than 2,000 years ago.
The film went to the top of the US box office chart and has so far
taken more than $50m (£26m) - a relatively large amount for a foreign
film in the US.
House Of Flying Daggers has done less well, managing around $10m
(£5m).
Zhang says he had already noticed aspects of Asian films in Western
cinema, particularly since the success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
in 2000.
"To Western audiences, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, for
example, is seen as something very refreshing - to see man-powered
flight.
"But now there are more and more of these kinds of films,
American movies have also begun to adopt these kinds of scenes with
people flying.
"So after watching lots of these films, people will get used to
seeing this exaggerated artistic style, and it won't be so strange any
more."
Zhang says he believes appreciation for a film can be
"universal", pointing out that people who had "no
idea" about Emperor Qin had enjoyed Hero.
"What attracts them, I believe, is the movie's form, the use of
colour, its music," he says. "They are attracted by the mood
of the movie."
Universal appeal
Zhang says film-goers can also gain "cultural and historical
information" from his work.
"Western audiences can gain an impression of China from my
films. This is an excellent channel for promoting China's culture,"
he says.
But he adds: "Many things, feelings especially, are common to
all human beings.
"As long as the film appeals to universal human feelings, all
audiences will enjoy it."
Before Hero and House Of Flying Daggers, Zhang did not have the
budget to make large-scale, epic pictures.
His previous films included the low-budget, though
critically-acclaimed, Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern.
However, he says Hero's success does not mean he will now become
solely interested in major productions.
"When I look back at the times I shot artistic movies, I found I
learnt quite a lot from them.
"So in the future, I hope to do both - make more personal films
which I prefer; and in certain circumstances, I will shoot some other
commercial movies like these two." - BBC
NEWS 10 March, 2005
BUSINESS
- JAMES HO's local Vancouver syndicate that
includes GEOFFREY LAU and former UBC Chancellor
BOB
LEE were awarded a licence to operate a multi-enthnic
television station. Is it doing well? The group operates from the former Marco Polo building at 88 East Pender
in Chinatown, but has yet to make any dent in ratings on the
mainstream television scene and it has been now a few years.
- T
& T opening in Edmonton
RESTAURANTS
Our good friend and international gourmand BENJAMIN
LUNG
invited us to the opening of yet another one of his another winning restaurants
in Asia. 
has saved a few invitations.
Here's the one from opening Va Bene Hangchow
in December 2003.
Ben who some remember when he
lived in Vancouver in the 80's and used to ski at Whistler with us
already has fabulous Gaia Restaurant in the Western District of Hong Kong
with
chef- partner from Ritz Carlton's Toscana, as
well Va
Bene in Lan Kwai Fong, Hangchow and Shanghai. He is one of the few
Asians who has a 'balanced' life and which could be attributed to his
partnership in life with wife Kit-May, who was raised in
Ottawa. Can you believe she's living in Hong
Kong now, land one of city's chi-chi Tai Tai set! A vivacious and
kind person, she makes Tai Tai's visits a joy. She is great
mom too.
|
