How China Is Remaking the Global Film Industry Essay

The significance of the Chinese film market in the global film industry in the contemporary world is one that is indisputable. Majority of the analysts have an assurance that the size of the Chinese market is one that has the likelihood of outshining North America in 2019 (Rivkin, 01). Chinese media firms have been enlisting regional talents including the technicians, performers and creative personnel while buying the control of film and media companies, theatres and Television stations in the region and beyond (Rivkin, 01). The international film industry is for sure undergoing an era of substantial changes, led by the fast advancement of the Chinese cinema (Rivkin, 01). The paper seeks to account for the ways that China is reshaping the global film industry by exploring the Chinese film's industry diverse coproduction activities with Hollywood.

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The ascension of China economically has been a point of interest for the twenty-first century. The entertainment industry has not been an exception as over twenty screens were launched in 2015, separately (Liu, 04). In the same year, the Chinese Box office increased by fifty per cent compared to the previous year (Liu, 04). In addition, the Hollywood is planning to take advantage of the large Chinese middle class as a way of compensating for the diminishing audiences in the US. Analysts prospect that in the next one year, the Chinese Box Office will, without doubt, outshine the Hollywood to become the biggest in the world. Despite the economic standstill that is being experienced in most of the countries are being redeemed by the budding interest from the Chinese industry.

Despite the tension that the United States of America and China are facing, the significance of the Chinese industry to the film industry is one that cannot go unnoticed. Consider for instance; the Global cinema office sales soared to a new high of 40.6 billion US dollars in the previous year despite the reluctance of the audience in the largest film viewers in the world (Canada and USA). The growth was accounted for the widening of the markets in China that accounted for an estimate of eight billion US dollars in ticket sales for the previous years. Given the fact that the Chinese film market is anticipated to be the most significant film market soon, it is apparent the necessity of Hollywood to strategise ways that they can accommodate the Chinese market. The changes in the appreciation of the Chinese film industry is also not exclusively limited to viewership only since the filmmaking moguls have started setting up more significant debuts in China as opposed to Canada and the USA (Liu, 05). The mounting significance of the Chinese Cinemas to Hollywood comes at a tricky time when the relations between the two countries are strained. Hence, as a reaction to the measures that have been imposed by the Trump rule, China, in turn, has introduced proposed tariffs on many American products, affecting the stock market and fueling fears of a bigger trade war (Liu, 04). The fact that there are already some restrictions on the film imports to China is already a considerable blow to America and Hollywood because of the number of viewership that Chinese Market holds. The Chinese restrict foreign films at a fickle thirty-four films per year leading to the US to want to negotiate the terms because such restrictions would be detrimental to the film industry (Liu, 04). The import limit is under the process of being relaxed as the Chinese authorities have begun to concede at the prospects of reaching an agreement if the US authorities accept to share the revenues incurred from airing the films in China (Rivkin, 03).

Given the already discussed impact that the Chinese audience has on Hollywood, it is vital that the U.S film Industry that had once been dominant in the world to strategise their moves. The Film industry has especially been willing to readjust the content and the cast to please the Chinese audience while also trying to accommodate the Chinese Government restrictions (Rivkin, 05). It is also important to acknowledge the contributions that the Chinese have made to the film industry concerning the monetary contributions leading to the success of the Hollywood. For instance, large organisations such as the Dalian Wanda group have financed some of the Hollywood's blockbusters, and as the analyst, Hannah Beech observes, such contributions by the Chinese industry, have substantially increased the interdependence that characterises the relationship between Hollywood and China (Rivkin, 06).

Some analysts have argued that the Chinese contribution to the film industry has not been one that has been out of the ordinary since other countries such as Japan, Middle Eastern states and even European countries have been doing this since time immemorial. However, the differences between the contributions that the other countries have made are accurately captured by the head of CMC (Court, 05). He argues that the way they are good financiers is the same way that they expect to have big returns. He gives examples of how his private media company has managed to collaborate with some of the biggest production companies such as Warner Bros, DreamWorks and IMAX (Court, 04). He admits that China has a lot of money to invest in the film industry as it has seen the returns that the industry have the possibility of making (Court, 04). Such an arrangement implies that the relationship between China and Hollywood is one that has the potential of going on for a long time.

The content that Hollywood produces has already been readjusted to fit the taste of the Chinese audiences while keeping in mind the need to refrain from making inferences that are meant to criticise the Chinese government (Court, 03). One such movie that shows the fact that the Chinese film industry is steadily affecting the film industry is the film known as Martian where the Chinese Space Agency surprisingly saves the day (Court, 03). Besides, the Transformers 4 that was set in Hong Kong was received and became a hit in the expansive Chinese industry. Such a move helped the industry to collect a revenue of over three hundred million US dollars more than what was raised in North America (Court, 03). Another movie that has been made to make it look like China has some superpowers include the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that features two Chinese actors (Court, 03).

Conclusion

The Chinese film industry is hence not only changing the film industry in matters that are related to the financing the sector, it is also changing the content that is churned to be viewed. The film industry has admitted that the growing Chinese middle class requires the film content to be readjusted to fit their preferences (Rivkin, 06). The Chinese industry is hence one that ultimately influences how the films are written or produced, as China is gradually becoming the centre of everything related to cinema.

Works Cited

Court, Cindy. "How China Is Remaking The Global Film Industry - China Digital Times (CDT)". Chinadigitaltimes.Net, 2017, https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2017/02/china-remaking-global-film-industry/. Accessed 17 Sept 2018.

Liu, Liu. "Chinese Values Influence Global Film Industry - Global Times". Globaltimes.Cn, 2018, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1098058.shtml. Accessed 17 Sept 2018.

Rivkin, Charles. "China To Be World'S Top Film Market 'In Short Order', Hollywood Says". South China Morning Post, 2018, https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2140381/china-will-soon-be-worlds-top-film-market-having-overtaken-us-canada. Accessed 17 Sept 2018.