Chinese film industry looks for new horizons in North America

Better grasp of global audience tastes necessary

"I've long thought that there are a set of particular stigmas placed on Asian cinema, both by the Western critical establishment and by general audiences ... and these stigmas affect the potential of an Asian film's box office," said Sam C. Mac, a film critic for Slant Magazine, adding that some moviegoers still live with the legacy of an Asian cinema that made its way to the US primarily on the strengths of genre entertainments, martial arts movies and Hong Kong gangster films.

"While it won't always be a winning formula, I think films that are earnest and honest in their expression of Chinese culture have a better chance at critical and audience acceptance than those that try to emulate Western formulas for cinema, and consider cultural identifiers as merely an afterthought," Mac told Xinhua.

"To some extent, Chinese capital being more involved will help increase the understanding of global cinematic tastes and the improvement of technical skills in production. Reaching global appeal for Chinese movies will require filmmakers to tell diverse stories with universal appeal," Anthony Kao, editor-in-chief of Cinema Escapist, told Xinhua.

"While joint productions with Hollywood and other global players will help the Chinese film industry better understand global audience tastes, investment alone is not the answer," he noted.

Some Hollywood insiders believe, with the rise of China's domestic market, for many Chinese filmmakers today, there is less incentive to gamble millions on an attempt to try to decipher the complexities of an unfamiliar and poorly-understood international market when their own familiar and well-understood domestic market can recoup hundreds of millions of dollars for a single hit film in China.

Andre Morgan, co-founder of Ruddy Morgan Films, told Xinhua, "The truth is that China has not focused on the American market, yet. Historically, the Chinese industry over the past 20 years has been very focused on rebuilding its domestic markets and production capabilities."

"They did not really make films for international consumption, but that will change as China consolidates its domestic market and looks for new horizons," Morgan added.

Su Jia, president of CMC Pictures, pointed out that the Chinese film industry is still at its embryonic phase, which will pave the way into the North American market.

"It will be a huge task for Chinese filmmakers to attract more mainstream audiences in North America in the future," said Su, noting that "at least, they are increasingly thinking about it."