For the last few years, Hollywood has sharpened its focus on releasing English-language movies in China, one of the world\u2019s fastest growing film markets. But that may not be enough.<\/p>\n
In the next few years, they may want to make the movies in Mandarin as well.<\/p>\n
A pair of recent releases co-produced by Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Limited focused on Chinese-language movies, show why language may matter more than ever.<\/p>\n
Its first effort, fantasy-action comedy \u201cJourney to the West: Conquering Demons,\u201d from \u201cKung Fu Hustle\u201d actor-director Stephen Chow, earned more on one day \u2014 ironically, Valentine\u2019s Day \u2014 than any other movie on any day in Chinese history, grossing 122 million reminbi ($19.6 million). It also has also become the fastest film to reach $100 million in its homeland.<\/p>\n
And VRPA\u2019s second film, \u201dSay Yes!,\u201d a Chinese-language remake of a TV drama, set a new record for a romance film opening on Valentine\u2019s Day, which this year coincided with Chinese New Year, earning $7.5 million. <\/p>\n
Together, the two films accounted for 85 percent of the box-office grosses on the Hallmark holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the largest indigenous market outside of English language movies in the U.S,\u201d Greg Basser, CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, told TheWrap. \u201cIt\u2019s still very immature, but we have a big familiarity with the region and a good brand in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
They aren\u2019t the only ones tapping into the market.<\/p>\n
DreamWorks Animation has partnered with three Chinese companies to launch DreamWorks Oriental (logo to the right), which will be headquartered in Xuhui. It will make original Chinese-language films based on local stories, and the first original movie should arrive in 2017. <\/p>\n
Fox International Productions, a subsidiary of News Corp., has already released local-language movies in a number of markets, including China. Last October, it partnered with the Bona Film Group to co-produce more such films.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith China growing as a market, you\u2019re only going to see more of this,\u201d Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst for BoxOffice.com, told TheWrap. \u201cA Hollywood movie won\u2019t appeal to a Chinese moviegoer just because it flies to Beijing or Shanghai for a sequence. In the same way, an American might not watch a movie in Chinese with an all-Chinese cast just because 10 minutes of it are in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/movies\/article\/why-hollywood-studios-need-learn-chinese-78546<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the last few years, Hollywood has sharpened its focus on releasing English-language movies in China, one of the world\u2019s fastest growing film markets. But that may not be enough. In the next few years, they may want to make the movies in Mandarin as well. A pair of recent releases co-produced by Village Roadshow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n