What It’s Really Like to Work in China’s Film Industry
It’s been said that China is remaking the global film industry, and that’s not an exaggeration. At the end of 2016, China surpassed the U.S. in the number of cinema screens, and its box office revenue has grown 144 percent since 2012, compared to 6 percent in North America. These days, a film can be a total flop in Hollywood but still become a financial success, largely thanks to the power of the Chinese market. Just look at this year’s “Transformers: The Last Knight” : it made $123 million in its opening weekend in China, whereas it opened with just over $69 million in North America. China is an entertainment powerhouse—and rightfully so—but with that power comes certain challenges. “It’s easier to raise money in China [for films], and probably easier to make a movie,” says Bennett Pozil, executive vice president and head of corporate banking at East West Bank, who has helped facilitate some of Hollywood and China’s biggest co-production deals. “But it’s also easier to lose...