Cultura Voice

Though China’s box office is indeed booming, so much so that Xinhua recently touted the nation’s recent record-breaking box office year, along with Indian news outlet  Outlook  publishing an article about how “China aims to become the world’s largest film market by 2020.” However, some Beijing film insiders harbor doubts about those prospects. Yes, even though Bollywood smashes like  Dangal  are cashing in on the Mainland and hefty Hollywood tentpole flicks like  Justice League  are counting on Chinese audiences to turn a profit, some have serious concerns about China becoming the biggest movie market on the planet. Keith Collea, a noted Hollywood 3D movie expert who collaborated with Chinese director Jiang Wen on his hit 2014 flick  Gone with the Bullets  ( GWTB),  before working as business development manager on films like  Maleficent  and  The Amazing Spider-Man , has doubts as to wheth...

Chinese investors are likely to continue eyeing up overseas motion picture projects — except this time, they’ll have more seasoned perspectives. Chinese director Zhang Yimou and American actor Matt Damon flopped with their $150 million film collaboration, “The Great Wall,” earlier this year. The motion picture was supposed to mark the debut of a new Hollywood, one featuring not only American stars, but Chinese luminaries too — a perfect union of American marketing know-how and Chinese financing. But the result didn’t live up to all the hype. Worryingly, the failure of “The Great Wall” is now becoming a major barrier to future Chinese investment in Hollywood, film industry insiders say. The movie’s Chinese investors are heading up the aisles and out of the movie theaters with nowhere near the 15 percent returns they were promised. “There’s a return to sanity in investing in Hollywood for Chinese investors,” says Larry Namer, co-founder of American cable channel E! Ent...

“Hollywood Lacks Curiosity” Luc Besson Says On August 19, acclaimed French director Luc Besson came to Beijing to promote his latest film ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’. At the post screening Q & A session, Besson shared the film’s behind-the-scene stories and his understanding of sci-fi movies with Chinese audiences. In addition, as an advocator for world cinema, Besson criticized Hollywood for not having enough curiosity and not providing enough room for foreign films to thrive.   Outspoken Careless's Besson scene was once again firing at Hollywood movies. As a "supporter of the world's film", Besson has targeted the Hollywood market for the lack of foreign film living space. He argues that "America is an emerging country with a lack of curiosity" and is not interested in the sci-fi genre of "America's superhero savior of the World", and has shouted to Chinese audiences: "Support your films and defend yo...