Cultura Voice

Last week, the Chinese film bureau announced a new domestic film incentive program. The exact details of the program have yet to be spelled out, but the gist is that starting January 1, 2018, Chinese movie theaters will receive financial rewards for showing more Chinese films. The rewards are based on a theater’s total box office receipts for the year and kick in if at least 55% of those receipts are for domestic films. Even bigger rewards kick in if the percentages exceed 60% and 66%, respectively. Theaters must submit box office information through the government’s internal system and cannot engage in box office fraud. The 55% mark may be difficult to attain. As of a few weeks ago, Chinese films had a market share of 52.4% for 2017, and that’s largely because of the enormous revenues from  Wolf Warrior 2 , the highest-grossing film in China’s history. During the first 6  months  of the year ( Wolf Warrior 2  opened on July 27), Chinese...

The Different Fates of This Year’s Two British-Chinese Co-productions  Starring Orlando Bloom, British-Chinese action thriller ‘S.M.A.R.T. Chase‘ opened in China on September 30, and has only made 14 million yuan after 5 days in release. Meanwhile, ‘The Foreigner,’ another British-Chinese co-production starring Jackie Chan, is one of the top performers during the National Day holiday in China. While the author of this article didn’t elaborate on why ‘S.M.A.R.T. Chase’ is failing, he did mention the legal dispute between the film’s Chinese investor Bliss Media and its American producer from Das Films. He also attributes the success of ‘The Foreigner‘ to Jackie Chan’s participation and the efforts Wanda Pictures and Yaolai Cinema have been spending in promoting the film.   Casting Directors in China: What Role Do They Play? While casting directors play an important role in Hollywood and have the authority to make important casting decisions, their counterparts in ...