Page 326 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
China hit 10.5 billion yuan. China has contributed around outside of China. In the new wave of crossover castings, the
13 percent of the Marvel Universe’s global gross revenue. blockbusters are targeting Chinese audiences exclusively,
This had made China the largest single movie market for with U.S. stars picked for their skills or their appeal to fans in
the series. By the end of the second day after the formal Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. One factor fueling the
release of Avengers: Infinity War in China, the box revenue trend is the rapid increase in Chinese production budgets.
for the film already smashed through a billion yuan.Though The first Detective Chinatown film was made for $15 million
it’s hard to know how much the films’ Chinese publishers in 2015, but Wanda splashed out more than $60 million
and theaters have earned, looking at a trillion-yuan sized on the sequel just three years later. Unbreakable Spirit,
pie, a few films are far from enough. Red Sea Operation, a with Willis and Brody, has an estimated budget of US$65
China-made anti-terrorism film about Somalia pirates and million. Producers say rising budgets are a reflection
global nuclear conspiracy, was ranked at the top of China’s both of the growth of the Chinese box office, which hit
2018 box office list by cranking out over 3.7 billion yuan. US$8.6 billion last year and is expected to surpass that
Still, four films out of the top ten box revenue winners were of North America by around 2020. The growing budgets
imported. Ready Player One ranks 5th, Avengers: Infinity have also rendered Hollywood actors newly affordable.
War ranks 3rd, Rampage ranks 8th, and Aamir Khan’s Secret It’s also helped that the U.S. studios, focused on making
Star ranks 10th. The Secret Star continued the success of fewer, bigger tentpole films, have sharply reduced the
Dangal, another Aamir Khan film telling an Indian female number of these“mid-budget”titles they produce. China is
wrestler’s struggle in gender inequality and a hierarchical beginning to step into that gap. The real boom in West-to-
life. Aamir Khan’s Dangal achieved 1.3-billion-yuan box East talent transfer, however, is below the line. Nearly every
office revenue in China, about two times of Black Panther’s major Chinese film in 2019 has some behind-the-scenes
box office revenue in China. (Zhao). technical or professional involvement from Hollywood, be
it a producer, cinematographer, composer, visual effects
Once the biggest stars of the Chinese-language supervisor or action coordinator (Brzeski).
industry went west to bring their careers to the next level.
Now, it’s much more common to see Hollywood talent The days of big western star salaries may be over. Late in
head east, seeking opportunity in Beijing’s booming the summer of 2018, nine of China’s biggest entertainment
film business. Two-time Oscar winner Michael Douglas and streaming sites, including iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent
deploying his signature menace as the mysterious villain video, issued a joint statement on boycotting excessive
the highly successful Animal World, a youth-oriented high wages for actors and actresses. The statement said
thriller from Beijing-based studio Enlight Media. The film, the companies would pay actors and actresses no more
an adaptation of a Japanese comic book, opened to $38 than one million yuan per episode and not more than 50
million over the weekend, kicking off China’s summer million for an entire drama show or movie. The relatively
blockbuster season. But Douglas isn’t the only Hollywood high pay of actors and actresses in China, especially in the
star willing to play a supporting role in the Chinese movie TV drama industry, has been making headlines for years.
boom. Michael Pitt (Boardwalk Empire, The Dreamers) Previously, Chinese authorities already sought to rein in
popped up earlier this year in Wanda Pictures’ smash hit high salaries for actors, which can take up a significant
comedy Detective Chinatown 2, which grossed US$544 percentage of a production’s budget. In 2016, Beijing
million in China. Marvel Studios’ alum Frank Grillo (Captain Review reported that Chinese stars’ salaries were under fire
America: Civil War) played the Western villain in Wolf for being excessively high. At the time, a member of the
Warrior 2. Bruce Willis and Adrian Brody appeared as US Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,
military officers in Unbreakable Spirit, a China Film Group- Sun Baoshu, stated that since casting takes up such a large
produced tentpole about the Japanese bombing of the part of production funds, producers have to cut budgets
Chinese city of Chongqing during World War II. Hollywood for things such as scriptwriting, stage setting, and sound
stars have appeared in big Chinese-themed films before recording. The next year, the China Alliance of Radio, Film,
— most notably Christian Bale in Zhang Yimou’s period and Television (CARFT), a non-profit organization that
action drama Flowers of War and Matt Damon in Legendary works under the government, ordered China’s production
Entertainment’s now-legendary flop, The Great Wall. But in agencies to limit the expenses for cast salaries to no more
those films, both U.S.-China co-productions initiated by than 40 percent of the total production costs for online/
American producers in the hopes of bridging the world’s TV drama series. The same rule was reiterated by the
two biggest markets, the Hollywood casting was justified Chinese tax authorities in 2018, fixing a cap on the amount
as a necessary ingredient to help the films win an audience actors and actresses in the Chinese entertainment could
326
China hit 10.5 billion yuan. China has contributed around outside of China. In the new wave of crossover castings, the
13 percent of the Marvel Universe’s global gross revenue. blockbusters are targeting Chinese audiences exclusively,
This had made China the largest single movie market for with U.S. stars picked for their skills or their appeal to fans in
the series. By the end of the second day after the formal Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. One factor fueling the
release of Avengers: Infinity War in China, the box revenue trend is the rapid increase in Chinese production budgets.
for the film already smashed through a billion yuan.Though The first Detective Chinatown film was made for $15 million
it’s hard to know how much the films’ Chinese publishers in 2015, but Wanda splashed out more than $60 million
and theaters have earned, looking at a trillion-yuan sized on the sequel just three years later. Unbreakable Spirit,
pie, a few films are far from enough. Red Sea Operation, a with Willis and Brody, has an estimated budget of US$65
China-made anti-terrorism film about Somalia pirates and million. Producers say rising budgets are a reflection
global nuclear conspiracy, was ranked at the top of China’s both of the growth of the Chinese box office, which hit
2018 box office list by cranking out over 3.7 billion yuan. US$8.6 billion last year and is expected to surpass that
Still, four films out of the top ten box revenue winners were of North America by around 2020. The growing budgets
imported. Ready Player One ranks 5th, Avengers: Infinity have also rendered Hollywood actors newly affordable.
War ranks 3rd, Rampage ranks 8th, and Aamir Khan’s Secret It’s also helped that the U.S. studios, focused on making
Star ranks 10th. The Secret Star continued the success of fewer, bigger tentpole films, have sharply reduced the
Dangal, another Aamir Khan film telling an Indian female number of these“mid-budget”titles they produce. China is
wrestler’s struggle in gender inequality and a hierarchical beginning to step into that gap. The real boom in West-to-
life. Aamir Khan’s Dangal achieved 1.3-billion-yuan box East talent transfer, however, is below the line. Nearly every
office revenue in China, about two times of Black Panther’s major Chinese film in 2019 has some behind-the-scenes
box office revenue in China. (Zhao). technical or professional involvement from Hollywood, be
it a producer, cinematographer, composer, visual effects
Once the biggest stars of the Chinese-language supervisor or action coordinator (Brzeski).
industry went west to bring their careers to the next level.
Now, it’s much more common to see Hollywood talent The days of big western star salaries may be over. Late in
head east, seeking opportunity in Beijing’s booming the summer of 2018, nine of China’s biggest entertainment
film business. Two-time Oscar winner Michael Douglas and streaming sites, including iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent
deploying his signature menace as the mysterious villain video, issued a joint statement on boycotting excessive
the highly successful Animal World, a youth-oriented high wages for actors and actresses. The statement said
thriller from Beijing-based studio Enlight Media. The film, the companies would pay actors and actresses no more
an adaptation of a Japanese comic book, opened to $38 than one million yuan per episode and not more than 50
million over the weekend, kicking off China’s summer million for an entire drama show or movie. The relatively
blockbuster season. But Douglas isn’t the only Hollywood high pay of actors and actresses in China, especially in the
star willing to play a supporting role in the Chinese movie TV drama industry, has been making headlines for years.
boom. Michael Pitt (Boardwalk Empire, The Dreamers) Previously, Chinese authorities already sought to rein in
popped up earlier this year in Wanda Pictures’ smash hit high salaries for actors, which can take up a significant
comedy Detective Chinatown 2, which grossed US$544 percentage of a production’s budget. In 2016, Beijing
million in China. Marvel Studios’ alum Frank Grillo (Captain Review reported that Chinese stars’ salaries were under fire
America: Civil War) played the Western villain in Wolf for being excessively high. At the time, a member of the
Warrior 2. Bruce Willis and Adrian Brody appeared as US Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,
military officers in Unbreakable Spirit, a China Film Group- Sun Baoshu, stated that since casting takes up such a large
produced tentpole about the Japanese bombing of the part of production funds, producers have to cut budgets
Chinese city of Chongqing during World War II. Hollywood for things such as scriptwriting, stage setting, and sound
stars have appeared in big Chinese-themed films before recording. The next year, the China Alliance of Radio, Film,
— most notably Christian Bale in Zhang Yimou’s period and Television (CARFT), a non-profit organization that
action drama Flowers of War and Matt Damon in Legendary works under the government, ordered China’s production
Entertainment’s now-legendary flop, The Great Wall. But in agencies to limit the expenses for cast salaries to no more
those films, both U.S.-China co-productions initiated by than 40 percent of the total production costs for online/
American producers in the hopes of bridging the world’s TV drama series. The same rule was reiterated by the
two biggest markets, the Hollywood casting was justified Chinese tax authorities in 2018, fixing a cap on the amount
as a necessary ingredient to help the films win an audience actors and actresses in the Chinese entertainment could
326
