Imported movies drive film market

Domestic movies did not fare well in the first half of the year, but imported blockbusters helpeddrive the entire market, according to the country's film authority.

Box office sales in China in the first six months of the year reached 8.07 billion yuan ($1.28billion), a 41.7 percent year-on-year increase, according to data the State Administration ofRadio, Film and Television released on Thursday.

Ticket sales for imported movies increased by 90.4 percent to5.27 billion yuan, while sales for domestic films dropped by 4.3percent to 2.8 billion yuan, according to the administration.

Film ticket sales totaled 10.17 billion yuan in 2010 and more than12 billion yuan last year, according to the administration.

"Despite the expanding size of the film market in China, themarket share of Chinese films is shrinking," said Gao Jun,general manager of Beijing Shengshi Huarui Film Investment &Management Co and a former deputy general manager of thetheater operator New Film Association.

With box office sales of 215.99 million yuan by the end of June,the fantasy epic Painted Skin: The Resurrection was the biggestdomestic film in the first half of the year.

The movie is still being shown and had grossed 516.6 millionyuan as of July 8. It is still far from the 934.03 million yuangrossed by Titanic 3D, the most popular foreign movie in Chinain the first six months of the year.

The poor performance of the domestic film industry is because ofthe low quality of Chinese movies, when competing with foreignblockbusters, according to experts.

"Compared with Hollywood blockbusters, domestic films are at adisadvantage," Gao said. "And it is not fair for Chinese films tocompete with those well-chosen films."

The government loosened restrictions on the distribution offoreign films for theater releases from 20 to 34 a year, afternegotiations with the World Trade Organization earlier this year. As a result, it's likely that evenfewer people will go to see domestic films, Gao said.

"This is very unfavorable for the Chinese film industry," he said.

According to Gao, most of the more than 80 domestic films released in the first half of the yeardid not make a profit, and the domestic movie-making industry is facing its biggest challengesince China's reform and opening-up in the early 1980s.

"The confidence in investing in domestic films has gradually faded away," Gao said. "The iceage for domestic film investment might be right around the corner, which could in turn lead tofewer domestic films being made."

However, Gao said it's possible that Chinese films' share of box office could rise in the secondhalf of the year because the foreign blockbusters scheduled to be shown are not expected tobe as competitive as the ones in the first half year.