More foreign films are in the offing?

Opening the Chinese movie market will benefit both China and the United States, a top US film industry leader says.

Robert Pisano, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, told China Daily that discussions are ongoing between the Chinese and US government on whether to further expand the fastest growing film market in the world.

The World Trade Organization rejected China's appeal last December and upheld an earlier decision to break China's State control of the distribution of imported films, books and other copyrighted cultural materials.

The Ministry of Commerce said in its defense that it had made foreign entry into China's publication, film, and audio- and video-products markets very smooth, and that cultural products should be treated differently from other goods.

China has one year to comply with the ruling, which can no longer be appealed.

Pisano says he has not observed any specific implementation of the ruling so far, but points to on-going discussions, adding that he hopes for the best.

"It is not a win-lose situation," he says. "As more non-Chinese films enter the market, people have greater choice, which makes the pie bigger and movie-going habits increase. That helps all participants of the industry including local filmmakers."

China's box office has seen annual growth of more than 20 percent since 2002. But the country allows only 20 foreign films to be released in theaters every year. Only the State-owned China Film Group is entitled to import foreign films. It co-distributes them with another local company, Huaxia.

The country's box office revenue continues to soar this year, grossing 4.2 billion yuan ($615 million) in the first five months. But nearly one fourth of it is attributed to James Cameron's Avatar, which earned more than 1.2 billion yuan.

As to the gap between local productions and Hollywood blockbusters, Pisano insists on the importance of letting the market decide.

"Avatar was a unique phenomenon," he says. "I don't hold Avatar as the standard against which all other films should be measured. Good stories compete in the marketplace.

"In a competitive market, well-done Chinese films will compete head-to-head with well-done Hollywood, French and UK films. The key to success is to tell the stories people want to see."

Restrictions and quotas, he says, have proved unsuccessful worldwide.

"There is a history of government seeking to put restrictions on the importation of movies or to implement screen quotas," he says.

"What we find around the world is that it is the consumers who decide which movies are going to be successful.

"You cannot force someone to go watch a movie they don't want to watch. Today in a connected wired world, it is even more difficult to tell someone we only want you to watch the movies we produce."

Source: China Daily