How to distribute Chinese films in the United States? Listen to what the chief operating officer of China Lion Company said

In 2015, China Lion Company released a total of 21 domestic films, with a total box office of more than US$10 million in North America, Australia and New Zealand. So far in 2016, a total of 12 Chinese films have been released, the two most successful ones being "Hot Pot Hero" and "Sun Wukong: 3 Beats the Bone of the Bone". In the entire history of China Lion's release,"Lao Pao 'er" has the highest box office performance.

. Before founding Huashi, Jiang Yanming mainly did post-production and special effects work. Since "The Banquet", he has been Feng Xiaogang's main partner in film special effects, and has won honors such as the Hong Kong Film Award and the Asian Film Award.

Jiang Yanming gradually realized the need for overseas distribution of Chinese films. In 2010, he founded the North American Huashi Film Distribution Company in Los Angeles, USA, and began to promote Chinese films in North America.

The North American market has always been a very closed and difficult market. Based on the experience of Hong Kong's film industry, it is usually exported from near to far, first to Southeast Asia, and then to North America after becoming popular in North America. China Lion skips Southeast Asian markets and enters North America directly.

The company's early operation was very difficult."In the first three years, investment and output were not proportional, and the three million US dollars invested were wasted in a short period of time." Jiang Yanming said.

However,"the distribution of Chinese films is profitable, which is also the driving force for our sustainable development." said Robert Rundberg, chief operating officer responsible for specific operations.

In 2015, China Lion Company released a total of 21 domestic films, with a total box office of more than US$10 million in North America, Australia and New Zealand. So far in 2016, a total of 12 Chinese films have been released, the two most successful ones being "Hot Pot Hero" and "Sun Wukong: 3 Beats the Bone of the Bone". In the entire history of China Lion's release,"Lao Pao 'er" has the highest box office performance.

The most difficult thing is to ensure timely release.

Reporter: In your opinion, what are the reasons for the success of "Hot Pot Hero" and "Sun Wukong: 3 Beats the White Bone" in the North American market?

Robert Rundberg: Both movies have great stories and both have important stars in the show.

Reporter: What are the factors that contributed to the success of "Lao Pao 'er"?

Robert Lundberg: This movie is great, and there are also cross-generational stars joining, from Feng Xiaogang in the middle to Li Yifeng and Wu Yifan in the new generation. The story of the movie is cleverly written and the characters are interesting, which is an important reason why it resonates with audiences in North America and the UK.

Reporter: What are the North American box office results of "Hot Pot Hero","Sun Wukong: 3 Beats the White Bone" and "Lao Pao 'er"?

Robert Rundberg: The box office performance of each film in North America depends on the number of theaters released, the type of film, and the timing of release. Considering the limited number of movie viewing in North America, we don't like to compare box office, especially with the box office of mainland movies. Instead of focusing on box office results, we focus on the annual growth rate of the company's performance. It is very obvious that the box office results of movies with high-quality content are rising steadily. North American audiences are now paying attention to directors and actors from China, and we believe this is a sustainable growth.

Reporter: What are your fixed criteria for selecting films?

Robert Rundberg: There will be some selection criteria, such as whether the story is smart and interesting. In addition, stars are always the magic weapon to attract audiences. We care whether there are stars participating in the movie. We hope that the movie can truly move the audience, making the audience laugh, cry, or make the audience shudder.

Our core audience is usually under the age of 35, and there are more female viewers. But good movies can transcend gender and age restrictions. "Lao Pao 'er" is such a good movie. Almost all viewers are willing to watch this type of movie, and many viewers still enjoy it.

Reporter: What marketing methods will you use?

Jiang Yanming: At present, new media is the most important publicity platform. Compared with the traditional channels in the previous two years, the investment will be much less. Of course, we will also do some hard publicity. For example, when "Old Gun" was released, we built nine billboards on highways.

The most successful marketing campaign currently is "Hot Pot Hero". Our team has made this crime-genre movie have attracted a lot of response in North America and Canada.

Reporter: What challenges will we face in opening up the U.S. market?

Robert Rundberg: Publishing Chinese films in the American market requires experience, and experience needs to be accumulated over time. In addition, distributing movies in the United States is very expensive. Our team needs to know how to select films that suit the appetites of Chinese American audiences and let the audience know when and where the films will be released.

However, the distribution and marketing expenses in the American film market are surprisingly high, and North American movie audiences are very picky when choosing movies. They have a large number of entertainment products to choose from. These are all difficulties we face when making distribution. The problem we need to solve is how to get audiences to watch the movies we choose and ensure that they feel value for money and become repeat customers.

Reporter: What is the most difficult part of releasing a China film?

Robert Rundberg: The most difficult part is making sure the film is released in a timely manner. We do our best to keep the release synchronized with China to ensure that our audiences can discuss the film with their relatives and friends overseas in a timely manner. But it's very difficult. In current movie releases, time is money.

There will always be moments that make people feel particularly anxious, such as a producer failing to deliver the film to me in time, or some other situation occurring that prevents the film from being released in time.

Reporter: Is piracy the key reason why movies strive for simultaneous release?

Robert Rundberg: Unfortunately, piracy is a very important reason.

The proportion of local audiences in the United States is still very small

. Reporter: Some films have achieved great success in China. Why are the box office results in the United States unsatisfactory?

Robert Rundberg: I'm not very good at using the word "unsatisfactory" to describe acceptance by American audiences. Different audiences have different ways of accepting a movie. Some of the films we have chosen to release have considered global audiences as their potential target groups when they were produced, while others are easier for audiences in the mainland of China to understand and appreciate.

Filmmakers are constantly learning how to be nice to overseas markets. In the North American market, you will find that more and more North American audiences are beginning to accept Chinese movies. They usually choose home entertainment platforms such as Netflix or iTunes.

In short, the current work is mainly to cultivate audiences so that they can gradually become familiar with China's directors and actors. The more we publicize it, the more they know. The more you know, the more you can appreciate Chinese movies.

Reporter: How many Native American viewers, white, black, Mexican, etc., watch Chinese movies?

Robert Rundberg: It still depends on several important factors: when the film is released, what type of film is released, and where the film is released. At present, compared with Americans whose mother tongue is Chinese, the proportion of American audiences who choose to watch Chinese movies is still very small.

What local audiences in North America are relatively familiar with are European films and European filmmakers. But we found that local audiences in North America are more interested in Chinese movies than before.

Owners and operators of theaters are also familiar with European films and European film producers. Our job is to build bridges and bridge the cognitive gap so that local North American audiences have the opportunity to learn about outstanding films from China. Compared with the past, this job is much simpler now, especially since there are more and more good movies.

Reporter: If the target audience of Chinese films comes from the mainland of China, is it too risky to show such films in the North American market?

Robert Rundberg: We have a great team that will survey people whose native language is Chinese to find out how many North American audiences from the mainland of China are willing to watch our released movies.

Reporter: The Southeast Asian market is an important place in China's overseas markets. Why didn't we enter the Southeast Asian market first?

Jiang Yanming: At present, there are many Hong Kong companies and mainland companies that mainly export overseas copyrights to Southeast Asia. If China Lion enters the Southeast Asian market, it will break the previous pattern. I don't want to join such a competitive environment at this stage. Developing channels is relatively easy, but we are still at the stage of cultivating the market.

Reporter: What do you think of the global market?

Jiang Yanming: I hope to make all countries with a large number of Chinese people around the world, including Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, etc., available for simultaneous release.

The "six major film companies" commonly referred to in Hollywood should actually refer to the distribution level. In terms of production, some independent production companies also have high production levels. We want to make it the "seventh largest" because there are not many companies that do global distribution and can directly release it in theaters.

Editor: yvette