China's capital borrowing ships to go to sea is becoming a trend, but the content is king

"Borrowing a ship to sea" does not mean a huge profit. Whether it is Hollywood or the mainland market of China, the hustle and bustle of the film industry is only temporary. In the end, content is the king.

Original title: "Borrowing a Boat to Sea" content is king of the way.

Although the blockbusters that dominated the mainland film market after the Spring Festival this year seem to be "Made in Hollywood," if we carefully examine the investors behind them, it is not difficult to find that many of them are "Borrowing a Boat to Sea" products of China film companies. For example: Wanda Pictures is among the investors in "Wolverine 3"; Alibaba Pictures is behind "A Dog's Mission"; and behind "Bloody Battle of Hacksaw Ridge" are Lian Media, Phoenix Legend Pictures, Qitai Culture, etc. Many Chinese film and television companies... In fact, 2016 was a year when China film and television companies collectively "borrowed ships to go to sea", which directly led to the fact that many "Hollywood productions" in 2017 had China ancestry. However, analysts in the film industry pointed out that "borrowing a ship to sea" does not mean a huge profit. Whether it is Hollywood or the mainland market of China, the noise of the film industry is only temporary, and in the end, content is the king.

Borrowing ships to sea is becoming a trend.

The rapid growth of China's film market has attracted the attention of capital, and profit-seeking capital always hopes to make the cake bigger so that they can share more benefits. "Borrowing a boat to go to sea" is a way to invest capital from China films and make the cake bigger. In the past 2016, more and more China film and television companies have "borrowed ships to go to sea". Some of them have cooperated with major Hollywood studios to film, some have acquired Hollywood film companies, and some have participated in more and more American blockbusters. Thus, global shares have become a new trend in the China film industry in 2016. Relevant statistics show that in the past 2016, the number of co-production films approved in China reached 89, an increase of 9 compared with 2015. This figure is a new high in the number of co-production film projects over the years, and it also illustrates the direct impact of the trend of "borrowing ships to sea".

At the beginning of last year, Wanda Group announced the acquisition of Legendary Pictures of the United States for US$3.5 billion, making it the largest overseas cultural merger by a China company. "Warcraft" and "The Great Wall" released last year, including "King Kong: Skull Island", which will be released this month, are all projects launched after Wanda acquired Legendary Pictures. Legendary Pictures is just the beginning of Wanda's acquisition road, followed by a $1 billion acquisition at the end of last year that it announced the acquisition of Hollywood production company Dick Clark Productions. In addition, Perfect World announced that it will cooperate with Universal Pictures, one of the six major Hollywood film companies, to participate in investment in its film projects in the next five years, with no less than 50 films; Kimi Pictures announced that it will invest in Luc. Europa, the company founded by Besson, became the second largest shareholder; Huayi America, a subsidiary of Huayi Brothers, invested US$250 million to cooperate with well-known director and producer Anthony. Russell and Joe. Russell's Russell Brothers Company jointly invested in the United States to establish a joint venture company... Although last year was a year when China film and television companies went to sea on a large scale, the action of "borrowing ships to sea" has long been quietly unfolding. China film and television companies have long been "lurking" behind blockbusters such as "Cloud Atlas","Bourne Ultimatum 5" and "Mission Impossible 5".

Diversified methods, animation breakthroughs

As exchanges with the film industry in Hollywood and other countries become more frequent, the ways in which China film industry "borrow ships to sea" are becoming increasingly diverse. At present, it can be roughly divided into three categories: acquiring or investing in overseas film and television companies with potential; cooperating on a single project; and traditional Chinese and foreign co-production models.

The cooperation between Wanda and Legendary Pictures belongs to the first type; Radio and Television Media Pictures signed a cooperation agreement with Lionsgate Pictures (Peak Entertainment) to jointly invest US$1.5 billion in the next three years to produce and develop film projects, which belongs to the second type. Huayi Brothers signed a film cooperation plan with STX Company in the United States, agreeing to complete 18 cooperative films by the end of 2017, which also belongs to the second type; the traditional Chinese and foreign co-production model has been criticized because some Hollywood companies have implanted China elements or launched special China versions just to get more box office shares. But now the model of Chinese and foreign co-productions has changed a lot. For example,"Kung Fu Panda 3" is a co-produced animated film rooted in China culture. This also confirms the words of Yaning, president of iQiyi Pictures, who believes that animated films will become a breakthrough for Chinese and foreign co-productions. "Due to cultural differences, language barriers, and different movie-watching habits, China's films have faced difficulties in going global. How should China share the world market represented by the United States is a very long process. Animated films that are relatively easy to operate may become a breakthrough. First, there will be no racial differences in cartoons; second, the use of dubbing in cartoons will not be awkward."

The transformation of the traditional Chinese and foreign co-production model has a lot to do with the transformation of American film and television companies 'treatment of the China market. David, executive president of 360 Entertainment in the United States. Ange said that the China market has become very powerful and may even become the most important market in the world. They are trying to proactively cooperate with China. Robert., general manager of China Lion North America. Lundberg believes that in addition to taking the initiative to cooperate on projects with China, Hollywood films should also attach importance to and use outstanding directors and actors from China.

Communicating things, the content is king,

"borrowing a ship to sea" is just a way for the well-capitalized China film industry to go global. However, whether China films can be recognized by world audiences in this way and achieve the purpose of spreading China culture ultimately depends on good stories and good content. Zhang Zhao, CEO of Le Pictures, believes that the globalization of China films refers to making films in the context of globalization. There are four points that are very important in the whole process-one is universal values, and the other is generally acceptable storytelling. The way, the third is language internationalization, and the fourth is China cultural characteristics.

Although the box office and reputation of "The Great Wall" were not so ideal, it made bold attempts in at least these aspects. Feng Wei, president of the Motion Picture Institute of America Greater China, gave great recognition to "The Great Wall". "I think the movie" The Great Wall "has great courage and practical significance, and it has also become a benchmark co-production film. However, if China-US co-production wants to succeed in the global market, this cannot be achieved in a day or two. Both China and the United States need to learn from each other." Feng Wei pointed out that film companies in China and the United States are working hard to cooperate to produce films that are recognized around the world. In the past, Hollywood film companies might only focus on the 43% box office share of imported films. Now they pay more attention to cooperation with China. After all, China is such a big market.

On the other hand, if you want to let China films go global by "borrowing ships to sea," communicating language and cultural differences between China and foreign countries has become a threshold that must be crossed. Every China filmmaker who has worked with Hollywood has deep feelings about this. Ang Lee once said that many of his films often require two screenwriters, one responsible for writing Chinese scripts and the other responsible for writing English scripts, and finally the two must be reconciled. An Xiaofen, chairman of Dasheng International Media, also felt the same way. She mentioned the "Flying Tiger Moon Flower" co-produced by her company with the United States. "It has been six or seven years in preparation. First, I invited China screenwriters to write the script. When I found it impossible, I invited American screenwriters to write it. Until today, the movie has not been filmed. In fact, this script is a very good script by Hollywood standards, but I don't think China audiences will buy it, so they can only polish it again." However, no matter what form "borrowing a boat to sea" will be presented in the film industry, good stories and good content are the most important. As Lionsgate's William Pfeffer said, audiences don't care where the funding comes from. They want the movie they like.

Editor: Nancy