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Hot ticket with popcorn

By Raymond Zhou ( China Daily )

Updated: 2013-12-26

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Nicole Kidman (left) attended Wanda's Oscar-like party. Xu Chongde / for China Daily

Picking (Apart) the bad apples

A knockout year for cinema

China's movie-makers hit pay dirt this year, thanks to a variety of factors including a hungry young audience, Raymond Zhou reports.

It's hard to pinpoint yearzero for the rejuvenation of China's film industry, but 2013 will probably be remembered as the year the industry gained full confidence and changes happened faster than any prognostication. By the end of 2013, China's box-office total is expected to hit 21.5 billion yuan ($3.54 billion), 10 times the revenue of 2006. Last year's number already placed China as the second-largest cinema market in the world, next only to the United States. But only this year did the ratio of domestic releases rise well above the 50 percent demarcation, and without any palpable manipulations.

Sure, Hollywood superheroes still command their share of China's box office. For example, Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Gravity and Fast and Furious 6 all brought in north of 400 million yuan in the Middle Kingdom, but they were exceptions.

Most imported movies had respectable instead of magnificent returns. More importantly, they were trumped by a slew of mid-budget Chinese productions that did not resort to special effects, but rather, had dialogues that resonated with the local audience.

Speaking of China's movie-goers, their average age has dipped to 21.4 years old. Unsurprisingly, love stories sell, especially tales that are not grounded in reality, at least not on the surface. These rom-coms (romantic comedies) may use the Hollywood formula in narrative structure, but they are studded with inside jokes that appeal to today's young.

And these audience members hail increasingly from cities and towns smaller than Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The aspirations and aesthetics of this demographic form the bedrock of China's market, and they have their own tastes and quirks. One thing is for sure: They do not have any patience for art-house fare, making 2013 the most fallow year for this genre - not a single independent-looking movie survived the cutthroat market. Even studio pictures with serious subject matter are going under. The race is on to dumb-down the Chinese screen as much as possible.