Internet brings hope to film industry: Filmmaker

The development of Internet has boosted the prosperity of the film industry, a filmmaker said during the ongoing World Internet Conference on Thursday.

"The success of my transformation from an entrepreneur to a filmmaker would be attributed to the help of the Internet," said Shi Jianxiang, film investor and producer, also CEO of Shanghai Kuailu Investment Group, at a sub-forum of the conference in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang province.

"The Internet is one of the areas that my company heavily invested this year," Shi said. "We combined the Internet with film and finance, to promote the Chinese films with the help of Internet."

The box office of the Chinese films will exceed 40 billion yuan ($6.17 billion) this year, among which 50 percent of them are from the Internet, he said.

"The Internet is leading us to a more prosperous future for the film industry," he added.

The conference, with a goal of "building a cyberspace community of shared destiny", has gathered together more than 2,000 participants, including state leaders, government officials, business leaders, Internet titans, and experts from more than 120 countries and regions.