The box office of Chinese-made films shot from 2.2 billion yuan (about US$265
million) last year to 3.6 billion yuan (some US$434 million) this year.
Home-made films contributed over 50 per cent of the total box office value in
China this year, according to official Tong Gang, who was attending an ongoing
national meeting on radio, film and television work held in Boao, a tranquil
resort on the eastern coast of Hainan Island.
Tong, director of the film bureau with the State Administration of Radio,
Film and Television, said the introduction of a range of reform measures had
encouraged film producers and investors alike to explore the country's vast
market.
The measures included lowering the barriers for access to the film market in
aspects of operators, script content and funding, simplifying procedures for
government approval, phasing out market monopoly and administrative hurdles, and
opening-up film distribution, Tong said.
China produced 212 feature films this year, compared with 140 last year and
100 in 2002. To date, more than 80 per cent of the domestically produced films
are financed by private or overseas investments.
Among them, "House of the Flying Daggers", directed by Zhang Yimou, earned
153 million yuan (about US$18.44 million) at the box office inside China.
The improvement in both output and quality of Chinese-made films has in turn
given an impetus to the development of the film market as a whole. A growing
number of domestic and overseas companies have started investing in building
cinemas in the country.
