CHINESE FILMS HEAD OVERSEAS

By+Sean+Robertson

The story of Wudang swordsman Li Mubai is one that resonated with moviegoers across the globe. The thrilling martial arts sequences， sumptuous costumes and sweeping musical score of Ang Lees four-time Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon（2000） ensured its position as one of the greatest non-Hollywood films of the new millennium and the highest-grossing foreign language film in Hollywood history.

Yet the giddy heights reached by Lees masterpiece， and the brief golden era that it sparked， has become little more than a distant memory. In the decade and a half following Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon， the Chinese film industry has spluttered and faltered on the international market， with 2012 marking one of its lowest international grosses in recent history.

In 2013， the year where Chinese films overtook Hollywood blockbusters in Chinas domestic box office and boomed to a record of more than $3 billion in domestic receipts， this success could tragically not be mirrored in the all-important North American market.

According to a report issued by the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press， Publication， Radio， Film and Television of China， overseas box office in 2013 amounted to just 1.41 billion yuan （$231 million）， a drop of 30 percent from the 2 billion yuan （$330 million） earned in 2011. The industrys lowest box-office earnings since 2005 was 1.1 billion yuan （$180 million） registered in 2012.

Foreign film drought

This downward spiral is not exclusively a Chinese trend， however. Foreign language films have always struggled to break into the North American market.

Stanley Rosen， political science professor at the University of Southern California， told Beijing Review that subtitled films make up “perhaps only 1 percent” of the films shown in America. With such a tiny proportion of the U.S. market dedicated to foreign films， even the most successful can only expect to make a relatively modest profit.

Rosen cites the example of 2013s Hong Kong-Chinese mainland production The Grandmaster， grossing $6.5 million stateside compared to its domestic gross of $50 million， as the “upper limit for Chinese films these days.”Rosen believes that with the films huge promotional and advertising costs， which helped the film pick up two Academy Award nominations， The Grandmasters U.S. earnings may barely even amount to a profit.

“[In America] Chinese films tend to only play in the biggest cities， in communities where Chinese people live，” he said.endprint

Experts suggest that the cultural barriers between China and the United States are often too much for American audiences to overcome.

“Telling Chinese stories in a way that is easy for foreign audiences to understand is still an unsolved problem for Chinese directors，” said Chinese-American film producer， Janet Yang to the Global Times.

Rosen suggests that many Americans view films set in pre-1949 China with a great deal of skepticism， often believing them to be “propaganda films.”

“When Zhang Yimou or Feng xiaogang hire well-known American actors， but make films about pre-1949 Chinese history， Americans will not respond. Its a waste of money hiring American actors if you expect that it will help you at the U.S. box office，” Rosen said.

Mats Karlsson， professor of Japanese studies at the University of Sydney， told Beijing Review that Asian films dealing with World War II often lack commercial viability as their “messages become politically incorrect” when viewed by Westerners.

Karlsson believes that while Western audiences are fascinated by Asian culture， they are not interested in a Japanese or Chinese view of history. They are looking for films that confirm what Karlsson calls the “Western Orientalistic gaze.”

This may explain Americas long-standing fascination with kungfu films. The raw spectacle of martial arts films combined with Chinese characters， settings and costumes satisfies the audiences “Orientalistic interest” without challenging their underlying perceptions about China. Kungfu films also have the added advantage of bypassing Americans infamous aversion to subtitles.

“For foreign audiences， kungfu is magical， but above all， they dont need to read subtitles to understand the film， which is a very important factor given the current quality of translations，”Huang Huilin told the Global Times.

According to Rosen， however， market saturation has meant that the box office success of martial arts films have petered out since Jet Lis 2006 film Fearless.

A balancing act

Therefore， Chinese filmmakers seem to be walking on a knifes edge. In order to appeal to American audiences， they must ensure that their films are neither too foreign nor too familiar. Too foreign， and the film will alienate American viewers. Too familiar， however， and Americans will write the film off as a poor Hollywood substitute.

Lost in Thailand， for example， which grossed a record-breaking $192 million in China， was viewed in North America as a rip-off of the lucrative The Hangover franchise， and could only manage a measly $60，000 at the U.S. box office. Similarly， last years romantic comedy Finding Mr. Right bore a striking resemblance to the Hollywood classic， Sleepless in Seattle.endprint

Grace Oneill， a former employee of the independent film distributor Hopscotch， said that Chinese filmmakers therefore face a hugely difficult balancing act of being “both uniquely Chinese and internationally accessible.” If film-makers can pull off this tightrope act， however， then reports suggest that international audiences are likely to respond.

A study conducted by the Los Angeles Times found that while the U.S. box office receipts of summer 2013 were up by 14 percent from the year prior， this improvement was largely driven by the success of smaller-scale films like Despicable Me 2 rather than the socalled “tent-pole blockbusters” that Hollywood has come to rely upon.

Oneill believes that with more and more Hollywood studios relying on the “out-ofthe-box， cookie-cutter” blockbusters that are assembled “with the same narratives， the same actors，” producers are starting to see a backlash， with audiences craving a bit more diversity in their cinematic diet.

Chinese filmmakers， therefore， may have a unique opportunity to step up and be counted in the American box office. And while Rosen notes that Chinese films cannot hope to compete with the likes of Despicable Me 2， the 3-billion-dollar question still remains： How do Chinese filmmakers break into the North American market？ And can another Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon ever be uncovered？

Hollywoods rather uninspired answer has been to cut and trim foreign pictures to make them more palatable for American audiences. While Rosen believes that these truncations are sometimes a necessary evil， such cuts often detract from the artistic integrity of the films themselves.

Author and critic Peter Biskind describes this process as “boning foreign films into easily digestible fillets”， depriving them of the essential feature that attracts Americans to foreign films： They are a “window onto unfamiliar worlds.” Hollywood， it seems， does not have all the answers.

Accordingly， the need for Chinese producers and filmmakers to find fresh ideas will certainly be an uphill battle. A report published by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture （AICCC） at Beijing Normal University in mid-2013， however， provides some much-needed food for thought.

A recurring theme of the report is that filmmakers willing to challenge the traditional channels of production and distribution could find success on the international market. Non-government distributors were the most promising success story of 2012， with the Huayi Brothers， for instance， accounting for almost 25 percent of Chinas overseas revenue.endprint

Many of these independent distributors were able to find success by appealing to audiences in their modus operandi： the Internet. With 58 percent of surveyed participants finding and viewing Chinese films online， the Internet offers fertile， albeit challenging， ground for Chinese filmmakers to exploit.

Filmmakers have also attempted to overcome the major obstacles of poor translations and unclear stories， identified by the AICCC report， by forming partnerships with Hollywood production companies.

While genuine co-productions are notoriously hit-and-miss affairs， they provide a host of benefits for Chinese filmmakers. These include Hollywood screenwriters， postproduction techniques， big-budget special effects and， of course， that all-important foot in the door.

As Yin Hong， Vice President of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University， told the Global Times， “genuine” coproductions is what Chinese cinema needs， and not simply Chinese input into Hollywood films， as was the case with Iron Man 3 and Looper.

“Many of them [co-productions] fail because they merely mix money， stars and marketing，”he said.

By combining the professionalism of Hollywood with the cultural flair of Chinese cinema， perhaps the magic that made Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon so irresistible for American audiences could be re-discovered.

Yet even if the days of mega-blockbusters like Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon are， as Rosen fears， behind us， it seems clear that the story of Li Mubai wont be the last that Hollywood hears from the Chinese film industry.endprint