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Michael C. Ellis: “China Is Too Big To Ignore”
© Zurich Summit. From left to right: Katherine Winston, Artistic Co-Director of Zurich Film Festival Karl Spoerri and Amy Baker.
ZURICH (Sept. 27, 2014) In the Zurich Summit, Michael C. Ellis, President and Managing Director in the Asia Pacific Region of Motion Picture Association, delivered a keynote speech to a crowd of industry professionals: “China is now too big to ignore.”
Ellis used charts to show the rapid growth of the screens and box office in China in the past five years. Statistics also indicated that a number of Hollywood titles earned quite a big proportion of their box office in Mainland China. For example, TITANIC 3D, 41% of its global B.O. came from China; PACIFIC RIM, 28% and CLOUD ATLAS, 21%. This summer TRANSFORMERS 4’ raked in $ 299million in China, 30% of its total B.O. worldwide.
Challenges aside, this market is truly too big to ignore. The following panel continued this statement, joined by Gong Yu, Founder and CEO of iQiyi; Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, Producer from Stone Angels and Benjamin Kramer, Film Finance Agent of Creative Artists Agency.
Kramer observed the different practices in the Chinese industry and said the business CAA is now having in China is “a process of learning and adapting.”
Le Pogam, however, said the reason why France and China have thus far worked really well is because both countries generally have the same kind of habits in the film industry. He envisioned a China to be the “best example of co-habitation of different cultures” in a foreseeable future. And he thinks there is a group of believers to realize co-productions with EU in China.
Gong Yu first shared the online video market size: “iQiyi has over 100 million unique visitors each day and the advertising revenue of Chinese video sites has reached 15 billion RMB, 15% of TV’s ad income.” Local traditional television stations thus are afraid of the “threat” posed by video sites.
Two facts are unsettling for established players: 20% of China’s BO came from online ticketing; crowd funding suggests new film finance model out of the big studios’ control. Gong Yu said traditional players in fact need not to be scared, because in the future, both ecosystems shall co-exist.
iQiyi Pictures was founded on July 17 and has already invested in several films.
Also starting this year, iQiyi has signed agreements with Venice Film Market and Busan’s Asian Film Market to launch iQiyi China Night. According to Gong Yu, this is a long term investment to bring in more foreign titles to China via online distribution, and to facilitate iQiyi’s co-production talks.
The Summit was co-launched by Winston Baker Film Finance Forum and Zurich Film Festival, for business leaders and creative pioneers. 2014 marks its 5th edition.
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