How China overtakes Hollywood - Jeffrey Towson

Jeffrey Towson

Ten years ago it seemed an unlikely scenario: Chinese film makers overtaking the Hollywood moguls. But times are changing, writes Peking University business professor Jeffrey Towson, co-author of The One Hour China Book in LA Times. Both numbers of movies and their quality have reached amazing heights.

Jeffrey Towson:

But over time, the Chinese competitors grow and steadily improve their quality. They reinvest, make acquisitions and begin to attack the top of the market. This strategy has usually been devastating for foreign companies living at the top of the market in China, including smartphones, Internet companies, real estate, renewable energy, medical equipment and investment banking. 

For Hollywood, there’s also a second threat: The emergence of a massive Chinese creative class that is transforming the production of film and television. In 2009, about 5% of the 19 million students in Chinese universities were studying arts and design — more than were majoring in economics, chemistry, math or law. As a result, a wave of low-cost artists, animators, video game designers and other creative professionals have surged into the Chinese workforce. 

An even bigger damper on Hollywood’s future could come from the uniquely powerful role of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. These three Internet giants control over 50% of all Chinese smartphone Internet usage. Their apps and services are how Chinese consumers search, shop, chat, play games, watch videos, book their taxis, and pay for almost everything. And these three cash-rich companies are aggressively moving into movies and television. 

Tencent has launched its own film subsidiary, Penguin Pictures. One of Tencent’s earlier investments, “Monster Hunt,” was the top-grossing film in China in 2015. Alibaba Pictures has launched a Netflix-type subscription service and invested in movie ticketing software. It co-financed “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” and has crowd-sourced other film investments. Finally, there is Baidu, which has a streaming platform called iQiyi. It also crowdfunds films, and has invested in Hong Kong’s SMI Holdings Group, which has film and TV production studios. 

All of these moves should worry Hollywood studios, most of which are poorly positioned for an increasingly competitive Chinese market. Studios have remained largely foreign and haven’t moved any operations to the mainland. They likely will find it harder and harder to make movies that culturally resonate with rapidly changing Chinese consumers.

More in the LA Times.

Jeffrey Towson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Jeffrey Towson will visit in the second week of December Latin America, and has ample opportunities to visit your meeting or conference. Let us know if you need his presence.

Are you looking for more experts on cultural change at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

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China in Hollywood: more than money - Jeffrey Towson

Jeffrey Towson

It is not only money from China, flooding to Hollywood that makes an impact. Thousands of creative Chinese are getting chances in the international movie world that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, explains Peking business professor Jeffrey Towson in the Nikkei Asian Review.

Jeffrey Towson:

We are witnessing the rise of a huge new creative class in China: literally millions of artists, designers, animators and other creative professionals. This is increasingly disrupting the world's entertainment market, something that can best be seen at Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai. 

Alongside DreamWorks Animation, Oriental DreamWorks co-produced "Kung Fu Panda 3," which set a new record early this year as the top-grossing animated movie in China. It's a good indication of what is to come: world-class animated movies made mostly by Chinese talent and with Chinese characteristics. 

A joint venture between U.S. studio DreamWorks, state-owned Shanghai Media Group and investment group China Media Capital, Oriental DreamWorks was put together by company chiefs Jeffrey Katzenberg and Li Ruigang. Today, it has a creative team of about 150 artists and animators in Shanghai. Some 90% of the artists are native Chinese, most trained in local art and design schools. The staff overseeing project development are roughly an equal mix of native Chinese and Chinese-Americans with Hollywood experience.

More in the Nikkei Asian Review.  

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Why Sony and Wanda can make good partners - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender

The surprise alliance between makes perfect sense, says retail analyst Ben Cavender to Reuters. Sony gets more access to the China market, and Wanda to Hollywood. And we might expect more tie-up between Chinese companies and global players.

Reuters:

The alliance will help Wanda extend its Hollywood footprint and further Wang's goal of making the group a global entertainment powerhouse. 

Wanda said in a statement on its website the tie-up would use its consumer-facing infrastructure to bolster Sony Pictures' presence in China, which is on track to surpass the United States as the world's biggest probably by next year, according to industry executives. 

"This partnership makes a lot of sense for both parties. Sony will benefit from smoother distribution and playback of its films in China and Wanda will be able to further integrate into the content development side of the business," said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal of China Market Research Group. 

"We are going to see more cooperation going forward...Tie ups make sense because a lot of Chinese companies are also becoming interested in film financing as a form of investment," he said. 

This would be Sony Pictures' first partnership with Wanda, which has previously invested in movies made by Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures unit, such as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" sequel, and would give Wanda a step into movie marketing.

More in Reuters.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you looking for more strategy experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

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China movies hit Hollywood blockbusters hard - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender

China has become a major market for film fans, but increasingly their taste is going into the direction of domestic movies, leaving Hollywood blockbusters behind, tells business analyst Ben Cavender at the WSJ. How domestic movies makers changed from an underdog into a winner on the China market.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout

China's cultural industry is making more surprising inroads, for example when it come to Chinese media in Africa. The +China Weekly Hangout discussed on March 7 the advances different Chinese media groups make in Africa with veteran journalists +Eric Olander of the China Africa Project, and +Lara Farrar, previously working for both the China Daily and CNN. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra, president of the China Speakers Bureau.


 Currently the China Weekly Hangout is enjoying a summer break, but will resume activities in the second half of August.

Dalai Lama "a poorly advised political strategist" - Howard French

Howard French

The 77th birthday of the Dalai Lama has been celebrated low-key, but has triggered off also some critical analysis, like here in FirstPost. It quotes long-time China correspondent Howard French, arguing the Dalai Lama should have changed its strategy a decade ago.

FirstPost:

“The Dalai Lama is a great and charismatic spiritual figure, but a poor and poorly advised political strategist,” wrote Howard French, a long time foreign correspondent for the New York Times. “The Dalai Lama should have closed down the Hollywood strategy a decade ago and focused on back-channel diplomacy with Beijing. He should have publicly renounced the claim to a so-called Greater Tibet, which demands territory that was never under the control of the Lhasa government. Sending his envoys to talk about talks with the Chinese while simultaneously encouraging the global pro-Tibet lobby has achieved nothing.” 

The Hollywood trap keeps the Dalai Lama as the nostalgic reminder of a simpler time, a romantic counterweight to an aggressive China, a salve for our materialistic money-grubbing selves. The tragedy of Tibet is its plight is what keeps it alive in western consciousness. The Dalai Lama has made his people the posterchildren of what Pico Iyer calls “one of the fastest growing nations of the world – the land of the deracinated (since by some counts there are now one hundred million refugees in the world, part of a tribe that is twice as populous as Australia and Canada combined)”. And he has done this just by being himself – a twinkling man with an infectious laugh carrying the yellow card of a refugee.

More in FirstPost.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.