a still from “Shoplifters”
Road Pictures CEO Talks About Acquisition Strategies at Cannes
Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival for his film Shoplifters, and its distribution rights in mainland China had already been acquired by the entertainment company Road Pictures even before the award was announced. Road Pictures also acquired the rights to Caprenaum by Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki, which is the Jury Prize winner this year. As the CEO of Road Pictures Cai Gongming said, movies concerning family relationships and emotions have gained great market success in recent years, and this is the major reason why they chose these two movies. He also mentioned that acquiring the rights was only the first step of bringing these two films into China. Once having successfully passed the Chinese censorship and scored release dates, the two films will meet the Chinese audiences. Read more on entgroup.cn
China Film Association Establishes Web Movie Regulatory Commission
On May 28, China Film Association officially launched a Web Movie Regulatory Commission. At the launch event, the newly nominated co-president Wu Manfang stressed the aim of the Commission to develop guidelines and help improve the creative quality of web movies in China. Moreover, outstanding web movies are planned to be presented annually by the Commission in order to discover and award excellent new talents. Regarding the significant role of video platforms in streaming movie content, co-president Yang Xianghua appealed for the support for the Commission from all segments of web film production. Read more on Mtime
What Hinders the Development of Film Scoring in China?
According to a 2017 report on the development of Chinese music industry, the total worth of the film and tv scoring market in China was around 400 million yuan in 2016. Compared to the country’s annual box office, this number is quite small. In western countries, approximately five to eight percent of a film’s production budget is allocated to scoring. However, only one percent or less is allocated in China. Various factors lead to this situation. Professional teams involved in film scoring have not yet emerged and most practitioners could only work independently. Film music is also swiftly devalued due to rampant piracy. Moreover, the market is in extreme lack of excellent film composers. Read more on yiyuguancha
