Chinese-Language Film's Market Logic Of Expanding North America Market

According to the data released by the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press,Publication,Radio,Film and Telecommunication of the People's Republic of China,the total box office in 2017 was 55.911 billion Yuan.There were 92 movies with over 100 million at the box office.When China's film industry was reformed in 2003,the national film box office was only 1 billion Yuan.Since then,the Chinese film market has maintained a rapid growth of about 30 percent.The total box office exceeded 10 billion,20 billion,40 billion and 50 billion Yuan in 2010,2013,2015 and 2016 respectively.In more than a decade,the market for Chinese films has expanded 50 times,and the Chinese film market has become the second largest in the world.The rapid growth of the domestic box office and the rapid expansion of the film market are related to the rapid expansion of domestic cinema infrastructure.The influx of capital into the film market does not represent the success and maturity of the film industry.Compared with the box office miracle in China,movies overseas,especially in the North American market,the world's largest film market,have gradually become sluggish since 2004.In 2001,China's accession to the WTO opened China's transnational economic phase.In the same year,the State Administration of Radio and Television launched the "Project of Broadcasting,Film and Television Going Global".Since 2001,promoting the "going out" of Chinese films into the international market has always been one of the main themes of the development of the film industry.But to observe the movie box office in North America that began in 1980 for Chinese movies,there is another scene.Basing on the performance of a multicultural and inclusive North American Chinese-language film and according to US box office statistics(www.boxofficemoji.com),the Chinese box office in North America(incomplete.statistics)have reached the climax for three times from 1980 to 2015.The box office is respectively $64.58 million in 1996,$142.6 million in 2000(there were only $128 million at the box office for Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon)and $65.86 million in 2004.Since 2004,the overall box office of Chinese-language films in North America has shown a downward trend.It showed a paradoxical picture that mainland movies have experienced an explosion in the internal market while the North American market has experienced a multiple,even several-fold decline.Based on an observation of the North American box office and word-of-mouth performance of Chinese-language films,this article selects the most dazzling year 2004 for the Chinese-language films in the North American market after the new century as a study object.This thesis aims at exploring how the 2004 movie went abroad and achieved great results using the crossover study method.From the perspective of the film industry economy,this article explores how Chinese films in North America fit the laws of market logic and how they can better participate in market competition.The market logic here mainly refers to two aspects of business operations and artistic performance.It should be noted that the selection of Chinese-language films is in North America,not in other countries,because Chinese-language films have a relatively good foundation in North America.In North American films,foreign-language films have been listed on the foreign-language film list for the past year.Four out of the top 10 are Chinese-language films.Compared with other countries' films,Chinese-language films have obvious attractive advantages.In addition,All the successes must be a combination of chance and inevitability.In 2004,the Chinese-language film won$65.86 million at the box office in North America,while the North American box office in 2016 was only $10 million.The review of 2004 has some significance for rethinking the current situation.This is why this thesis choose the 2004 to study Chinese-language films in North America.At the same time,2004 is also a year of significant in the history of Chinese cinema for a century.It can help us absorb previous experiences to stand back for a hundred years and make a comparison with the present.The introduction of this article elaborates on the origin of the study and makes a literature review of the overseas dissemination of Chinese-language films.Chapter one discusses the reason of choosing 2004 as the goal from the domestic and foreign perspective in a historical dimension and sorts out the specific performances of Chinese films in 2004 in North America which included box office and word of mouth adopting the basis of the North American market as a reference.Chapter two states that this paper analyzes the theoretical framework used in the analysis.It divides the market logic into two aspects:commercial operation and artistic presentation with combining the industrial value chain theory of film and the introduction of stakeholder theory.Chapter three elaborates the kind of market logic the film should have in North American competition from the perspective of business operation.This chapter analyze the operational logic according to each links of the value chain.In each link,it first elaborates the operating rules of North American films,and then discusses the way how Chinese-language films fits the rules and achieves results in 2004.Chapter four analyzes the reputation of market logic from the point of view of art presentation logic.By summarizing the common features of Chinese films in 2004,and according to the distinction between commercial films and art films,the paper elaborates the similar strategies adopted in the art presentation of these films.Chapter five elaborates the dilemma of international competition in Chinese-language films.Based on the experience in 2004,it proposes four points of thoughts.