China is a hot topic in today’s day and age, so here’s a look at what’s happening at the film front. At the Beijing Student Film Festival the deputy head of the film bureau said China is looking to further its commercialization of Chinese movies.

“… after China adopted the policy to commercialize its film industry in 2003, the box office takings of Chinese films have risen by 20% annually,” Zhang said. To create more commercially successful film companies, he said to allow movies to be sold on the market, break down monopolies and help to raise funds outside of China.

With 402 movies last year, the box office total was only $434 million. That’s an incredible low ratio and lags far behind countries like South Korea or Japan. The main problem was the lack of a clear investment, production and marketing plan for the movies.

With the impact of the Chinese economy on the world, I’m surprised the film industry is lagging this much. I understand the lack of potential for overseas distribution, but with over a billion people, you would expect a more mature industry. Compared to India’s Bollywood, the Chinese film industry is kinda nonexistent.