18 | Thursday, June 27, 2019 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Online film fans take the helm
An industry report outlines the impact of review sites on China’s movie market, Xu Fan reports.
early 90 percent of Chi screens in the first week — Caper nese theatergoers now naum surprisingly saw its screen purchase their tickets ing percentage rise from 14 percent online, a recent report on the first day to 22 percent a week Nfrom the China Film Association later. shows, in another sign of the power This was largely due to the praise ful influence that the internet has on the movie received online, as the the domestic movie industry. heartbreaking story about a boy According to the annual China who sues his parents for bringing Film Industry Report, 60.8 percent him into the world earned 9.0 of moviegoers on the Chinese points out of 10 on Douban. mainland used online ticketing Deeper online research and anal platforms to find out about the lat ysis of big data showed that the chil est films last year, 15 percent more drenthemed Capernaum appealed than 2017. more to a female audience, while Wordofmouth has become one more men watched Avengers: End of the most important aspects that game, according to a report by mov can decide a film’s market ie industry service app Beacon, prospects in our internetoriented which was also released during the society, says Liu Jia, a visiting pro Shanghai festival. fessor at the Beijing Film Academy The Beacon report found that and one of the writers of the report. over 70 percent of the audience Citing the example of Dying to members who watched Caper Survive, a film based on a true story naum were women, compared to about the plight of a leukemia around 40 percent for Avengers: patient, Liu says the decision by Endgame. distributors to hold test screenings With a bigger influence now than two weeks ahead of its general men on the movie market, women release across the Chinese main accounted for 51.8 percent of the land last July paid off. theatergoing population last year, Racking up a swathe of favorable according to the report. online reviews and a score of 9.0 Given as examples, blockbusters points out of 10 on popular rating Monster Hunt 2 and The Exfile: The platform Douban, the movie exam Return of Exes saw women account ining reallife social problems soon for 62 and 60.7 percent, respective became a phenomenal hit. ly, of all theatergoers, says Liu. “Dying to Survive grossed $450 So, with women holding more million in worldwide boxoffice rev sway at the box office, it will be enues. It has also sort of changed interesting to see if a move toward China’s film industry, leading to more femalefriendly films is more movies adapted from reallife about to take place in the world’s stories,” says Liu. secondlargest movie market, The film’s director Wen Muye, which drew 1.72 billion admissions who also attended the release of the last year. report at the 22nd Shanghai Inter The report also found that North national Film Festival, which con America and China, which grossed cluded on Monday, says he followed $11 billion and $9 billion last year, three principles in making the film: maintained their momentum as to tackle social issues, be entertain the top two global movie markets. ing and “touch the soul”. With an average annual compound Grabbing a slice of a market dom growth rate of 22 percent over the inated by Marvel blockbuster past eight years, Chinese cinemas Avengers: Endgame, the Lebanese are continuing to make a sustained film Capernaum soared as a sleeper contribution to the global movie hit, again partly due to the power of industry, says Liu. the internet. “In 2018, China imported 118 for When most films released eign films, showing that our market around the opening date of the is becoming more open and Marvel blockbuster struggled to Clockwise from top: Filmmakers and industry researchers gather for an event to mark the release of the annual China Film Industry Report diverse,” she says. gain a few screenings, Endgame and discuss new developments in Chinese cinema at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Saturday; Liu Jia, a visiting professor at occupied around 80 percent of the the Beijing Film Academy and one of the writers of the report, delivers a speech; a still image from Dying to Survive, a boxoffice hit fueled Contact the writer at entire country’s 60,000plus by online reviews. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY [email protected] Chinese gamers applaud Onmyoji tour
By XING YI in Shanghai Japan’s Heian period and is based bringing the game characters to coming to Shanghai, I bought my [email protected] on the Japanese classic The Tale of life. ticket as soon as online sales Genji, telling the story of a mythical The songs and dialogue of the began,” she says. “I didn’t get the A musical adapted from the war between human magicians musical are performed in Japanese, best seat, however, because they mobile video game Onmyoji is tour and evil spirits. The word Onmyoji but Chinese translations are pro sold out almost straight away.” ing China, creating waves both means “master of yin and yang” in jected onto screens beside the The ticket price ranges from 180 online and offline among loyal Japanese. stage. to 1,280 yuan and Xiao paid 980 players and proving profitable at Adapted from part of the game’s During the musical’s Shanghai yuan for a frontrow seat. “Many of the box office and the merchandise script, the current show is a sequel performance, the majority of the my online friends also came to stand. to the first edition of the musical, audience were devoted gamers, watch the musical,” she says, add After concluding five performan which debuted in Tokyo in 2018 including people who had traveled ing that those who bought the tick ces at the tour’s first stop, Shanghai and received good reviews. from Japan, with some cosplayers ets were given codes to redeem PG Theater, on June 16, the musical This second edition has a young attending the performances as limitedoffer character “skins” in has started to tour seven other Chi Japanese cast, under the steward their favorite characters. the online game. nese cities, including Zhengzhou in ship of director Nobuhiro Mouri, Xiao Yugan, 23, is a graphic Hundreds of fans have left com Henan province and Chengdu in composer Sahashi Toshihiko and designer in Shanghai, and playing ments on the musical’s official Sina Sichuan province, playing at week choreographer Shinnosuke Yama the game is one of her favorite pas Weibo account, many begging the ends through August. moto. times. She usually plays Onmyoji organizers to bring the show to Developed by Chinese IT compa Dressed in a traditional Japanese for two to three hours after work, their home cities. Some say besides ny NetEase in 2016, the roleplay style that draws on elements from and spends more than 1,000 yuan paying for tickets, they are also buy ing game takes place in Japan. the Kimono and Samurai armor, ($145) per month on the game. ing highspeed train tickets to trav It is set 1,000 years ago during the actors dance, sing and fight, “When I knew the musical was el to watch the show. Fans are also snapping up the exclusive and limitedoffer mer chandise such as stuffed toys, caps INVESTING IN OUR FUTURE and badges carrying the likenesses of the game’s characters, that are WITH CLEAN ENERGY being sold at the theater before and Top: Actors and after each show. actresses of the To construct the Three Gorges Project and develop the Yangtze River, China Three Music critic Guo Zhikai says Onmyoji musical Gorges Project Corporation was founded on Sept 27, 1993, with the approval of the compared with gameadapted pose for a photo State Council. On Sept 27, 2009, it was renamed China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG). CTG positions itself as a clean energy group focusing on large-scale hydropower films and animation, gameadapt during the first stop of development and operation. Its main businesses cover construction, international ed musicals are still a small genre, its national tour in investment and contracting, development of wind and solar energy among other but their strength lies in their abili Shanghai on June 16. renewables, comprehensive development and utilization of water resources, and ty to create a stronger impact and Above: A full house at providing technical services. offer more intimate interaction, the PG Theater in China International Water & Electric Corporation (CWE), a large-scale international which is why the Onmyoji musical Shanghai for the hydropower company subordinated to CTG, is growing into an international clean has proved very popular with fans performance. energy contracting and investment company. Its core competitiveness lies in its of the game. Left: Japanese actor integration of investment, construction, management and operation. Over the past “However, commercialization Kento Muto plays one six decades since its formation, CWE has been committed to projects in more than 80 must be supported with an excellent of the main countries and regions. entertainment product,” he says. “It characters in the www.cwe.cn is a test for musical creators — good musical. PHOTOS performances are essential.” PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY