Chinese film industry is booming
April 10, 2012
China's movie industry is gaining new levels of global recognition lately, and many of the American industry leaders are expanding to the Asian nation. The AFP reports the Asia Pacific movie market grew an impressive 38 percent to $9 billion from 2007 to 2011, while North American cinema only grew about 6.3 percent. This makes China the third largest silver screen market behind the U.S. and Japan.
Some of the highest grossing Chinese films in recent years have starred American actors. The Flowers of War, a movie about the Nanjing Massacre, features Batman's Christian Bale. Man of Tai Chi is currently being filmed in China, and this contemporary kung fu movie will feature Keanu Reeves as the bad guy. It will also be entirely in Chinese, according to The Independent.
DreamWorks Animation, the company responsible for Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, will be setting up shop in China. Legendary (responsible for Batman and The Hangover series) has plans to move to the country as well, according to the AFP.
This could mean exciting things for the future of Chinese cinema, and those who want to find out more can make calls to China with international phone cards to ask their friends about the latest movies to hit theaters.