Chinese Movies

Ryz05

Junior Member
15 years ago, there are movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Kungfu, which are wildly popular in the US. It's 2017, how come Chinese movies are less popular than before? Also, Chinese animation industry just recycles childish cartoons about Sheep and Wolf, or the Hunter and Bears, that it feels nonexistent in the minds of Americans.

The Chinese education is probably stiffling creativity by awarding only those students with the ability to memorize texts, follow instructions, and work through math problems, through the extensive use of exams and Gaokao.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
15 years ago, there are movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Kungfu, which are wildly popular in the US. It's 2017, how come Chinese movies are less popular than before? Also, Chinese animation industry just recycles childish cartoons about Sheep and Wolf, or the Hunter and Bears, that it feels nonexistent in the minds of Americans.

The Chinese education is probably stiffling creativity by awarding only those students with the ability to memorize texts, follow instructions, and work through math problems, through the extensive use of exams and Gaokao.

A better question to ask is how many non-English language films overall receive wide critical and commercial success in the US and the broadly speaking English speaking markets. Films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were the exception rather than the norm, and they found success in a particular moment in the state of the film market at the time.


In other words, Chinese movies were never "popular" in the west, and of the ones that were, they were popular for very one dimensional reasons that catered to specific niches in the west's tastes.
(I'm also not familiar with the film "kungfu". what on earth is that.)

There is now less interest I think in developing films which are less catered for foreign tastes, and when they are they tend to be awkward co-productions (like the disastrous great wall film), and I think a greater proportion of successful Chinese film makers are now interested more in conquering the domestic market first rather than going abroad.


I think instead of looking at how successful Chinese or Chinese language films are doing in foreign markets, perhaps it is best to first look at how successful they are doing in China's domestic market first.
 

Ryz05

Junior Member
A better question to ask is how many non-English language films overall receive wide critical and commercial success in the US and the broadly speaking English speaking markets. Films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were the exception rather than the norm, and they found success in a particular moment in the state of the film market at the time.

In other words, Chinese movies were never "popular" in the west, and of the ones that were, they were popular for very one dimensional reasons that catered to specific niches in the west's tastes.
(I'm also not familiar with the film "kungfu". what on earth is that.)

There is now less interest I think in developing films which are less catered for foreign tastes, and when they are they tend to be awkward co-productions (like the disastrous great wall film), and I think a greater proportion of successful Chinese film makers are now interested more in conquering the domestic market first rather than going abroad.

I think instead of looking at how successful Chinese or Chinese language films are doing in foreign markets, perhaps it is best to first look at how successful they are doing in China's domestic market first.

The movie is Kungfu Hustle

I had the impression that Chinese movies are going to get more and more popular in the US; that China is increasing its soft power. Now, it appears that China's soft power is still non-existent in the Western media. Chinese culture is popularized through restaurants, and the influence of overseas Chinese students and immigrants
 

Shaolian

Junior Member
Registered Member
The movie is Kungfu Hustle

I had the impression that Chinese movies are going to get more and more popular in the US; that China is increasing its soft power. Now, it appears that China's soft power is still non-existent in the Western media. Chinese culture is popularized through restaurants, and the influence of overseas Chinese students and immigrants

I don't know how you got the impression that Chinese movies "are going to get more and more popular" in the US. Chinese movies, and that goes for Taiwanese and Hong Kong movies as well, first and foremost have their target audience in East and South East Asia. The people making Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon never made that movie with the intention of "making it big" in the US, or any other Western market. If anyone in the West are interested in watching them, they can always go and buy the home videos or their digital counterpart.

Kungfu Hustle was a Stephen Chow movie. Just an introduction, Stephen Chow is considered by many (if not all) fans of Hong Kong movies, to be the most influential and successful comedic actor of the 90s and early 2000s in Chinese cinema. Early on his career, he was been compared with Jim Carrey, but I'd argue that Stephen Chow ultimately surpassed him if we're talking about influence in their home markets.

Before Kungfu Hustle, there was Shaolin Soccer. It was the biggest comedy movie by far in the Chinese and South East Asian markets when it came out around the year 2001. In Malaysia, for example, Shaolin Soccer fever were like that of the movie Titanic. Its success cuts through all the different ethnic groups of Malaysia. Everyone were talking about it.

How much did Kungfu Hustle made at the theatres at America? How much did the average French, Italian or Spanish movie made for that matter?

In fact, it's getting harder and harder for movies to appeal at the same time in both the US and China. Transformers 4: Age of Extinction did very well in China, but was universally panned in the US. Like Blitzo says, when movie studios tried to pander to both markets, it fails to impress either one, like "The Great Wall".

Nowadays, successful Chinese movies are regularly making hundreds million of Dollars in the Chinese box office. Wolf Warrior 2 made over US$ 860 million in the mainland alone, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens' US$ 936 million in a single market. This trend is only going to continue. Chinese producers are in the movie making business solely for profits. So, unless American audiences' tastes in movies start to align with that of the Chinese, I don't foresee any Chinese movies to make any major inroads into the US market. Chinese box office earnings are set to surpass the US in the near future anyway, maybe even double it eventually.

If you guys in the US wants more Chinese movies in the future, I suggest you to support Chinese movies by buying the original hard or digital copy of them through whatever means. America is a free market. If enough profits is there, eventually there'll be a market for it.

Cheers ;)
 

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
Anybody wanna watch Wolf Warriors 2?

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The end scene where a Chinese passport was displayed with untranslated text says,

"Citizens of the People's Republic of China: when you face adversity and challenge overseas, have no fear and do no give up! Always remember that behind you stands your mighty home country!"

Brought tears to my eyes!
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Anybody wanna watch Wolf Warriors 2?

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


The end scene where a Chinese passport was displayed with untranslated text says,

"Citizens of the People's Republic of China: when you face adversity and challenge overseas, have no fear and do no give up! Always remember that behind you stands your mighty home country!"

Brought tears to my eyes!

watched it in cinema a few months back :cool:
 

solarz

Brigadier
Anybody wanna watch Wolf Warriors 2?

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


The end scene where a Chinese passport was displayed with untranslated text says,

"Citizens of the People's Republic of China: when you face adversity and challenge overseas, have no fear and do no give up! Always remember that behind you stands your mighty home country!"

Brought tears to my eyes!

Saw it a few months back as well. Went with my wife who usually doesn't watch action movies. However, since she hadn't gone to the movies for a long time, I somehow managed to convince her.

To my surprise, she loved it. WW2 stirred just the right amount of patriotism without any of those corny slogans. It had a sense of humour that made scenes that would otherwise be cringeworthy to be awesome.

One particular example I like is when Celina Jade was saying the US Marines were the best Spec Ops soldiers in the world, and Wu Jing was telling her how every foreign fleet except the Chinese one had left the country. For some reason she got mad, demanded that Wu stop the car, and got off. Wu, looking clearly bemused, does as she asks. She storms off, takes a few steps, and stops, a strange expression overcoming her. The camera pans, and we see a pack of lions lounging on the side of the road.

I can't help but believe that this is a reference to that tiger incident in the news a while back.

Just found this picture:

18o2000283qrr8o736n3.jpg
 
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