Beijing’s big screen dream: making China a ‘great movie nation’
Chief censor tells industry to make more films promoting socialist values and telling good stories about the country
The mainland media regulator wants to make China a “great nation” in filmmaking by producing more movies that promote socialist values and tell good stories about the country.
Its box office revenue is expected to reach 55 billion yuan (US$8.3 billion) this year, up 12 per cent from 49.2 billion yuan in 2016, said Zhang Hongsen, Vice-Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).
“We should expand China’s movie industry and market to kick-start this journey from being a big movie nation to becoming a great movie nation,” Zhang, who also heads the film bureau, said.
The film industry was flourishing, he said, because it follows the party’s ideological course.
“We have been sticking to a direction that centres on people in creating [films],” Zhang told reporters on the sidelines of the 19th party congress in Beijing. “We have been trying hard to promote core socialist values and tell good China stories.”
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China has about 49,000 cinema screens across the country – compared with 13,000 five years ago, according to Zhang. The number of movie tickets sold grew from 466 million in 2012 to more than 1.4 billion in 2016, he said.