Chinese Cinema's International Market - Asian Educational Media ...

40 Stanlev Rosen
slightly exceeding the domestic box office. Thus, The Ring, whose Japanese version
had not been released theatrically in the United States, has become a highly popular
franchise, with a box-office take that has already surpassed $400 million. 2 ~
The Grudge, although not quite as successful - albeit with a much smaller
production budget of US$10 million- has also done very well, with a total box office
of over $178 million. In this case, however, 62 percent of the total came from the
American market. Grudge 2, released on October 13, 2006, added $70 million, with 55
percent from the American market. It is interesting to note that the original Japanese
version, Ju-On, was released in the United States, and brought in about $325,000, far
below the overseas take of $2,679,000. Shall We Dance: The Remake, on a production
budget of US$50 million, brought in close to $150 million, with about 61 percent coming
from overseas markets. The Grudge is also a good example of another difficulty faced
by subtitled films, since they are virtually always relegated to niche, art house theaters.
primarily in the largest American cities. For example, the Japanese version of the film
played in only eleven theaters in its widest release. By contrast, the American version
played in 3,348 theaters when in wide release, while The Ring played in 2,927 theaters
and Shall We Dance reached 2.542 theaters. 29
Interestingly, Hollywood had been concentrating primarily on Korean and Japanese
films for its remakes, although the recent transformation of the very successful Hong
Kong film franchise Infernal Affairs into The Departed, with a star director and an A-list
cast, altered that pattern. Nominated for five Academy Awards, the film received four,
including the awards for best picture, director, and adapted screenplay. It was also a
worldwide box-office success, bringing in $290 million, with 54 percent coming from
foreign markets. Within the United States it became the second most successful Asian
remake of all time, trailing the 1998 Godzilla by only $4 million. On the other hand, the
original version of Infernal Affairs, released in the United States in 2004, played in only
five theaters and brought in less than $170,000. It had made over $7 million in Hong
Kong, dwarfing the $1 million The Departed had generated in that market. 30 However.
in yet another example of Hollywood's "pull," the recognition given to Infernal Affairs
enabled its director, Andrew Lau, to launch a Hollywood career with The Flock, his
American debut film starring Richard Gere and Claire Danes. 31
Chinese-Language Films
Turning more directly to Chinese-language films, it is helpful to examine their
international and American fates in comparison to other foreign language films, and
to see whether we can discern any clear trends over time. Table 2.2, which compares
data on the top ten foreign language films in the United Kingdom from 1990 to 2000
and from 200 I to 2005, suggests that the impact of Chinese films on international
markets has been developed in recent years. Several points are worth noting. First,
the British appetite for foreign films has increased since 200 I, with Crouching Tiget;
Hidden Dragon often given credit as the breakthrough film. As one observer noted, in
the eleven years prior to the January 2001 release of Crouchinf? Tiger, just six foreignlanguage
titles had passed the US$1.9 million mark in the United Kingdom. Since the
r"
Chinese Cinema's International Market 41
Ang Lee film, ten further subtitled films have crossed that mark, with five released in
2004. Second, as Table 2.2 reveals, three of the top five foreign-language titles were
wuxia (martial heroic) films, with Hero and House (if' Flying Daggers also doing very
well. To appreciate fully the impact of Crouching Tiger, it is important to note how
revolutionary that film was in terms of distribution strategy. Prior to its release, it was
common to open foreign language titles on single-figure or, at most, low double-figure
sites. Released at eighty-eight sites, considered a huge gamble at the time, Crouching
Tiger surpassed the previous U.K. foreign-language record-holder Life Is Beautiful,
which had opened at only ten sites in 1999, and reached seventy-six sites in its widest
Table 2.2 Top 10 Foreign-Language Films, United Kingdom (1990-2000)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1991/Artificial Eye)
1---------,--- - -
II Postino (1995/BVI)
All About My Mother (1999/Pathe)
Farewell My Concubine (1994/ Artificial Eye)
Top 10 Foreign-Language Films, United Kingdom (2001-2005)
The Passion of the Christ (2004/Icon) 46
2 ' Crouching Tiger ... (200 I /Col TriStar) ' 88
--+
3 i Amelie (2001/Momentum) 82
Opening Sites Gross
.8
10
6
22
8
7
9
6
10
Opening Sites
254
· House of' Flying Daggers (2004/Pathe) 206
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004/Pathe) • 80
7 City of' God (2003/B VI) 76
l~~-, Y Tu Ma~ Jamb;'" (2002/ko")
38
! Talk to Her (2002/Pathe) 57
--.. J --
0 Bad Education (2004/Pathe) 45
-"-·"'· -
$5.8m
$4.7m
$2.4m
$2.2m
$2m
$1.9m
$1.8m
$1.6m
$1.5m ·
$1.4m
Gross
$21m
$17.7m
$9.5m
$7.2m
$6.8m
$5.2m
$4.5m
$3.1m
$2.8m
$2.6m
Source: Robert Mitchell, "Out of Hiding: Foreign Films Flying in UK,'' Screen International,
March 11,2005,25.