According to a veteran Hong Kong filmmaker, Cheung Chi-sing, the film industry in China may be on the decline. The vice chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers spoke at a FilMart conference about the challenges of staying competitive in a market where production costs and other fees are soaring out of control. In 2013, roughly 700 movies were made with only 200 being released theatrically. He also went on to say that of those 200, more than 70% of those movies lost money. Cheung blamed the production costs, specifically the actor’s fees. The number of theatres isn’t the issue, as the number of moving theatres rose by 5,000 last year to a total of 18,000 screens nationwide.
Cheung had this to say in regards to operating a theater in China, “If one wants to run a theater in China, it is better to go to third or fourth-tier cities.”
Another important thing to consider is the continued stream of American films and other forms of media into Chinese consumer culture through various forms and technologies.