Of all the overseas film companies that have worked to get a foot in the door of the Chinese mainland film market, U.S. studio Paramount Pictures is definitely one of the biggest success stories.
Transformers: Age of Extinction earned $300 million in the mainland alone in 2014.
Meanwhile, Terminator Genisys and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation earned a combined $250 million in 2015.
Then we have China Film Co., Ltd, the leading Chinese film company that produced the well received Wolf Totem directed by French director Jean Jacques Annaud.
Cooperation between these two giants began back in 1993, when Hollywood films first began appearing in Chinese cinemas. More recently, in 2014 the two agreed to coproduce a film about Marco Polo and in 2015 agreed to coproduce derivatives products.
Now, according to an announcement at a film summit in Beijing on Sunday, a partnership between the two studios is in the works that will deepen this cooperation even further. At the summit, China Film President La Peikang and Paramount Pictures Vice Chairman Rob Moore told media that the two companies were looking to establish deep cooperation when it comes to production and distribution of films.
"We hope that through this summit, we can move our cooperation further. We see Paramount as a crucial partner, we hope we can continuously bring and distribute more of Paramount's films, but also hope we can bring China Film's productions overseas through Paramount's platform," La said at a press conference at the summit.
La also said he's looking forward to talent exchanges between the two studios and finding great stories for potential coproductions.
Meanwhile, Moore said that Paramount will also be on the lookout for talented film makers in China in addition to developing its businesses in the market.
Coproduction trend
China's film market has expanded rapidly. In 2002, total box office for all domestic and oversea films in the mainland was only 1 billion yuan ($154 million).
However, that number skyrocketed to 44 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, the number of screens in the mainland rose from around 2,000 to more than 32,000.
This quickly expanding market has provided huge opportunities for foreign films, including coproductions.
Considering the limit on imported films permitted in China every year, coproductions are becoming increasingly important. For example, several forums and conferences on the subject are being held at the ongoing 6th Beijing International Film Festival.
The means of coproductions are changing as well.
While many previous coproductions merely entailed capital investment from the Chinese side, studios in China are looking to carry out true coproductions with foreign studios.
The recent, Wolf Totem is a great example. Adapted from a popular Chinese novel, the film featured a Chinese cast, a foreign director and a mixed production crew.
The film was well-received among critics and audiences in China.
In fact, China was going to submit the film as its foreign-language Oscar contender, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences due to the its nature as a coproduction.
