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Even as mainland superstars – most noticeably Gong Li and Li Bingbing1 – followed the footsteps of past Cannes fashion and media darlings Fan Bingbing and Zhang Ziyi to make a big splash on Cannes’ famed red carpet last week, film companies from China and those targeting it have made a different splash by revealing a roster of up-and-coming blockbusters.
Interestingly, all these are either China movies produced in collaboration with global partners, international movies backed by Chinese powerhouses, or international movies featuring famous Chinese actors, actresses or directors.
Clearly, these new movies are at the front-line in meeting the surging demand for foreign content in China's movie market – a market hailed as the fastest-growing and most lucrative movie market in the world.
China's movie market is set to generate $8.2 billion in box office sales forecast for 2016 – a 28% y-o-y increase from 2015.14
And with China's middle-class-powered consumer market slated to generate $6.3 trillion by 2020, we predict this figure to skyrocket in future.
More importantly, beyond the fact that these international and Chinese collaborations on increasing numbers of Chinese-centric films are yet another indicator of China's rising status globally, it's also another telling sign of the growing spending power of Chinese consumers, as well as their rising demand for content and entertainment products.
With international studios scrambling to capture China's silverscreen audiences, Chinese moviegoers are set to be pampered with a host of exciting new movies. Here are some of the most notable projects unveiled so far:
These upcoming blockbusters follow earlier announcements coinciding with the festival of an impending revival of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles funded by Wanda12, and the imminent production of a Chinese superhero series by The Russo Brothers, who created Marvel’s ‘Captain America’ franchise.13
These themes underlying this year’s festival – growing outbound investment from Chinese firms, increasing output from Chinese creative teams, and the adaptation and construction of specially adapted movie productions and franchises – are but another indication that the world’s movie industry is slowly but steadily pivoting to the China market to capture the imaginations (and share of wallet) of the world's most lucrative audience..
Besides the silver screen, other business sectors are also seeing the value and necessity of engaging with China, and are already preparing for a future where the middle kingdom overtakes the US to reign as the largest and most lucrative consumer market in the world.15
And one industry that is well-positioned to receive the fringe benefits of China's movie market boom is real estate. After all, it's not the first time that movies, dramas, or celebrities have influenced Chinese consumer trends.
Judging from past examples, such as Seattle, which experienced a surge in Chinese property investments following the movie Finding Mr. Right, or Yorkshire, which experienced a surge in Chinese interest thanks to Chinese superstar Jay Chou's wedding, one would do well to keep an eye on locations related in the movies mentioned above.
From Thailand (A Prayer Before Dawn) to Bollywood in India (Time Raiders) to islands in the South Pacific (Robinson Crusoe), would these become prospective destinations to garner a surge in Chinese tourism and subsequently, potential property investment in the future? Only time will tell.