Ten new movie screens open each day in China as the popularity of cinema soars in the country, but the appeal of Chinese films has failed to maintain the pace.
Box office receipts jumped 30 per cent last year to 17 billion yuan (USD 2.7 billion), lifting China up to become the world's number two cinema market behind the United States, figures last week showed.
Yet foreign titles took the bulk of the money, scooping up just over half the revenue in 2012 despite facing an annual cap of only 34 releases -- while Chinese filmmakers produced 893 films last year.
‘The successful movies are nearly all Hollywood blockbusters,’ said Pen Kang, a researcher for the Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Film.
‘Chinese domestic films have no advantages compared to these Hollywood films. The production standards and technology are less advanced.’
China only increased its foreign movie quota from 20 in 2012 after long pressure from Hollywood and the World Trade Organisation. As a result foreign films edged out domestic ones in ticket sales for the first time in a decade, taking 51.5 per cent of the total.
Box office receipts jumped 30 per cent last year to 17 billion yuan (USD 2.7 billion), lifting China up to become the world's number two cinema market behind the United States, figures last week showed.
Yet foreign titles took the bulk of the money, scooping up just over half the revenue in 2012 despite facing an annual cap of only 34 releases -- while Chinese filmmakers produced 893 films last year.
‘The successful movies are nearly all Hollywood blockbusters,’ said Pen Kang, a researcher for the Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Film.
‘Chinese domestic films have no advantages compared to these Hollywood films. The production standards and technology are less advanced.’
China only increased its foreign movie quota from 20 in 2012 after long pressure from Hollywood and the World Trade Organisation. As a result foreign films edged out domestic ones in ticket sales for the first time in a decade, taking 51.5 per cent of the total.