CHINA MOVIE THEATRE OPERATORS TO FIGHT FOR IMPORTED PRODUCTS

AsiaInfo Services
03-16-2011
China Movie Theatre Operators to Fight for Imported Products

BEIJING, Mar 16, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- Movie theatre operators in China are likely to start a fight for imported products as the country makes the entertainment product market open to players abroad, predicted market observers in the country.

As a contracting state of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China will put an end to the imported movie quota policy this year, nodding to movies abroad from March 19.

The termination will make the world's most populous movie market more tempting to overseas players, said Huang Yaling, an analyst at Bohai Securities Co., Ltd., adding that a group of investors out of the country are looking to make an investment in movie and media market in China.

The year 2010 witness box office revenue hit CNY 10.172 billion in China, up 63.9% from the previous year, faster than the robust growth of 42.96% in 2009. Of all the revenue, 56.3% or CNY 5.734 billion were contributed by movies made in China.

Foreign companies need to work with local movie theatre operators if they want to make a success in the imported-movie issuance in the country, said one of the market observers, noting that foreign-invested companies are still left out of the movie theatre market in China at the moment.

"Statistics show that a total of 313 movie theatres were set up in the entire 2010, when 1,533 new screens were launched," pointed out the market observer, "that is to say, an average 4.2 new screens were rolled out each day in the year, pushing the number of screens in the movie theatres throughout the country up to more than 6,200."

Huayi Brothers Media Group, one of the most renowned movie makers in China, is speeding up business expansion by opening its own movie theatres across the country.

Letv.com, an online video-sharing site based in Beijing, has spent more than CNY 50 million for the online broadcasting right of some products from Huayi Brothers, disclosed Ms. Huang, noting that movie watchers in the country will have an access to the imported products on video-sharing platforms like Letv.com.

The estimated expansion of imported products in the country will possibly intensify the already-fierce competition and pose a threat to their likes made in China, said some market observers, noting that Huayi Brothers, one of the outstanding movie makers in the country, will see a long-lasting fight for a bigger share of the market with its rivals abroad.

(USD 1 = CNY 6.57)

Source: www.yicai.com (March 16, 2011)

KEYWORD: BEIJING INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Internet & Online Services & Media SUBJECT CODE: Media
Motion Pictures/Sound Recording
SinoCast China Business Daily news
SinoCast China IT Watch
movie
expansion
policy
quota
movie theatre
competition
box office
fight

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