Overview of Co-produced Films in 2011

Chinese – foreign Co-productions 2001 - 2011

In 2011, China Film Co-production Company has received 93 applications for co-productions, 6 applications for assisted co-productions, in total 99 films. 69 films were approved as co-production projects and 4 approved as assisted co-productions, in total 74 films. 58 films out of the 74 films finished shooting and passed the censorship for theatrical release.

Co-production figures in the past 10 years show that around 70% of co-produced films are mainland China-Hong Kong co-productions, 8% are mainland China-Taiwan co-productions and 10% are China-US co-productions. The rest 12% are co-productions between China and other regions.

Top 10 Co-produced Films

Mutual benefit is the basis for Chinese-foreign co-productions. Mainland Chinese companies seek partners to share the risk and to learn production experiences; foreign companies seek to enter the Chinese market. If we look at the number of co-productions, the number of co-produced films never takes a big proportion of the total number of production. But the box office output are generally significant, taking a large share of China's total box office gross. Among the top 20 local films, 12 are co-produced films. Mainland China-Hong Kong co-productions make up the majority of co-produced films and they are often box office winners too. China-US co-produced films are outnumbered and outperformed by their Hong Kong counterparts. Cultural difference and a lack of in-depth collaboration from the script stage are main reasons for the situation.

Source: EntGroup