Talking at a TIFFCOM seminar, Cai Gongming, founding father of Chinese language distributor Road Pictures, defined how his firm has constructed up Japanese anime to be one of many strongest movie import classes within the mainland China market. And though Chinese language audiences stay targeted on native, Chinese language-language motion pictures, he additionally stated that Hollywood has been making a sluggish comeback out there this 12 months.
Highway Photos scored main hits in 2023 with Japanese anime titles Suzume, which grossed $117M, and The First Slam Dunk, which took round $75M. Because of this, the entire field workplace of this class within the China market elevated by 90% year-on-year.
This 12 months, Cai stated the mixed field workplace of Japanese anime motion pictures is on the identical stage as 2023, though the per image common is decrease as twice as many titles have been launched. Highway Photos’ greatest hits have included Spy x Household Code: White, with round $40M, and the re-release of Your Identify with $19M. (Studio Ghibli’s The Boy And The Heron, launched by Alibaba Photos, is the highest-grossing Japanese anime to this point this 12 months with $110M).
“Japanese anime titles are very robust due to their IP attributes – younger individuals know the IP as a result of it has reached them by way of completely different channels over a few years. Japanese reside motion motion pictures have much less of those IP attributes and the celebs are much less acknowledged by the Chinese language viewers,” Cai defined.
He added that Japanese arthouse motion pictures may also carry out effectively however have a ceiling, Highway Photos launched Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters in 2018, which stays the highest-grossing Japanese arthouse launch in China with round $14M.
However he additionally attributed the robust efficiency of Japanese anime in China to proactive advertising actions. He defined that his firm has launched an “built-in enterprise technique”, combining movie distribution with a brand new enterprise, GuGuGuGu, spanning merchandising, bodily shops, reside occasions and different exploitation of IP. To date, the enterprise has opened round six GuGuGuGu House standalone shops and one other 40 shops positioned inside cinemas.
“Chinese language audiences anticipate this built-in service – we realized this from the distribution of One Piece and different movies, that they not solely go to the theatre to see the film, but in addition need to purchase items, meet buddies and have fun collectively,” Cai defined.
In China, these actions have included particular premieres with immersive parts, merchandising and in-store occasions: “The Chinese language followers need every thing that the Japanese followers are receiving, regardless of the expense.”
Highway Photos’ Cai Gongming
Speaking usually in regards to the China market, Cai stated that earlier than the pandemic, imported movies had round a 47% market share (it was throughout this golden interval that Highway Photos launched Shoplifters), however the share is now below 20%. Final 12 months, round 70-80 international motion pictures had been imported into China, throughout revenue-sharing Hollywood titles, and the so-called flat payment movies that generally obtain a income break up.
Hollywood motion pictures have been declining in market share because the pandemic, and whereas their mixed field workplace is 3 times that of Japanese anime motion pictures, the per image common is across the similar stage.
Nonetheless, Cai stated there are indicators that the market is beginning to get better this 12 months for US studio titles, with Alien: Romulus grossing $110M, a lot increased than anticipated, and the continuing re-releases of all of the Harry Potter franchise movies.
“Japanese anime is robust in China due to the fanbase, which extends to TV collection and different types of merchandising and media. Hollywood will not be so energetic in China. Additionally, anime appeals to youthful audiences and Hollywood has been dropping younger individuals.”
Cai additionally talked in regards to the regulatory framework in China, noting that he additionally faces challenges securing approvals from the Japanese firms concerned in every launch. “However not less than Japan has the manufacturing committee system, which is an efficient, coordinated method. In China, it’s not so coordinated as a result of plenty of completely different enterprise companions management completely different elements of the IP. They don’t speak to one another, so it may be troublesome to synchronize.”
On the China facet, he stated there are at the moment fewer restrictions by way of the quotas and general numbers of movies imported into the market: “The viewers wants range, and the coverage is following this demand”. He additionally stated that censorship seems to be enjoyable for some style movies, together with Alien: Romulus and Taiwanese crime thriller The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, which each contained content material that will have been thought of problematic earlier than the pandemic.
“Alien was a shock for many people when it handed censorship – the coverage appears to be getting extra relaxed for style motion pictures,” Cai stated. “We see that as a superb factor because the viewers needs to see completely different sorts of content material and the regulator needs to fulfill this demand to see a powerful field workplace efficiency.”
