Chinese film market enters busy season with 40 films

 BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese film market is entering a busy season with up to 40 films on the big screen, including Life of Pi, Back to 1942 and the Last Supper.

During the New Year season in 2011, only two Chinese mainland movies stood out, The Flowers of War and The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.

The film market this year will screen both domestic and overseas movies, with fierce competition expected.

In December, movies such as Chinese Zodiac 12, The Guillotines, Lost in Thailand, and The Last Tycoon¹, will be shown. In January, two Hollywood blockbusters Skyfall and the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released in China.

According to Huang Feiqun, New Film Association general manager, the 2012 New Year film season will last from late November to the end of the Spring Festival holidays (mid-February).

Life of Pi has already made 200 million yuan (32.1 million U.S. dollars) at the box office. The Last Supper has made 40 million yuan, and Back to 1942 is expected to reach 130 million yuan by the end of the week.

Movie-goers have been posting their preferences online.

Zuanzuanshanshanliang wrote, "I smiled, laughed, shed tears, sighed and thought a lot after seeing Back to 1942."

However, more people expressed their fondness for Life of Pi.

Suzai wrote on douban.com, a major social network in China, that "feeling the beauty of life and bathed in belief, I would rather regard Life of Pi as a dream and will never be awake."

Huang said that after ten years of development, the New Year film season has matured and is now recognized by the Chinese audience.

"Many people would like to relax at the end of the year, spending more money on entertainment such as watching movies, and the business is stronger during this period of time," Huang added.

He said that, in previous years, Chinese-made movies had more quotas³ than overseas movies, and this year marks the first time that foreign films have more quotas than domestic ones.

At present, Chinese-made films take 40 percent of the total quota², and foreign films 60 percent. The quota for Chinese-made movies is expected to reach 45 percent after a batch⁴ of movies this month, Huang said.

"Because of the relatively⁵ low quality of Chinese movies, more foreign movies are imported," Huang added.

In February, China and the United States agreed on a memorandum⁷ of understanding on films in the World Trade Organization's China-audiovisual case. According to the memo⁶, 14 more U.S. films will be imported into China annually⁸, in addition to the original 20-film quota.

The increase of more imports of foreign films is another major reason for the quota to succeed half of the total amount in 2012, said Yu Dong, president with the Bona Film Group.

In November, Tian Jin, deputy head of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), announced that the market share of domestic movies had dropped due to the increasing number foreign film imports.

From January to October, the box office of domestic films accounted for 41.4 percent of the total, down from the same period of last year. Though it increased by 40 percent year on year to 13.27 billion yuan (2.13 billion U.S. dollars), according to Tian.

In 2011, domestic films contributed to 53.61 percent of the total box office in China.

1 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

2 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

3 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

4 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

7 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。