Lights, camera, action: Hollywood goes to China1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIt’s Hollywood’s big weekend, but after the celebrations the industry will return to work on Monday in the same cash-strapped state it was before the Oscars.
Many in the business — including Christian Bale — are slowly embracing the fact that China is their new frontier.
The speed at which the Chinese film industry has grown has surprised even the most jubilant of optimists. In 2005, the industry was worth just $250 million, compared to Hollywood’s $23 billion. China bulls speculated that its industry might triple by 2010, while naysayers shook their heads.
Too much censorship, they said, and not enough artistry. Instead, China’s movie business has more than doubled even the most aggressive forecasts — box office receipts topped $1.5 billion last year, and at its current rate of growth sales could reach $7 billion by 2015.
