CRI听力:Chinese Audiences has a Favor of North-America Movies

It comes as no surprise that the 15-year-old film "Titanic" can still win over Chinese hearts. Only two days after its re-release as a 3D version here, its box office revenue totaled 20 million dollars.

Mu Junying, a middle aged office worker in Beijing, who has a huge interest in movies, says nowadays only two kinds of movies attract his attention at the cinema-films that are produced in North America and Chinese comedies.

"As for American movies, they are always produced with high-tech effects, such as 3D technology. They always offer us fabulous visual effects to enjoy. I love 'Avatar.' I think it is the best 3D movie ever. As for Chinese movies, only comedies attract my attention."

Suo Yabin, a professor at the School of Cinema and Television at the Communication University of China in Beijing, says it is a universal trend that people in other countries also favor Hollywood productions over those produced domestically. But he adds that it does not mean Chinese audiences do not enjoy other kinds of movies.

"China actually has more moviegoers who have better taste than people in some other western countries. There are many people who choose to watch DVDs at home instead of going to the cinema, and they always choose artistic movies. Cinemas to some degree cannot meet their needs."

Suo says because nowadays more and more movie productions pursue big box office results, cinemas in China sometimes show more commercial movies than other kinds of movies. But he believes that as the demand among Chinese viewers for different kinds of movies grows, we can expect to see more non-commercial movies on the silver screen.

"As we know, the value of the film art is not only displayed in its sound and visual effects. It needs the cinema to provide a space for interaction between audiences and movies. And it's hard to have such interaction when you watch movie by yourself."

Despite the great attention paid to American films in China, domestically produced movies are not as popular among the Chinese.

Guan Yue is a young lady in her 20s living in Beijing. She goes to cinemas very often, but most of the time, foreign movies attract her more.

"Personally, I feel that it would be better if Chinese movies had their own characters, such as low-budget movies do. I love Jackie Chan's movies, and I think the reason they are a hit with people is that they show our own Chinese characteristics."

Hollywood movies may still have the power to draw the Chinese, but it's time for domestic movie producers to think about how they can make their films more appealing to Chinese audiences.

For CRI, I'm Tianyi.