美国电影制片人瞄准中国市场

China is fast becoming the world's largest film market and Hollywood has definitely taken notice.

2014 has been a big year for Hollywood in China. "Transformers 4" broke box office records, earning 319 million US dollars. Hollywood studios are now openly targeting the Chinese market, with films franchises like Transformers and Kungfu Panda.

Film analyst Bi Chenggong says it's to be expected.

"Hollywood doesn't usually just do single market films," Bi said. "They usually target an entire region like Godzilla, which was aimed at the whole of Asia. Harry Potter was more European centric. It did great there but didn't do well in Asia. I'm not surprised Hollywood is moving more into specific consumer targeting. I think this is very normal. I think this shows the level of maturity in the US film industry."

Several Hollywood films were able to draw revenues of over 40 million dollars from the Chinese market in 2014.

Apart from one or two exceptions, Chinese films haven't been able to match that bracket.

With more Hollywood blockbusters due for release in China soon, concern is growing that there could be a negative impact on the Chinese film industry.

But Bi Chenggong doesn't think so.

"This is actually going to be good for Chinese film makers," Bi said. "There will be more competition for local markets. Our story telling and technical abilities are still lagging behind, so having a big brother like Hollywood teaching us would benefit us well."

China restricts the number of foreign movie releases to just 34 per year, although that's set to expand.

With China's annual box office predicted to reach a value of nearly five billion US dollars, its importance to Hollywood is becoming ever greater.

But domestic films are doing well, with the most successful genres being comedy and romance.

Coming up next year, a Chinese-Hollywood collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou at the helm - his first English language film. "The Great Wall" will star Chinese and US actors, and will be produced by Legendary Pictures. It's set to open in November 2016.
 
Some critics argue that catering to a Chinese crowd will lower the quality of Hollywood movies because it requires simpler plots and universal, formulaic themes. Others say adding random cultural elements into a movie can do more harm than good. But following the success of Transformer 4, Hollywood certainly isn't going to stop trying.