Market recognition of arthouse films on the rise in China

BEIJING -- The market recognition of arthouse films has been on the rise in China where these types of movies are enjoying a bigger audience compared with several years ago, according to experts at the ongoing Beijing International Film Festival.

In the 30 months since its establishment, the National Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas saw its membership grow to cover 3,222 theaters in 248 cities across the country, with a total of 3,795 screens dedicated to arthouse films.

This occurred against the background of a more mature Chinese film market and the diversification of moviegoers' demands in recent years.

Talking about the nine art films distributed through the alliance in 2018, Sun Xianghui, curator of the China Film Archive, which co-founded the alliance, said at least one screening of an arthouse film per day was guaranteed in each of the 363 core cinemas of the alliance.

Sun said policy initiatives introduced by the government to support arthouse films and advance the film market development has helped improve the quality and scale of China-produced art films, as well as diversify the supply and cultivate the audience of art films.

"Whether it is the 2018 film 'Days of Being Wild," which grossed nearly 20 million yuan (2.99 million US dollars), or 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" that grossed about 65 million yuan, or 'Bohemian Rhapsody" which recently made close to 100 million yuan at the China box office, all serve as a witness to the progress made by the alliance as well as to the change in the market recognition of art films in China," said Liu Xiaobin, executive president of Wanda Film Holding Co., Ltd.