Lessons from Avatar for Chinese directors By Yu Deqing (China Daily)

Updated: 2010-01-15 10:51

Avatar has taken the shine off Chinese blockbusters. The movie soon swept the world to earn $1.1 billion. But Chinese film makers only made 6.2 billion yuan after using all kinds of marketing tricks.

It is reported that Chinese film makers fell silent after watching Avatar, with almost nobody wanting to make a comment.

The Chinese film market has experienced a period of prosperity in these years since the box office incomes have increased at more than 20 percent each year. Both the number and revenue of our domestic films have constantly broken records. It is said that altogether 50 films will premiere during the Chinese New Year.

Moreover, the Huayi Brothers Media Group successfully went public in 2009 to lead in solving the financing problem that has disturbed the Chinese film industry for years.

However, the release of Avatar was a major blow to the confidence of Chinese film makers. One critical reason why Avatar was shown in China two weeks later than overseas was that the publisher China Film Group Corporation aimed to help its own movie Bodyguards and Assassins.

But Avatar still had proved to overshadow the domestic blockbusters. Some time ago, the main opinion in the Chinese film industry was "the box office has the final say on a film". We don't know if the Chinese directors have acknowledged their defeat now that Avatar has gained tremendous popularity in China, with box office incomes reaching $100 million.

In fact, the quality of a film is not necessarily judged by the box office as film directors and audiences all have their own judgment. Although the plot of Avatar is not new, the production is unprecedentedly sophisticated. It can be imagined that we could not see a splendid planet-Pandora without extremely careful production.

Thus, Avatar has not only set a good example for the Chinese film industry but also embarrassed our directors, who lack professional ethics. They are not ashamed of making poor films. Instead, they take pride in playing jokes on their audiences.

We don't expect our Chinese directors can become models of artistic innovation overnight. Maybe they should learn from James Cameron for his conscientious work attitude as well as his innovative spirit in promoting the technical development. Avatar would be a good motivation for them to learn.

(Excerpts of a commentary that appeared in Beijing News on Jan 14.)