Co Productions are a beneficial way to gain more financial, creative and technical resources from the parties in the production. Nowadays, co productions mainly focus on mainstream genres or a mix of genres for audience appeal, such as sci-fi combined with elements of adventure etc.
Co productions can be found all over the globe, but I will be paying more attention to the Asia market in this blog. Popular countries within this market include: China, South Korea, and Hong Kong, just to name a few.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” was a movie released in 2015, that became one of the best selling movies that year. With a signed agreement with Korea, the production team filmed a few key scenes in Korea’s capital Seoul, which not only helped promoted Korea’s tourism but also reimbursing up to 30% of South Korea’s Culture of Ministry and Sports and Tourism, due to the country’s state-funded incentive program.
In the Asia market, Hong Kong and Korea are great partners in terms of creativity and productions. Both of these countries have international appeal after the release of “Transformers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” which both had scenes from the stated countries. In 2014, Hong Kong and Korea have collaborated for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), in order to increase creative understandings. The MOU was implemented to create new ideas and put more attention towards research and training.
A scene from Transformers with the Hong Kong Opera House in the movie
Gregory So, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development stated, “Hong Kong and Korea are ideal creative partners. There is a strong potential for greater collaboration. This agreement will increase bilateral exchanges, bringing mutual benefits to the continuous growth and sustainable development of the creative economies of the two places.”
Not only with these two Asian countries are finding ways to gain opportunities but also Mainland China. in 2014, China has introduced a new scheme of incentives towards their domestic film industry, which was also a method to attract international producers as well. The Chinese Government has provided a subsidy of USD16 million to create up to 10 Chinese movies a year. Chris Devonshire-Ellis of Dezan Shira & Associates comments that, “…this incentive is constructed is likely to lead to a new generation of pro-Chinese films and increasing interest in how Western film production companies can access the Chinese market with local partners to take advantage of these incentives.” That year, China signed an co-production agreement with the UK for the making of fantasy drama, Warcraft and Seventh Son.
Particularly in the Chinese aspect, the use of co productions with other countries is to promote the Chinese culture across the globe. There are even reports of India and China signing a co production deal in 2014. “…boost film-related tourism between the two countries and hence pave the way for a more vibrant people-to-people contact,” said India’s Minister for Information & Broadcasting Manish Tewari.
The Asian market is without a doubt a great place to co produce with, as there are multiple benefits when deciding to partner with these Asian countries. In China, the rise of co productions has made China’s box office grow from 17.1 billion yuan (US$3.51 billion) in 2012 to 49.2 billion yuan in 2016. “”The model of coproducing films is developing very well…Chinese filmmakers have established close relations with Hollywood’s major studios,” says Tong Gang, the vice-minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, China.
Famous Asian co productions include Kung Fu Panda 3, The Great Wall and Wolf Totem.
References
- Hong Kong and Korea sign deal to boost film co-productions and creative work. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thelocationguide.com/2014/11/ng-filming-on-location-hong-kong-and-korea-sign-deal-to-boost-film-co-productions-and-creative-work/#
- New China filming incentives could boost international production interest. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thelocationguide.com/2014/07/ng-filming-incentives-new-china-filming-incentives-could-boost-international-production-interest/
- Fan, X. (2017, October 12). China’s film industry booms, coproductions grow. Retrieved from http://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/chinas-film-industry-booms-coproductions-grow
The Erryl Classicz 