China film market hurt by foreign influx

With an increase of foreign films in the Chinese film market, domestic box office receipts have shrunk by 12 percent from last year, Chinese officials said. China relaxed restrictions on imported films this year, allowing 14 more foreign films in theaters than in previous years. The measure also saw an increase in the share of profits to overseas studios from 13 percent to 25 percent, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. By the end of October, China's box office had reached $2.1 bill, more than all of last year's receipts. But the domestic share of those profits has shrunk from 53.6 percent last year to 41 percent this year. "This has brought handsome profits to the American film industry, but at the same time, also posed pressure and challenge to [the] Chinese film industry," said Tian Jin, vice minister for the State Administration of Radio Film and Television. "The objective reason is that more foreign films in the Chinese film market have dealt a blow to domestic films," he said. "And the subjective reason is that the domestic film industry needs to be more competitive." "The Chinese film industry ... [is] working hard to overcome the apparent difficulties and face up to the challenges to produce more and better films," he added.