Chinese market needs currying

China may finally be awakening, but film industry pundits would be wrong to think that the world's biggest market will open up easily. So said Han Entertainment managing director Thomas Chung to a room of distributors and exhibitors Thursday at CineAsia in a session titled "China: The New Frontier." Chung, a Hong Kong-based producer who has made two co-productions with China since 2002, "The Touch" and "Silver Hawk," said, "Whatever happened to Europe ain't gonna happen to China," referring to U.S. studios' strategies for European distribution and marketing. "There is no magazine with national reach like Vanity Fair and Premiere, and the same goes for television," he said. "There is no Jay Leno, no easy way to reach an instant national audience. You're forced to do press over and over again."
2004-12-20 10:48:32