Leading Chinese film studio, Alibaba Pictures has announced a slate of seven tentpole movies that it hopes will reinvigorate the mainland China box office. The titles straddle martial arts, drama, history, sci-fi and comedy and are presented as the first elements of the company’s second five year plan. They were revealed on Monday at a major event within the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival and with large numbers of relevant producers, directors and stars in attendance.
“At a time when the film market needs vigor, we need more tentpole productions to keep it working,” said Li Jie, Alibaba Pictures president. In notes provided, the company pointed out that the mainland China box office last year recovered to 85% of its pre-pandemic level and that, so far in 2024, the Chinese box office is the world’s largest. However, there are worries that recent film industry prosperity may falter.
Indeed, 2024 box office has slowed in recent weeks and is now tracking 3% below that of 2023. Alibaba said that the number of movie-goers and their frequency of attendance had also stalled. “How do we ensure the continued prosperity of the film industry and move from the plateau to the peak?” asked Li.
His answer is to deliver more Chinese blockbusters. Alibaba Pictures, which has activities that straddle film investment, production, distribution and marketing, has been seen to take different positions in the past – including lead promotor, joint distributor, co-producer,.
