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While Hollywood films and distributors dominate the movie market in Australia and most other Western countries, the English language has been a barrier for its reach in other countries. But international film collaborations could see America take a bigger piece of the pie over the next few years.
A recent report from leading LA film news publisher Deadline Hollywood Daily said that co-producing has recently led to stronger returns for Hollywood studios working in places such as China, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Korea and Latin America. “The markets “are huge,” especially where local box office rivals that of Hollywood pictures,” Deadline’s International Editor, Nancy Tartaglione writes.
“Homegrown films in China, for example, generally snag about 50% of the annual market share and are currently widely outperforming Hollywood films – the latest blockbuster, Iron Man 3 notwithstanding.”
China, in fact, is one of the countries currently being targeted by major studios, though some of them are still holding onto the hope that Hollywood blockbusters can make money there. But as Tartaglione points out, it might be smarter to look at co-producing something locally – not to mention more affordable.
The highest grossing film in China, Lost In Thailand, earned over US$200 million at the Chinese box office and was made for only $3.1 million without the help of any studios. Tartaglione noted that the closest Hollywood has got to that kind of profit in 2013 is with the Village Roadshow Asia co-produced Journey To The West, which got similar box office results and was made for $20 million.
Quid finds it ironic, though, that this example of Hollywood success comes from a studio founded and based in Australia. Since its inception in Melbourne in the 1950s Village Roadshow has made a name for itself around the world and is now firmly established in Australia, Hollywood and now perhaps China. But it is interesting to see how local and US media differ in their views of this particular film studio.
In fact, when the Australian media got news of Journey To The West’s success, reports stated that “the Australian media company’s success has Hollywood studios taking note”. Collaborations between local and international film bodies is not a new thing anywhere, but here in Australia many of the blockbusters have backing from other countries, including the UK, USA and most recently India for the cricket comedy Save Your Legs.
The historical lack of private investors and funding for Australian films has practically dictated co-productions, which could be one of the reasons why Village Roadshow has had so much success. After working on hits like The Matrix, Happy Feet and The Great Gatsby, tackling a neighbouring film market could be a lot less daunting. And there is no doubt it has Western film studios (both in Hollywood and elsewhere) considering their options.
The main thing holding some of them back at this stage is probably the marketability of these films. While Hollywood studios are keen to get their US blockbusters into countries like China, India and Latin America, they are not convinced co-production foreign language films would translate to Western audiences.
But perhaps they do not need to worry, as the Deadline Hollywood Daily article explains: “In India, the indigenous share of a $2B market can be as much as 90%. There’s an argument to be made that Chinese or Indian films don’t cross cultural borders, but with those kinds of numbers, ‘Why would the film need to travel?’ posits an exec.”
While non-English language films may not typically have a lot of financial success in Westernised countries, the potential profits could still lure a lot of Hollywood studios overseas. And even if they can’t get wide distribution or box office success outside of the country of origin, they could still end up with foreign language film nominations from the Academy and co.
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