Chinese companies and their foreign counterparts are eyeing cooperation opportunities in the country's booming film market, executives at the recent Chengdu Fortune Forum said.

During a morning session, Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, told delegates he was keen to realize his dream of bringing the finest technology and artists to China to create world-class animation.

"The country will be able to make world-class animation within a handful of years," says the head of the world's largest animation maker, which established a joint venture, Oriental DreamWorks, in Shanghai last year.

"We have set the goal 'create in China, for China'," he says, adding that he was confident Oriental DreamWorks will be standing on its own in a few years.

"As the second-largest film market in the world, China's box office will reach 22 billion yuan ($3.6 billion; 2.7 billion euros) this year, and it will overtake the United States to become No 1 in the world within five year's time," says Katzenberg.

He says in film industry terms, at least, "the Chinese market is not emerging anymore - it has already arrived".

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, agrees with Katzenberg, and estimates the value of China's film market will be twice as big as that of the US within a decade.

Dalian Wanda spent $2.6 billion (1.96 billion euros) last year on AMC Theatres, the second-largest cinema chain in the US.

Wang says there is a huge appetite for film in China, especially for domestic movies.

In the first five months of this year, box-office receipts for home-grown movies have already exceeded those of imported movies, and several Chinese films have attracted sales in excess of 1 billion yuan.

Against that backdrop, "we shouldn't be afraid of Hollywood movies in the future, even if the authorities lift the current restriction for imported movies", Wang says.

To tap into this growing market, Wanda is negotiating cooperation opportunities with "some of the top five filmmakers in the US", he says.

Wanda had talks with DreamWorks on a China joint venture, but DreamWorks finally partnered with a company in Shanghai.

"But future cooperation between us is still possible," Wang says.

AMC reported a profit of $60 million profits in 2012, and Wang says the figure would rise significantly this year.

Katzenberg and Wang agreed that any successful expansion into a new market depends on respect for local conditions and trust in local employees.

"Investment in any company requires attaching great importance to its employees, and any company with an all-foreign management team will definitely fail," adds Wang.

Similarly, products that do not consider the demands of local customers will not last long.

An example cited was the film Iron Man 3.

In the version shown in China, additional plots were clumsily added starring Chinese actors, but they were deleted in versions of the film shown elsewhere - a move that attracted huge criticism in China.

"If imported movies are all as disrespectful as Iron Man 3, they will enjoy nothing but failure," Wang says.

In comparison, a good example was the animated film Kung Fu Panda 2, which carefully incorporated Chinese elements in its plot, such as the local food and architecture of Chengdu.

Katzenberg says: "We have had the goal from the very beginning, that our movies will not only be translated, but adapted." The DreamWorks operation in China likes to create authentic films to suit local cultures, he says.

Li Dongsheng, chairman of TCL Group, says his company, a Chinese consumer electronics producer, is also considering working with DreamWorks on video and graphics.

He says TCL has a number of cooperation deals in the pipeline with global companies, which are likely to boost its international income from 38 percent of the total to more than half in the future.

Picking up on the overseas business angle, Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune magazine, adds: "There isn't really one universal rule for companies to succeed in overseas markets.

"But for the best companies, it is never just one-way traffic. Look at Starbucks, for example, which developed green tea products for the China market, and then introduced those to the US market, and found they were popular there, too.

"Being flexible and open-minded, adapting and learning are key elements for companies entering emerging markets - you won't succeed without these qualities," Serwer adds.

weitian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/14/2013 page22)