Li Bingbing on the set of Transformers: Age of Extinction, the movie she hopes will propel her to fame and fortune in Hollywood. Photo provided to China Daily

Battle for the big screen

Chinese products growing in Hollywood films

That Chinese films fail to attract audiences globally springs more from cultural differences than industry problems, Peking University's professor of film studies Dai Jinhua said at an industry forum last month.

The forum, organized by the CFA, sought to study the global success of Iron Man and the relative failure of Chinese film Monkey King to connect to audiences abroad.

"The Money King as a film image is very successful in China but it failed to become a cultural image," Dai says.

"The modernization of images such as the Monkey King and to make the world understand the cultural messages that such symbols bear will be the key to our job."

An earlier survey by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture under Beijing Normal University found that foreign audiences are most curious to know about Chinese philosophy and the unique life of the Chinese people through movies.

"If the Monkey King were to go abroad, he would need to be a living individual with a vitality that can be understood by audiences both at home and abroad," said the academy's head Huang Huilin at the forum.

"Chinese films need cultural charm. If we don't recognize what the charm is, how can we expect foreigners to understand it."

Dai says China's filmmakers can learn from their South Korean counterparts. Last year, South Korean movies The Terror Live and Snowpiercer were successful imitators of Hollywood style but also carried a strong South Korean cultural message.

"On one hand, we learn techniques from Hollywood but on the other, we should have the consciousness to recognize our own cultural identity," Dai says. "Now is the best time for Chinese films. We should seize the opportunity."