【英语财经】IMAX：中国将成全球最大电影市场 China ?set ?to ?be? world’s? largest ?movie? market

China will overtake the US as the world’s largest movie market within two years, according to the chief executive of Imax, the big screen cinema group.

Rich Gelfondsaid that China would surpass the US in box-office revenue and by number of screens by 2017.

“We entered China just as the multiplex boom was happening and our box office has increased 50 per cent a year on a compound basis,” he said.

Recent openings of blockbuster Hollywood movies in China have generated box office totals that rival the US.

The Martian, from 21st Century Fox, made $50.1m in its opening weekend in China, with $4.5m coming from Imax screens. The $50.1m total compares with the $54.4m The Martian generated in its first weekend in the US.

China’s box-office revenues rose 36 per cent in 2014 to hit $4.8bn, according to China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

China added 1,015 cinemas and 5,397 screens in 2014 for a total of 23,600 screens, the group also reported. This compares with about 39,600 screens in the US.

The most recent annual figures show that the US still has a clear lead over China in revenues. US cinemas generated $10.3bn in 2014, a fall of 5 per cent on the previous year.

But if the Chinese market can maintain its growth it would surpass the US, Mr Gelfond said. Consumer demand for filmed entertainment in China remained strong even as the country’s economy has cooled, he added.

“The gloomy predictions that have come out of exports and the manufacturing sector don’t seem to apply to consumer discretionary spending,” he said.

Imax is also expanding in China, having struck a deal with CJ CGV, a South Korean multiplex chain, to add 25 new Imax theatres across China. The deal takes Imax past 500 cinemas in China, with 275 open and 245 contracted to open.

With 1,008 theatres worldwide, the CJ CGV deal will turn China into Imax’s largest market.

Imax China, the company’s Chinese subsidiary, recently raised $285m in a Hong Kong IPO, giving it a listing that will allow it to tap investors for cash to use for further expansion in the region.

Other Chinese entertainment groups are paying increasing attention to Hollywood.

Bona Film Group

has struck a deal to invest $235m in The Seelig Group, which has an arrangement with 21st Century Fox

to co-finance some of its forthcoming movies.

Meanwhile, Mario Gabelli, the

second-largest holder of voting shares in Viacom, has urged Sumner Redstone’s group to sell a stake in its Paramount movie studio to Jack Ma’s Alibaba

to generate new funds and smooth the way for it to produce more films in China.

Alibaba Pictures, the Chinese group’s entertainment arm, invested in Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation this year and was the official partner for the movie’s launch in China.

巨幕影院集团Imax的首席执行官表示，中国将在两年内超越美国，成为全球最大电影市场。

理查德?葛尔方(Richard Gelfond)称，中国的票房收入和银幕数量将在2017年超越美国。

“我们在多厅影院开始蓬勃发展时进入中国市场，我们的票房收入年度复合增长达到50%，”他称。

近期登陆中国的好莱坞大片带来了可与美国比肩的票房总收入。

21世纪福克斯(21st Century Fox)出品的《火星救援》(The Martian)在中国首映当周周末创下了5010万美元的票房，其中450万美元来自Imax场次。该片在美国首映当周周末的票房为5440万美元。

据中国国家新闻出版广电总局表示，2014年中国票房收入增长36%，达48亿美元。

Imax集团还报告，2014年，中国新增1015家影院和5397个银幕，使银幕总数达到23600个，而美国的银幕数量约为39600个。

最近的年度数据显示，美国在票房收入上仍然明显领先于中国。2014年，美国影院产生了103亿美元的收入，同比下滑5%。

但是，葛尔方称，如果中国市场保持增长，它就会超越美国。他补充称，尽管中国经济降温，但中国消费者对电影娱乐的需求仍然强劲。

“来自出口和制造部门的低迷预测，似乎并不适用于消费者的自由支配支出，”他称。

Imax也开始在中国市场扩张，同韩国连锁多厅影院运营商CJ CGV达成一项协议，计划在中国新开25家Imax影院。该协议使Imax在中国的影院数量超过500家，其中275家已开始运营，245家签订了合同，将投入运营。

Imax在全球拥有1008家影院，与CJ CGV的协议将把中国变成该公司在全球的最大市场。

Imax的中国子公司——Imax中国(Imax China)不久前在香港进行首次公开发行(IPO)，筹资2.85亿美元，使其能够投资者筹集资金，用于进一步的地区扩张。

中国其他娱乐集团也对好莱坞日益关注。

博纳影业集团(Bona Film Group)已达成一项协议，将对The Seelig Group投资2.35亿美元，后者与21世纪福克斯(21st Century Fox)有合作安排，将共同出资拍摄一些电影。

另一方面，拥有维亚康姆(Viacom)第二大投票权的股东马里奥?加贝利(Mario Gabelli)，已敦促雷石东(Sumner Redstone)的这家媒体集团把所持派拉蒙(Paramount)电影制片公司的部分股权出售给马云(Jack Ma)的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)，以便获得新资金并为该公司在中国制作更多电影铺平道路。

作为阿里巴巴的娱乐子公司，阿里影业(Ali Pictures)今年投资了维亚康姆的《碟中谍5：神秘国度》(Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation)，并成为该影片在中国发行的官方合作伙伴。

译者/何黎