China's 2024 summer box office sees breakthrough with new talent, technology

China

China's 2024 summer box office sees breakthrough with new talent, technology

2024-08-25 22:29 Last Updated At：23:27

The emergence of promising young actors, innovative directors, and cutting-edge filmmaking technologies has energized China's movie industry, leading to an impressive box office milestone this summer.

According to real-time data from online platforms, China's box office revenue for this summer movie season, including pre-sales, surpassed 11 billion yuan (about 1.54 billion U.S. dollars) as of 22:45 Saturday.

Sun Jiashan, associate researcher at the Central Cultural and Tourism Management Cadre Institute, said that with a diverse slate ranging from big-budget spectacles to smaller, artful offerings, China's extended summer season has provided the perfect platform for the wave of youth to shine.

As the season's hits featuring more promising young actors continue to captivate audiences, the future looks increasingly bright for China's cinematic landscape.

Standout performances from actors like Wang Shengdi in the crime thriller "A Place Called Silence" and Shi Pengyuan in the domestic comedy "Successor" have particularly impressed Sun.

"The two actors both came from the 2020 TV series called The Bad Kids. Their presence in movies demonstrates how film and television are deeply converging to cultivate a robust talent pipeline for the movie business," Sun said.

Alongside the rise of new actor and actresses, a wave of up-and-coming directors have also made their mark on the 2024 summer slate. Filmmakers such as Li Yang of sci-fi "Evacuate from the 21st Century", Zhong Ding of animation "Into the Mortal World", and Ma Yuke of crime film "Go for Broke" have earned acclaim for their fresh cinematic visions.

Furthermore, innovative use of cutting-edge technologies like AI and rotoscope animation has elevated the visual experiences for moviegoers. The film "The Traveler" utilized rotoscope animation, where live-action footage is traced frame-by-frame to create an animated effect.

"First, our live-action actors completed the full live-action filming process. Then, our artists performed secondary post-processing on these live-action footage, using rotoscoping animation techniques. The result was a 2.5-dimensional visual style and aesthetics that have never before been seen in the Chinese cinema. This has directly inspired a new exploration of applying innovative technologies in China's film industry," Sun said.

Mutual respect, trust strengthen China-Samoa relations: Samoan PM

2024-11-30 03:17 Last Updated At：09:07

Samoa regards China as an important partner and hopes to advance the continuous development of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, founded on mutual respect and trust, said the Pacific island nation's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa.

Samoa was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish diplomatic relations with New China. In 2025, the two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

In an exclusive interview with China Media Group, the prime minister emphasized that mutual respect and trust are key to fostering stable bilateral relations.

"Mutual respect and trust, I think that's a very fundamental element that makes for a successful partnership, and 50 years is not a short period of time. I think at this juncture, especially speaking with your leaders, it's an apt time to review our journey to consolidate on what has been done, done well, and also to, you know, (consider) what are the next steps in terms of what has been able to be achieved," said Mata'afa.

Noting that Samoa is much smaller than China, Mata'afa acknowledged that the two nations also differ in some ideas and concepts. She added that Samoa is currently developing models tailored to smaller countries, and China's long-standing valuable assistance has helped Samoa unlock its potential in the areas of economy, trade, and agriculture.

"With our partnership with China, we can really explore and further the potentials of what's already been done, like agriculture. So, a lot of the work has been research-based. Now I think we need to be moving on to creating value-added, business-based activities. So, it's another development along that association," said Mata'afa.