By Sydney Liu, co-founder of Commaful
Special to AsAmNews
Perhaps lost in all the excitement over the success of WB’s Crazy Rich Asians is that the movie studio is headed by an Asian American.
The Asia Society honored Warner Bros chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara at its 9th annual U.S. China Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles earlier this week.
Honored with Tsujihara was actress and Crazy Rich Asian star Michelle Yeoh who played Eleanor Young, the mom who tried to get between Rachel and Nick.
Diversity is good on all levels
A big focus of the event was around diversity and seeing Asians and Asian American representation. As Tsujihara put it in his award acceptance speech: “Diversity feels good and is good for the bottom line. It helps bridge differences, bring people together, and have a lot of fun doing it! I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a Crazy Rich Asian, even for a day?”
Tsujihara ended his speech by challenging the entertainment industry as a whole: “We say certain genres of film don’t travel well or that international audiences aren’t open to diverse leads. It’s incumbent on the entire entertainment industry to stop making excuses for self-fulfilling prophecies.”
He referenced The Meg and Crazy Rich Asians as examples of recent examples of hits to the cheers of the crowd.
An enthusiastic audience greeted Yeoh with a standing ovation by the Gala audience. Yeoh emphasized the importance in the fight for diversity and conclusion and called the Asia Society, the event’s organizer, “the real bridge builders.”
Two major threads emerged from the conversation-the importance of diversity and representation of Asians and Asian Americans as well as the major business opportunities emerging in the China entertainment market.
The Summit explored topics like esports, streaming, diversity, U.S. – China co-productions, and major entertainment industry trends in China.
Asia is happening – despite the negative press
Outside of the dinner gala, panels throughout the day discussed major business opportunities and industry trends with Asia as well as the bearish sentiments of the press. The day kicked off with a summary of industry numbers and bullish outlook from Michael Ellis of the MPAA. As he put it: “Asia is happening.”
Ellis shared some numbers to counter the “negative headlines” about the China film industry and to support his thesis that the potential from innovation in China’s film market is “unstoppable.”
Here are some notable highlights:
- China’s Box Office numbers are expected to surpass America’s by 2020
- This year, there have been 6 films that did better in China than the US, including Ready Player One and The Meg
- OTT in China is now 10.2B USD, a 6.7B growth
- 76.4B total views of web series, up 300% since 2016
- 800 million online
Later panels tackled some poor box office performances more directly as the panelists were generally very bullish about the future outlook despite short term blips.
Chen Rong, CEO of Perfect World Pictures, used a clever analogy to explain the slowdown in his panel: “Productions aren’t meant to go from script to screen in 1 year. Companies aren’t meant to IPO within 2 years of starting. We are driving 80 miles an hour in a parking lot. If you hit the speed bump, it’s not the speed bump’s fault.”
Panelists referenced The Meg frequently as a symbol of future success. The film, a co-production between Warner Bros and China’s Gravity Pictures, became the highest grossing U.S. – China co-production of all time, grossing $527.8 million worldwide.
The Asian Society devoted an entire panel to talking about The Meg, exploring its inception, success, and future plans. Belle Avery, the producer that initially acquired the rights to the series, explained that she spent years living in China to understand the characters and cultural elements before approaching a company. “Getting characters and cultural elements right before going to a company was so crucial. It was ridiculous to see companies just throwing actors in. It had to be culturally sound.” The producers hinted at potential sequels and even amusement parks.
The Future Is Bright
For those excited about more U.S. and China co-productions, seeing more American movies in China, seeing more Chinese movies in America, or seeing more diversity in film and TV, the summit gave many reasons to be optimistic for the future.
You can find out more about Asia Society on their website and see tweets about the event with the hashtag #USChinaSummit.
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