Funding festival-worthy films

"We need to start over and reinvent ourselves with greater courage. We are confident that this is a periodic phenomenon. In past decades, the movie industry worldwide has gone through these phases."

Li suggests that film studios place greater emphasis on medium and low-budget productions driven by good stories rather than relying on visual effects and big-name actors. He believes new technology, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence can help significantly lower production costs.

Wang Changtian, chairman of Beijing Enlight Media Co, also believes "reducing costs is an inevitable direction".

"The industry has been losing money for the past decade. Many big-budget movies encountered funding issues even during filming. This will occur more often in the future," Wang says.

He also suggests the number of new film productions be scaled down as film studios must reduce their reliance on box-office revenue. Current profit-sharing practices must also change to a more reasonable ratio.

Meanwhile, administrators are offering helping hands. Shanghai launched a three-year project to facilitate the development of its movie industry.

Her Story, one of China's top 10 box-office movies last year, is a successful example in which a film benefited from the project during its production process. "We had a special team set up that helped with surveying shooting locations, coordinated with different institutions, and provided promotional campaign support," says Liu.

The movie, written and directed by Shao Yihui, not only achieved high box-office revenues and positive reviews, but also provided a rich display that promoted Shanghai's urban image and spirit, becoming a miracle for low-budget movies, Liu says.

In 2024, 42 movies made in Shanghai took up one-fifth of China's total box-office revenues, she added.

Several new film releases this year also received aid from this three-year project, including She's Got No Name, as well as a series of upcoming summer movies, such as Assassin in Red 2, Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, and the animated film Nobody.

Shanghai has 358 cinemas totaling 2,217 screens, with over 100 equipped with advanced projection technology — more than any other city in the world, according to Liu. Thanks to cinema's strong presence, Shanghai's total box-office revenue reached 2.15 billion yuan in 2024, ranking first nationwide.