After a stint as an extra in a Chinese film, Mitch Moxley appraises the burgeoning industry:
Last year's box-office earnings topped $1.5 billion, a 64 percent increase from 2009, making China's movie market on target to be the world’s second-largest by 2015.
Sometimes dubbed "Chollywood," China’s movie industry pumped out 526 films in 2010 (versus 754 in the U.S.), and the government has announced plans to more than double the size of the entertainment industries, including movies and television, over the next five years. … So eager are American studios to crack the Chinese market that MGM recently edited Chinese villains out of the remake of Red Dawn, replacing them with North Koreans. Studios can’t afford to offend the officials who decide which 20-odd foreign films are allowed to play each year on Chinese screens, whose number grows by four a day.
A Shanghaiist post from late last year provides more context:
Since Beijing only allows the distribution of 20 foreign films a year, American production companies are trying to curry favor under these restrictions by creating more China centric movies like The Karate Kid and Shanghai. Not only are there more movies being set here, but joint ventures with Chinese film companies is becoming the norm. Just last month Beijing based Chengtian Entertainment acquired a 3.3 percent share of Inception producers Legendary Pictures. … It's a slow migration, but Hollywood seems to be inching closer east.
Above is the trailer for the 2010 megahit Let The Bullets Fly, the highest grossing film in Chinese history.
The Dish 