S YDNEY — While “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (in retrospect) raised false hopes of a new era for Asian cinema in the West, the region’s films increasingly are jumping cultural barriers to secure distribution in the U.S. and Europe.
Sellers of such films believe international distribs and auds have become a lot more sophisticated and knowledgeable about Asian pics and talent, resulting in deals that wouldn’t have happened a few years ago.
“The success of films such as ‘The Eye’ and ‘Shaolin Soccer’ in various territories has taken away the fear that ‘Crouching Tiger’ was a one-off kind of success for Asian cinema,” says Wouter Barendrecht, co-chairman of Fortissimo Film Sales. “We have come a long way from 10-15 years ago when people would watch an ‘exotic Oriental film.'”
Now, distributors, critics and audiences can differentiate a Zhang Yimou film from a Wong Kar-Wai or Kitano “Beat” Takeshi film. And, starwise, people can name more Asian actors than just Gong Li and Jackie Chan.
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Wheeling and dealing
The growing acceptance of Asian fare has been typified by a clutch of deals this year — and some impressive B.O. performances.
Paramount Classics nailed domestic rights to “The Way Home,” a South Korean drama about a young boy cared for by his mute grandmother. Sony Pictures Classics nabbed Francis Ford Coppola’s recut of Thai epic “The Legend of Suriyothai” for North America and Australia. UA forked out $1.5 million for domestic dibs to Chen Kaige’s “Together.” Palm Pictures collared the Pang brothers’ psycho-thriller “The Eye” for North America, and Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s Par-based C/W Prods. bought remake rights to “Eye.”
“Shaolin Soccer” has grossed a robust $3.3 million in France, its first Euro territory for Miramax, which has worldwide rights to the Hong Kong comedy outside of its home market and Thailand.
China-set Korean pic “Musa, the Warrior” was released on a relatively wide 145 prints in France in August and in its first four weeks sold 197,000 tickets, racking up a healthy $1 million or so, and it is awaiting release in the U.K., Germany, Benelux states, Russia and Scandinavia.
Still, the vast majority of Asian films don’t travel beyond their home and neighboring markets. And market conditions internationally for indie films of any nationality are challenging. Selling films to Europe is tough because of the collapse of Euro pay TV, Barendrecht notes.
However, some execs believe one inhibiting factor is filmmakers who lack the ambition or vision to reach out to auds beyond Asia.
Self-critical
Hong Kong-based Thomas Han, who co-produced the English-lingo “The Touch” with topliner Michelle Yeoh, is critical of many compatriots.
“In general, Hong Kong filmmakers have lost their direction as audience demands have increased, rather than working harder to find the right story, shoot the right film and spend time in cultivating Western interests,” he says. “Budgets have shrunk and efforts have been curtailed.”
Likewise, Mark Yoon of Korean producer-distrib CJ Entertainment laments the lack of quality dramas to sell to Western markets, noting, “We need good, solid dramas because comedy and action will not work in the West due to the dominance of Hollywood product.”
Barendrecht believes that the problem with some Korean films is their language tries to mimic that of Hollywood. “In Europe, critics are more likely to go for a more auteur-style Taiwanese-Vietnamese-Japanese film than an Asian imitation of Hollywood language,” he says.
Rick Sands, Miramax chairman of worldwide distribution, which has picked up rights to “The Touch” and Zhang Yimou’s “Hero,” has a simple mantra for the ingredients he looks for in Asian films: “They need to be original, marketable and of first-class technical quality.”
