by Xinhua writers Zhang Yunlong and Yang Shujun
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China's major film studios are changing how they measure the value of a movie -- moving away from a near-total dependence on theatrical ticket sales toward a broader model built on intellectual property (IP) development, licensing, and consumer experiences.
This shift was discussed at the industry forum of the 16th Beijing International Film Festival, where executives from Enlight Media, China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group highlighted strategies for building IP franchises that generate returns well beyond the multiplex.
Their discussions reflected a growing concern among China's leading studios that the old model -- built almost entirely on box office revenue that has weakened from its 2019 peak -- may no longer be sufficient to sustain the sector on its own.
Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, pointed out a structural imbalance that the industry faces. He said that studios are increasingly factoring non-theatrical value into their project decisions because box office revenue alone can no longer cover the investment in most films. By contrast, many leading Western studios have long derived the majority of their income from copyright licensing, merchandise and ancillary sources, with theatrical ticket sales representing a smaller share, he added.
In China, film copyright sales generate little income for rights holders -- licensing conditions are onerous and prices are low -- while merchandise revenue has yet to reach meaningful scale, Wang said. With both streams effectively absent, Chinese studios are left dependent on box office for more than 90 percent of their revenue -- the very source that is now shrinking.
He predicted that the industry's film output would fall, with box office revenue becoming even more concentrated in blockbuster titles. However, some smaller, lower-cost films with genuinely original ideas may still find room to succeed, he added.
For China's established film studios, the response to such pressure is increasingly pointing toward building and managing IP across multiple revenue channels -- with the film itself potentially recast as a starting point rather than an end product.
Wang said Enlight Media had spent the past year building an IP-centered operational structure, in which every content team functions simultaneously as IP creator and IP manager. On the animation front, the studio is currently planning dozens of film projects, many of which are conceived on development cycles of 20 or 30 years. He said Chinese companies should aspire to claim at least 20 of the world's 100 most valuable IPs.
Wang drew a comparison to the rise of China's car industry. "In terms of content, I believe we have a similar opportunity," he said. He noted, however, that commercial ambition alone could not deliver these goals. "Without imagination, creativity and the capacity for innovation, a good IP is simply not possible. Content remains the foundation of everything else."
Gao Shan, deputy general manager of China Film Group, offered a complementary perspective, drawing a distinction between the function of genre films and that of IP. Genre films, he argued, establish audience trust through familiar formulas; IP operates on a different logic entirely.
"IP is about turning new acquaintances into old friends," Gao said. "At its core, it is a form of emotional connection and trust." He added that a durable IP rests on two foundations: a world-building capacity that sustains repeated storytelling, and characters that audiences genuinely remember.
China Film Group's science-fiction franchise "The Wandering Earth" has sustained that model since its debut in 2019, with the third installment scheduled for release during the Spring Festival holiday in 2027, Gao said.
Shanghai Film Group provided the forum's most concrete evidence that the model can work in practice. Wang Jun, the company's chairwoman, said the animated film "Nobody," released in August 2025, had generated total gross merchandise volume -- a measure of total sales processed through its commercial partnerships -- of 2.5 billion yuan (about 364.2 million U.S. dollars), exceeding its theatrical box office of 1.72 billion yuan.
More than 800 co-branded products were developed before the film's release, spanning categories from coffee to stationery. A 20-minute VR spin-off, available at 100 locations nationwide, attracted repeat visitors willing to pay more than 100 yuan per session.
Wang Jun said the company remained convinced that strong content was the essential foundation -- "and everything else follows." She described IP management as resting on two principles: rigorous protection of IP rights as a legal and commercial foundation, and openness to cross-industry collaboration that required studios to engage with sectors and audiences beyond their traditional orbit.
She cited "The Monkey King" -- Shanghai Film Group's classic 1960s animation -- as evidence of an IP's potential longevity: a 2012 re-release generated over 40 million yuan at the box office, followed by a 4K restoration in 2017.
The studio executives' shared focus on IP development drew an analytical response from Yin Hong, a film industry scholar at Tsinghua University. Yin said the structural pressures facing cinema required a fundamental rethinking of what makes a film worth watching in the first place.
Cheaper, faster and more convenient than a trip to the theaters, short-form video and streaming platforms had eroded some of film's traditional advantages and the medium needed to find new ones, he said.
What cinema needed in response was what Yin called "must-watch uniqueness" -- an experience so distinctive that no home screen could replicate it. He noted that nearly every film achieving commercial success in recent years had done so through originality.
The industry, Yin said, is in transition from "a box office economy" to "an influence economy" -- one in which a film's commercial value will be measured not primarily by what it earns at the multiplex, but by the reach of its cultural impact. ■
