China cashes in on the 3D movie gold rush

Feel like you're not getting enough 3D out of real life? Good news for you: a spokesperson for the China Film Group Corporation (CFGC) has confirmed that the state-owned production company has two animated 3D films in development, according to Xinhua via the Global Times. 

To date, Chinese cinemas have screened just two domestic 3D movies, compared to eight from overseas. But that’s all about to change as China throws money at homegrown 3D feature films and the accompanying infrastructure. 

CFGC has also been seeking bids to add 500 new digital projectors over the next four to six months, the New Zealand Herald reported earlier this month.

What’s the rush? It seems China’s film industry is eager to follow in the footsteps of recent cash cows "Alice in Wonderland" and "Avatar", the latter grossing US$193.6 million in China since its release, making it the movie’s second-highest earning country after the United States.

The next 3D offering to hit China’s theaters will be the American film "Clash of the Titans", which will go head-to-head with domestic 2D picture "Go Lala Go" (not to be confused with "Run Lola Run") when they both open later this week.

And hoping to disprove a recent CFGC survey’s finding that “90 percent of Chinese cinema-goers preferred movies that reflected the lives of ordinary Chinese, instead of fancy blockbusters,” famed Chinese director Feng Xiaogang will drop his 3D film about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, "The Tangshan Earthquake", on Chinese audiences this summer, setting the bar high for epileptic-fit-inducing flicks to come.

(Hat tip to Shanghaiist)