New generation filmmaker Dong Ping

Dong Ping was born into a generation that never went to the movies. Yet the 52-year-old chairman of Beijing-based, Hong Kong-listed ChinaVision Media is now one of the most powerful men in Chinese filmmaking. "Those who grew up in my generation did not go to the theatre as the movie industry was highly restricted by the government. There were no Hollywood or privately made films showing," he said. Despite growing up without exposure to the big screen, Dong is now a movie maker. His company is a major investor in one of this year's blockbusters, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which became the second-highest-grossing Chinese-language film on the mainland, earning 1.25 billion yuan (HK$1.6 billion). Three years earlier he made another landmark film, Let the Bullets Fly, which broke the 700 million yuan threshold. Besides making commercially successful films, he has also made many award-winning films including Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won two Oscars in 2001. "Our company wants to create films that can add value to our culture and society and entertain many families. "I enjoy doing some movies that may attract a large audience while some may be more artistic and suitable for a particular audience," Dong told the South China Morning Post in his Hong Kong office, in Admiralty. "But no matter what type of movie, I have to make sure they make a profit. This is because ChinaVision Media is a Hong Kong-listed company. As chairman, I am responsible to the shareholders." Making a profitable movie in China, he said, was not impossible because China's box office had grown almost 40 per cent every year in the past five years, with the top films earning up to 1.2 billion yuan. He believes that in a few years, the top movies in China will take in 1.5 billion yuan to 2.5 billion yuan, matching those in the US. The reason for the strong growth, he said, was the fact that the younger generation was adopting a Western lifestyle. "Young people like to go to the cinema with friends because they think that is what a modern lifestyle involves," he said. "The increased number of cinemas across the country since 2009 has provided a platform for the box office numbers of the past few years." Beijing born, Dong studied opera at university. He has always loved the performing arts, but he also likes to do business. After graduating in 1986, he worked in the mainland's cultural administration department for two years before setting up a chemical products trading company. That worked well but he liked the cultural industry so much he formed a film company in 1996 with a handful of staff. Its first movie, Keep Cool, by mainland director Zhang Yimou, was entered in the Venice Film Festival in 1998. Next was Jiang Wen's Devil on the Doorstep, which won the grand prix at Cannes in 2000. The rest is history. Today, his company has a market capitalisation of HK$3.6 billion. It made a profit of HK$177.15 million last year from its businesses that range from films and television programming to magazines and a newspaper. "I always liked the cultural industries, which involve a lot of creativity and innovation. The films can have a far-reaching impact that lasts for several decades," he said. The key to success in running a film company, Dong said, was not only making movies that he liked. "I am investing on behalf of the shareholders. I have to choose the films favoured by young people born in the 1980s and 1990s because they are the ones who like to go to the cinemas the most," he said. "It is no different from any other business in that you need to have good risk control and earn money for shareholders." Dong's company is run like a Hollywood film company in that it does not hire a lot of directors and actors but instead signs up with a number of well-known directors, such as Jiang Wen and Stephen Chow Sing-chi, the director of Journey to the West. The directors present story ideas to Dong's team before he has the final say on whether to finance a project. "I have the experience to determine whether a movie idea can sell to a mass audience. Generally speaking, action, comedy and family-oriented films are popular," he said. "The most profitable ones are those which reflect the problems and feelings of the young audience. In contrast, when I make a programme for television, it is usually tailored to older tastes," Dong said. "When I go to the cinema and watch a movie that my company invested in, I feel happy when I see parents and their children sit laughing happily. This is what makes the movie industry different."

New generation filmmaker Dong Ping

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Dong Ping makes movies that appeal to those born in the 1980s and 1990s because they are the ones who go to the cinema the most

Dong Ping makes movies that appeal to those born in the 1980s and 1990s because they are the ones who go to the cinema the most