FROM horror flicks to road movies, China’s domestic film companies seem to have found new inspiration to help take on its box-office rivalry with Hollywood.

    “The Continent,” which follows two young men’s adventures as they travel across China, was crowned last week’s box-office champion, earning 300 million yuan (US$48 million) last Thursday to Sunday.

    In an industry obsessed with blockbusters, Chinese-language genre films have burst onto the stage.

    “Low-budget art house, horror, road ... we’ve really had some breakthrough genre films,” said Rao Shuguang, secretary general of the China Film Association.

    Rao said an increasingly younger group of Chinese cinemagoers with unprecedented tastes is behind this phenomenon.

    “The House That Never Dies,” based on a haunted mansion legend in Beijing, raked in some 330 million yuan in its first 10 days, second only to “The Continent.”

    Earlier this year, “Black Coal, Thin Ice,” a low-budget sleuth noir, won the Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. Back home, it earned four times its cost.

    In an effort to protect the domestic film market, Chinese authorities usually fend off overseas competition by making theaters arrange more screenings for Chinese films, especially during holidays.

    According to the Wanda website, only five international movies were released in China in July, including “American Hustle,” a 2014 Academy Award nominee.

    Some movie critics complain that the success of “The Continent” and “Tiny Times 3” — a chick flick released at almost the same time — is largely thanks to the buzz surrounding each of their rivaling popular directors.

    Guo Jingming, already one of China’s richest writers at 31 years old, directed “Tiny Times 3,” which knocked “Transformers 4” out of the top box-office spot earlier this month. The film, the third installment after its two commercially successful predecessors, was adapted from Guo’s own novel.

    Han Han, who wrote and directed “The Continent,” is also a high-profile blogger, novelist and professional racer who has published many books.

    “Writers-turned-directors, such as Han Han and Guo Jingming, are very good at building successful products, but movies are not just products and their films lack the storytelling qualities of their books,” Rao said.

    Rao encourages domestic filmmakers to continually hone their professional skills and to create more films in a variety of genres that embrace a wider range of subject matter.

    “Filmmaking takes teamwork. We need to foster a large group of talented people in every aspect of the film industry,” Rao said. “This might be a turning point for Chinese films,” he added.

    (Xinhua)