We’re at an interesting inflection point in the global film and TV industries and every successive in-person gathering, including Filmart, which wrapped last week in Hong Kong, just emphasises this even more. We no longer live in a world where Hollywood dominates globally and all other production industries just fill in the gaps around the edges. We live in a world in which a Chinese animated film can gross $2bn, K-drama and Japanese anime are no longer niche and Southeast Asian horror is the latest genre trend.
We do not, however, live in a world where everyone is making heaps of money from the content business. In the post-pandemic era, the gaps between winners and losers are increasing to a worrying extent. Netflix is doing fine, as are Nezha 2 producer Enlight Media, possibly Sony Japan and a handful of Southeast Asian studios. But due to massive media concentration, the number of companies that are disappearing or on the edge of bankruptcy is alarming. I didn’t see many start-ups or interesting company launches at Filmart, or any evidence of a diverse and competitive playing field, that are usually the bellwethers of a healthy content industry.
Streamlined has covered the reasons for all this many times before – there was only one winner in the streaming wars; India is going through an intense period of consolidation; box office has only recovered in a handful of Asian territories; there’s very little ancillary revenue, and a decreasing pool of buyers for both film and TV content.
So with all this in mind, what does the current landscape mean for physical film markets? Filmart felt busier than last year, but if you looked beyond the buzz generated by the (heavily-compensated) print dailies, you would have noticed that the event is held in a much smaller space than pre-pandemic days and there was a huge amount of padding in the main hall. At least three of Hong Kong’s major producer-distributors sensibly decided to not spend the budget of a small independent film on an elaborate booth (see the latest Streamlined Guide for analysis of the Hong Kong film industry); there were many booths promoting film commissions, film schools and industry organisations that would previously have been occupied by people selling films; and the huge but mostly deserted Macau pavilion felt like it was the size of actual Macau.
Some sales deals were being done (see links round-up below for evidence) but the volume of business was not huge, and sellers are telling me that MGs are at record lows…
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