CEO pictures future of the entertainment industry on Internet

It is not common for a person to start a new business in his 50s, especially after he has achieved something significant in a previous career. However, Zhang Zhao is no ordinary man.

After serving as the president of Enlight Pictures, a film business subsidiary of Beijing Enlight Media Co Ltd, one of China's leading media and entertainment companies, for five years, he joined Le Vision Pictures, a film business wing of Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp, as chief executive officer in 2011. The total time he was with Enlight Media was about eight years.

The Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp booth at an international exhibition in Beijing. Le Vision Pictures, a film business wing of Leshi,earned $102 million in box office receipts in 2012, taking the fourth-largest market share in China.PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

"I was under great pressure when I decided to quit Enlight Pictures. I was almost 50 years old, an age close to retirement in China, where society encourages young people starting out in business, not older men," said Zhang. "But I could see the Internet driving reform of the traditional film industry so I did not have much time on my side."

Since the company was founded, it has positioned itself as an Internet-based film distributor and producer. Zhang introduced a brand new business model that highly values the role the Internet currently plays and will continue to play in the film industry as technology evolves.

Shortly after the company was founded, a dramatic change took place in China's film sector. In February 2012, China and the United States signed an agreement increasing the annual quota of imported films to China from 20 to 34, of which 14 would be in cutting edge formats, such as Imax or 3D.

The new policy caused a big stir in the world's second-largest film market but Le Vision Pictures still performed well that year.

It earned 625 million yuan ($102 million) in box office receipts with the release of six films in 2012, taking the fourth-largest market share in China. Another private film production company, Huayi Brothers Media Group, raked in 2.2 billion yuan in ticket sales after releasing seven feature films, ranking it top in the country.

National box office revenues climbed to 17.1 billion yuan last year, up 30.18 percent year-on-year. Domestic film productions took up 48.46 percent of the market with total ticket sales of 8.27 billion yuan, according to official statistics from the film bureau under a new administration formed in March, which falls under the auspices of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the State Press and Publication Administration. It was the first time that home-made productions contributed less than half of the market share in four years.