It's only a matter of time before China overtakes the United States to top the world's movie market, in terms of box-office returns, says 20th Century Fox's China office head.

Data released by the country's movie regulator show that China had around 32,000 screens by the end of 2015, an increase of approximately 8,000 from the previous year.

Predicting that the number will cross 40,000 in a short time, Sirena Liu, managing director of 20th Century Fox China, says that China's market potential will come not only from the cinema building spree but also the shifting of the movie-watching culture.

"In the US, watching movies is normal entertainment for Americans. It's quite common to see people of different ages all going to cinemas on weekends," she says.

"But in China, going to the cinema is still an activity preferred by young people mostly."

While it may be conventional wisdom that China will surpass the US in the movie business soon, Fox, one of Hollywood's "Big Six", is making moves to cater to the changes.

"Fox takes the Chinese mainland market very seriously. We have started promoting our titles in second- and third-tier cities, where the biggest potential growth is," says Liu.

Reports show that moviegoers in first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - have fallen from 25 to 18 percent of the viewing population between 2012 to 2015.

However, the situation is the opposite in second-tier or smaller cities, where the percentage has risen from 75 to 82 percent.

The average age of ticket buyers is 21, which means most of them are college students.

With the release of Fox's latest blockbuster Independence Day: Resurgence around the corner - it will hit the Chinese mainland on June 24 - Liu says the studio is "confident" of attracting moviegoers in China's second- and third-tier cities.

Meanwhile, despite being a foreign studio, 20th Century Fox appears to be quite familiar with Chinese audiences tastes, and the local marketing concept of fan movies, which relies on fans-turned-moviegoers to fill seats.

The recent instance is Warcraft, which grossed much more in China than overseas.

Liu is also confident that Independence Day: Resurgence will do well in China given Chinese moviegoers' preference for sci-fi, interplanetary travel, monsters and disasters.

The film's director, Roland Emmerich, is also known for directing such hits as The Day after Tomorrow and 2012.

Also, 20 years ago, the first Independence Day movie was among the first foreign films seen by Chinese sci-fi enthusiasts, who then had limited options.

Separately, in a bid to garner more fans and increase recognition for the 2016 sequel, Fox screened Independence Day during the recent 19th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Alongside Independence Day, other Fox films, such as Oscar-winning Black Swan and Birdman, were shown in a section known as Fox Searchlight.

The Fox Searchlight effort was a bid to showcase Fox's rich and diversified productions and prove that it does not make only commercial tentpoles, says Liu.

In a related development, Fox is now gearing up to produce Chinese-language content.

Earlier this year, Fox International Productions announced a cooperation agreement with Fox Networks Group Asia to develop and coproduce Chinese-language content, including films, miniseries and TV shows. The first project will kick off in 2017.

"Fox International Productions produces local content with local partners for local audiences across the world," says Liu.

Confirming that Fox International Productions will produce Chinese-language films, Liu says the studio also works on English-language coproductions, as they now find that for Chinese audiences, especially young moviegoers, language is not such a big barrier now.

Asked what makes Hollywood blockbusters globally successful, she says: "The titles have to be breathtakingly imaginative and with uplifting universal values, which, in my opinion, have no borders."

Contact the writer at @chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 06/23/2016 page8)