Avatar Ends China Run With $193M In Box Office Gross; Result Points to Inequities for Indie Films

Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Avatar has ended its run in China after 90 days with Box Office Gross of $193m, making China the second largest market after the US for the James Cameron blockbuster.  This seems logical, given China’s population — so if Avatar can pull in 193m or 15% of its worldwide total from China, how much can the average $2-3m indie film expect to earn from China?  Sadly, less than 1%.  That’s right — China, with all its population and potential, typically returns about the same amount of money to indie filmmakers as Greece or Portugal or Turkey.  Why?  First of all there are government restrictions, and secondly, there’s a monopoly. This is particularly frustrating at a time when indie films are struggling to recoup their costs due to the global economic slowdown and various other factors that have emerged since the financial meltdown of September 2008.