Leading Chinese filmmakers are lining up 3D movie projects in the hope of capitalizing on the spectacular success of Avatar and the latest Hollywood 3D blockbuster Alice in Wonderland.

The China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), a major production house and distributor, has two animated 3D films in the pipeline, company spokesman Weng Li told Xinhua News Agency, although he declined to give any details.

The company is also considering ideas for 3D live-action films, he said.

The CFGC movies are likely to follow the release of The Tangshan Earthquake from one of China's most commercially successful directors, Feng Xiaogang.

Feng said in January that he has decided to transform the film of the devastating 1976 earthquake into a 3D film with a hoped-for release date of July 28.

He said the film even has potential as another IMAX blockbuster.

Weng said CFGC believes 3D cinema will develop rapidly in China.

He said the company is extremely satisfied with the box office take for Alice, which was distributed by the CFGC, although it still lagged behind Avatar.

Alice took 168.6 million yuan (US$24.7 million) in its first 12 days in China. Avatar took 309 million yuan within eight days and has earned a record 1.3 billion yuan, most of it from 3D screens as the 2D version was pulled from cinemas less than a month after its release.

China has so far screened eight foreign movies and two domestic movies in 3D, though the domestic films performed poorly, according to the CFGC.

However, Avatar has prompted a spike in 3D investment, Weng said.

A senior manager with the CFGC, who declined to be named, said: "The huge potential for 3D movies is luring more investment and it will take only one or two years for Chinese studios to mature in 3D production."

China has about 1,100 3D screens, a third of the total number of cinema screens, but cinema companies are gradually updating facilities.

Li Xianping, general manager of the Ziguang theater in downtown Beijing, said: "A 3D age has already come. People enjoy the visual novelty and cinemas can profit more, thanks to higher ticket prices."

Li's company spent about 400,000 yuan converting two of its 10 screens into 3D in 2009. In the first month after the renewal, the two screens earned the cinema more than 2 million yuan.

"Compared with revenues, the cost of conversion and maintenance of 3D screens is low," Li said.

Most 3D screens are the same size as standard screens, from which they are usually modified.

The number of IMAX screens, larger in size and especially good for 3D films, remains very small at an estimated 14 nationwide, according to CFGC.

A major market like Beijing has only three IMAX screens.

"The cost is too huge. An IMAX will cost us 20 million yuan and the maintenance fee is also high," Li said.

Li said she worries most about the supply of 3D movies.

"It all depends on how many films the CFGC (the country's sole importer of foreign movies) can import," she said.

Based on previous experience, foreign 3D films do well at the box office, but the total foreign film import quota stands at 20 annually, she said.

Weng and Li agreed, however, that story and script will still be the soul of movies.

"A conventional film will attract a bigger audience if it tells a good, touching story," Li added.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2010)