China Film Group Corporation

The predecessor China Film Corporation was established in 1949. For 40 years until the end of 1992, China Film Import & Export Corporation was the only film buyer and distributor in China. From 1 January 1993, 16 other Chinese film studios became responsible for distributing their own films. In March 1994, China Film announced that it was willing to enter into revenue sharing deals with foreign distributors rather than buying a limited number of foreign films for a low, flat fee. In September 1994, the first deal with a US studio, Warner Bros. was announced. In 1999, the corporation became known as the China Film Group Corporation. It remained one of the only importers of foreign films in China besides Huaxia Film Distribution and is a major exporter of Chinese films.

Businesses

China Film Group Corporation is involved in a variety of businesses which include film and television production, film distribution and exhibition, film importation and exportation, cinema circuit management, digital cinema construction, print developing and processing, film equipment management, film and TV CD production, ancillary products, advertising, property management as well as real estate. China Film Group Corporation partnered with Crest Digital in 2007, building a 15,000-square-meter state-of-the-art DVD and CD manufacturing facility outside Beijing.

Along with the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology, the group created DMAX, a large-screen film format developed to break IMAX's large-screen monopoly in China.

Subsidiaries

For over a decade, China Film Group's subsidiary, China Film Import & Export Corporation, has been the sole government-authorized importer of films. Another CFG subsidiary, China Film Co-production Corporation, is charged by the SARFT to oversee and manage all Sino-foreign co-productions.

China Film Group's film and TV production units include: the former China Film Corporation, Beijing Film Studio, China Youth Film Studio, China Film Co-Production Corporation, China Film Equipment Corporation, Movie Channel Production Center, Beijing Film & Video Laboratory and Huayun Film & TV Compact Disk Co., Ltd. The company has an animation division called China Film Animation.