Chinanews, Beijing, November 13 – Every year, piracy costs China’s creative industry as many as 100 billion yuan, nearly the amount of the annual GDP of Hainan Province, said Hu, the president of a culture development company in China.

 

The total box-office value of China in 2006 was 2.83 billion yuan, nearly as much as 1/3 of the global box-office value of only one Hollywood hit, as most of the Chinese audience choose pirated versions of movies.

 

Hu’s company was responsible for the distribution of the movie Curiosity Kills the Cat, and a survey conducted of the sales of the movie, finds that 80% of the audiences of Curiosity Kills the Cat have watched the movie via download or pirated DVDs. “Other movies distributors suffer a lot more than us,” said Hu.

 

“The total box-office value of China in 2006 should have been 11.3 billion yuan, if we had successfully eliminated piracy. Beside, movies only take up a very small proportion of the creative industry. Other trades like software and publication are also haunted by piracy,” said Hu.

 

Piracy is not a headache to imported movies, but also to local movies that are exported to other countries. “The pirated versions of movies are usually available earlier than copyrighted ones in foreign countries, and they are always cheaper, too,” said Hu.