China Tells WTO To Be Patient on Movie Market Opening1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTwo weeks have passed since China promised to tell the World Trade Organization what it’s doing about allowing an agreed upon rise in foreign participation in the distribution of movies at its booming box office and all that’s come out of Beijing is a plea for patience and a complaint about the world trade body.
A December 2009 WTO ruling said China — where gross ticket sales leaped 64 percent to $1.5 billion in 2010 — must open its film industry’s distribution sector and loosen the duopoly of the state-run China Film Group and its sister company Huaxia Film Distribution.
In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, the Chinese delegation to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body asked “relevant WTO members” “to understand the difficulty and complicated situation China is facing during the process of implementation.”
