Hollywood dips a toe in Mandarin

Filming of the first Mandarin-language movie made by Warner Brothers began in Taipei this week.

It is the latest sign that Hollywood regards China as one of the world's great untapped cinema markets.

A Warner Brothers spokesman in Los Angeles confirmed yesterday that filming was under way.

The studio has chosen a popular illustrated book by the Taiwanese artist Jimmy Liao as the basis of its Mandarin film.

With the easing of trade barriers to the Chinese market, the studios see the huge cinema-going public there as an attractive prospect.

American films account for 80% of global box office takings and this percentage shows no sign of declining.

Warner Brothers is currently enjoying a big international success with the second Harry Potter film, which has taken $716m (£445m) worldwide.

Despite resistance in some countries, notably France, to American dominance of the film market, big studio productions continue to lead the world market.

The latest episode of The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, is currently topping the box office returns from Korea to France and Mexico to Germany, with $436m already banked.

But Hollywood has taken note of the recent success of both Mandarin and Cantonese films. The main American studios are well established almost everywhere else in the world, and China remains the biggest open market.

The story being filmed in Taiwan, Turning Left, Turning Right, tells of a love affair between a violinist and a book translator.

The book has already been a best seller throughout the Far East. The film is a joint production between Warner Brothers, Raintree Pictures of Singapore and Milkyway Image of Hong Kong.

It is directed by Johnnie To of Hong Kong and stars Hong Kong actor Gigi Leung and the Taiwanese-born Takeshi Kaneshiro, who grew up in Japan.

Hollywood was alerted to the possibility of a worldwide market for Chinese stories by the success of the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

It was described by its director, Ang Lee, as "Sense and Sensibility with martial arts". Warner Brothers is hoping for a similar cross-over audience for their new film.