SHANGHAI: Susan Sarandon cracked jokes with Chinese actor Zhang Guoli. Matt Dillon tried out his Mandarin and Rupert Murdoch touted the new movie his Chinese-born wife is producing.
Hollywood's elite joined China's biggest stars at the Shanghai Grand Theater to usher in the 14th edition of the country's leading international film festival on Saturday - in a sign of respect for what is fast becoming one of the American movie industry's key foreign markets.
Chinese box office numbers surged 64 percent to hit $1.5 billion in 2010. And despite import restrictions that effectively limit the country to 20 foreign blockbusters a year, American movies are doing brisk business. Last year, the James Cameron 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar" - distributed by the Hollywood studio Fox, a unit of Murdoch's media company News Corp. - brought in $204 million as it became China's top-grossing release in history.
Keen to gain exposure in this blossoming market, American stars were well-represented on the red carpet that kicked off the Shanghai International Film Festival in the eastern financial center.
It was Sarandon's first visit to China, but she wasted no time in picking up on local cultural cues. After receiving a lifetime achievement award from festival organizers, she jokingly asked veteran actor Zhang to give her acceptance speech on her behalf. Zhang had just finished delivering a lengthy ribbing to Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, who was honored for outstanding achievement to Chinese cinema.
The "Thelma and Louise" star then invited Zhang to a game of table tennis. Sarandon owns several table tennis clubs and bars in the US.
Hollywood's elite joined China's biggest stars at the Shanghai Grand Theater to usher in the 14th edition of the country's leading international film festival on Saturday - in a sign of respect for what is fast becoming one of the American movie industry's key foreign markets.
Chinese box office numbers surged 64 percent to hit $1.5 billion in 2010. And despite import restrictions that effectively limit the country to 20 foreign blockbusters a year, American movies are doing brisk business. Last year, the James Cameron 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar" - distributed by the Hollywood studio Fox, a unit of Murdoch's media company News Corp. - brought in $204 million as it became China's top-grossing release in history.
Keen to gain exposure in this blossoming market, American stars were well-represented on the red carpet that kicked off the Shanghai International Film Festival in the eastern financial center.
It was Sarandon's first visit to China, but she wasted no time in picking up on local cultural cues. After receiving a lifetime achievement award from festival organizers, she jokingly asked veteran actor Zhang to give her acceptance speech on her behalf. Zhang had just finished delivering a lengthy ribbing to Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, who was honored for outstanding achievement to Chinese cinema.
The "Thelma and Louise" star then invited Zhang to a game of table tennis. Sarandon owns several table tennis clubs and bars in the US.
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