Luo Li, vice-president of China Literature (center), speaks at the forum in Hong Kong. [Photo by ROY LIU/CHINA DAILY]

As online fiction is increasingly mined for box-office gains by both film and TV producers, a panel of industry experts at a China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable titled The Trend of Film Adaptation, cautioned against overheating the market in the race to snap up items of intellectual property.

IP adaptations have become a major driving force in China's entertainment sector. In cinemas, they accounted for a third of the 45 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) in box-office receipts last year. This summer, the film Once Upon a Time, a popular IP adaptation of a fantasy romantic online novel, made 530 million yuan.

"A lot of industry players mark 2015 as the first year of IP movies," says Geng Xiaonan, president of production company Beijing Sky Saga Film and TV Culture Media, referring to the boom in China of movies based on online literature, comics, animation and video games.

She says 14 of the country's 20 highest-grossing movies that year were IP-based.

But there have been disappointments, too.

In 2016, the much-hyped L. O. R. D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties only pulled in 350 million yuan.

The panel felt the market would grow more healthily based on more adaptations that tell meaningful stories in a professional way.
"We already see signals of a chaotic market," Geng cautioned at the forum in Hong Kong on Dec 7.

Not all source materials－even huge hits in the original format－are fit for screen adaptation, she says. "The problem is that some industry players have lost direction on their way to chase the so-called super IPs."

Echoing Geng, Tony Gao Wentao, EntGroup partner and general manager of East China, an entertainment industry research and consulting firm, says the source literature with an established fan base helps sell the film or TV series, which is seen as an advantage for IP adaptations.

But "good source material can't guarantee a good IP adaptation, which entails an appealing script, skilled actors and actresses and sophisticated production".