Hollywood is often seen as the epitome of the global film industry as it is the primary source of some of the world's most commercially successful films.
When it comes to quantity, however, Asia's film industry tops the table. It is home to more than a third of the world's population with a growing appetite for entertainment, as well as being the source of thriving film industries such as those in India, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.
By far the biggest producers of films in Asia are India and China. With a total of 1,255 films made in 2014, the Indian film industry is arguably the biggest in the world, said Shubhra Gupta, film critic at the Indian Express.
Bollywood films made in Hindi dominate the market, said Ms Gupta as she elaborated on Bollywood's unique charm.
"A typical Bollywood film will have a range of emotions -- comedy, drama, and of course the song-and-dance sequences. They are usually genre-agnostic. That is to say, even in a crime thriller or action film, there will be dollops of emotion," she told Asia Focus. "This 'languaging' goes back to the ancient tradition of drama and storytelling in India."
For Sonu Tyagi, a writer, director and producer with Approach Entertainment, India is a film-loving country and has been producing classic and standard content for 90 years to a Hindi-speaking population exceeding one billion.
Film revenue in India, however, was only US$1.64 billion in 2015, just 20% of the North American gross despite having three times the population.
Discussing the big revenue gap, Mr Tyagi said Hollywood benefited from better production and distribution capabilities, adding that India's film economy is fragmented into several regional industries with productions in more than 20 languages. This saps the industry's overall commercial strength as it increases average production and marketing costs.
Other factors that limit box-office revenue include low ticket prices, high taxes, a shortage of screens, sub-par cinemas and rampant piracy.
However, the outlook for the Indian industry is still promising. Not only is there a large domestic market with room for growth, but also an increasing number of Indian expatriates abroad.
Bollywood, however, is slowly changing. "Bollywood itself is in a phase of transition with filmmakers trying to break from the convention and make shorter, tenser, song-free films. But that does not constitute a large percentage yet," Ms Gupta said.
"A more 'realistic' cinema has made its way into the industry as viewers are demanding change. Globalisation has brought us various media practices and some of those conventions of 'different' storytelling are finding their way into mainstream cinema."
China is a very different market, with Hollywood films accounting for 60% of box office revenue, against less than 10% in India.
The difference between the two is that India's film industry is tailored to local tastes. Hindi-language Bollywood films account for less than half of the total market while Tamil-language films have a similar share. The rest are in local dialects, such as Telugu and Kannada.
In China, there are fewer films targeting local audiences in favour for big-budget costume dramas. As well, Chinese films struggle to find theatrical release. Among the 745 Chinese-made feature films produced in 2012, only 315 played in cinemas, according to the media-research firm Entgroup.
The problem is a limited number of screens, something India faces as well. But the similarities end there with China's state-funded propaganda films playing a huge role in pushing other movies off the screen.
There are, nevertheless, early signs of a new crop of low-budget local films emerging, for instance Xu Zheng's Lost in Thailand. These films are not necessarily critics' favourites but they are big commercial hits and are beginning to grab market share.
Although China imposes quotas on the number of foreign films, it is still possible for foreign companies to succeed through joint productions with local companies.
For the Hong Kong film industry, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with China has been hugely beneficial. Since the two countries signed the pact in 2003, Hong Kong films are no longer treated as imports subject to quota limits and, thanks to the fast-growing film market, are able to earn tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
OUTWARD OR INWARD
Apart from gaining access to a wider market, cultivating popularity for a home-grown film industry abroad is a useful way to spread a country's soft power. South Korea excels in this regard.
In Korea, local productions have a dominant share of the market, said William Schwartz, film critic for HanCinema, an independent Korean movie and drama database, adding that in terms of numbers, Korean and Hollywood films have an equal market share.
"But looking only at the numbers is misleading as what drives viewership at Korean cineplexes is context," he told Asia Focus.
"Hollywood and other foreign films are, in comparison to Korean ones, abstract and generic, unlikely to generate controversy, and ideal for when where people just want to watch special effects and have a good time."
Korean films, on the other hand, frequently focus on local issues that would have little meaning to foreign audiences, and often contain a serious political subtext.
The South Korean government is heavily involved in protecting and promoting the industry. The Korean Film Council (Kofic) provides grants for industry research and development, helps in marketing activities at international film festivals, and even sponsors the festivals. It supports the release of Korean productions abroad and runs KoBiz, an online portal for international public relations for Korean films.
David Park, manager of the Korean Cultural Centre in Australia, said the government gives various grants and promotional incentives to ensure that "filmmakers are provided with the chance to make their mark on the industry".
"Overseas, the government nurtures the growth of Korean film festivals and this obviously allows niche appreciators to continue to engage with Korean film as well as introduce the films to an audience who would not have been given the chance to appreciate them," he said.
Korean films, however, could be even more popular. "The main obstacle is the poor management of Kofic which is focused only on prestigious European film festivals," Mr Schwartz pointed out.
"This is precisely why I'm optimistic about the increased corporatisation of the film industry. This trend of corporatisation in Korea is a good thing because corporate models and sponsorship are responsible for most of the big, high-concept ideas in Korean movies. Not only this, Korean corporations are surprisingly supportive of independent film.
"Crowdfunding is also likely to continue to increase in importance. Korean corporations have noticed that films which can obtain high numbers of crowdfunding donors are guaranteed to have at least minor box office success, and crowdfunding also makes these movies cheaper to produce in the first place."
While South Korea focuses on looking outward, its neighbour has a different approach. The Japanese film industry released 615 films in 2014, according to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, but relatively few were sold abroad.
Foreign markets are an afterthought given the high share for local films in the domestic market, estimated at 65.7% in 2012. Government support for producers seeking to go abroad is minimal.
However, with a declining and ageing population, Japan can no longer overlook the importance of the international market if it wants its industry to thrive.
GROWING ASEAN INDUSTRY
Even though Asean cannot match the commercial might of its neighbours, the film industry is on the rise in the region.
"Asean can be separated into two zones," explained Panu Aree, director of acquisitions at Bangkok-based Sahamongkol Film. "In the northern zone, covering Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, Thailand is the key player. Audiences from these countries have similar tastes to the Thai market, and similar demand for films, especially horror or comedy films such as Pee Mak Phra Khanong, which did particularly well."
In the southern zone of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, Indonesian films tend to dominate the Malaysia and Singapore markets given cultural and linguistic similarities, said Dede Gracia, executive producer of Indonesia-based First Fruit Films.
Even though the Indonesian film industry is growing fast with stories and production values improving, it still trails other Asean countries such as Thailand.
The industry's growth, according to Ms Gracia, will be limited unless cinemas expand to small cities in the provinces. "Currently we only have 1,118 cinemas, located mostly in Java province, catering to a population of 250 million people," she said.
For producers such as Ms Gracia, this distribution problem is the main obstacle to attracting investors.
"Producers can guarantee the movie's quality they want to produce, but then with a lack of a cinema network in Indonesia, we may not be able to guarantee a good return on investment," she told Asia Focus.
In this regard, Thailand is ahead. According to Weerasak Kowsurat, secretary-general of the National Federation of Thai Motion Pictures and Content Associations (MPC), there are new malls springing up in many provinces outside Bangkok, all of them with cinemas.
"With this in mind, there will be much scope for growth for the Thai film industry as we have realised that local people are eager to watch Thai films. The difficulty is that we do not produce enough," he said.
Domestically speaking, however, both Thailand and Indonesia face strong competition from foreign fare, particularly from Hollywood.
"In most countries, apart from some exceptions such as India, Hollywood movies take at least 60-70% of the movie industry market unless a quota system is in place. Thailand, however, has never prevented market access for foreign films," Mr Weerasak said.
The gap between Bangkok and the rest of the country is also reflected in what moviegoers watch. "In Bangkok, people prefer Hollywood films while upcountry, local comedies are still working," said Mr Panu.
Government support in both Thailand and Indonesia is minimal, though some Thai productions may be able to receive funding for about 10% of their costs. However, Mr Weerasak said the financial aspect is only one part of it.
"We would like to see other non-financial support such as clear regulations for film shootings," he said.
Ms Gracia agreed, noting that lack of regulation puts the Indonesian industry at a disadvantage. "A lot of things need to be fixed properly here in Indonesia because this industry has potential to create economic growth in the country."
While Thailand and Indonesia have promising film industries, Laos stands in direct contrast.
"The Lao film industry is extremely nascent and small, one of the smallest in Asean with fewer than 10 active filmmakers and usually no more than two films a year. At one point, I felt that the industry was at risk of disappearing," said Lao director Mattie Do.
Still, some hopeful signs are emerging. "We have just received our first legitimate cinema, Major Cineplex. With the opening of the cinema, blockbusters from the US, Thailand and India, as well as smaller indie films from Vietnam, have caused a radical change in how Lao people respond to cinemas," she told Asia Focus.
"I am witnessing a very progressive change. Lao people are now very interested in their own films as the idea of hearing a film in their own language fascinates them. The problem, however, is that we filmmakers have very few opportunities to be able to make Lao films of high quality."
Looking forward, Mr Panu expects increased connectivity in Asean will bring massive changes in the industry.
"In the next five years, people may not even go to the cinema if they are able to download a movie on the same day as the cinema release," he said.
The increase in downloads will benefit low-budget films as they would not be dependent only on cinema releases and would not have to spend as much on production and advertising.
"I think the Asian film industry will also benefit from this change" said Mr Panu. "In the future, there will not be cultural borders between our neighbours, so if a shift to downloading films rather than going to the cinema occurs, then production companies from countries that have a less thriving industry may be able to penetrate the foreign market."