The incomes of an elite group of Chinese celebrities are soaring, as the country's Communist Party seeks to harness their increasing appeal while struggling to keep their fees in check.
A-list actors' fees have moved in line with box-office receipts' rise from less than $1bn a decade ago to more than $6bn last year — and are now receiving a further boost from lavish online series.
The 10 highest-earning celebrities in China pulled in more than Rmb2.2bn this year ($330m), up 166 per cent from 2015, according to Forbes, with film star Jackie Chan topping the list with Rmb330m.
Actors' fees can make up 70 per cent of an online drama's production costs, according to one Beijing-based film producer who did not want to be named. "Chinese dramas are too reliant on stars," he said. "A lot of people think this kind of astronomical compensation is not in line with the level of acting."
The celebrity endorsements market has also boomed, with top actors juggling multiple brands. Lu Han, a 27-year-old actor sometimes compared to Justin Bieber because of his schoolboy looks, has landed contracts with Star Wars, KFC, L'Oréal, Gap, Puma, Crest and Volkswagen.
Top celebrities charge Rmb10m-Rmb15m for a campaign involving three commitments, such as appearing in an advert or posting on social media, say people involved in such deals.
"In the past 10 years, prices for top-level celebrities have more than doubled . . . Now there are many actors who can charge more than Rmb10m for a campaign," said Chinese fashion blogger Peter Xu. "A single post on [China's equivalent of Twitter] Weibo can be worth hundreds of thousands of renminbi."
He added that European fashion brands no longer see Chinese stars as too "low end" to work with. But overseas celebrities have been missing out on the Chinese endorsement bonanza, in part because of their low following on social media. Leonardo DiCaprio has just 1.4m Weibo fans, compared with Lu Han's 42m.
"If you look at Weibo following, even the biggest western artists don't come close to Chinese superstars," says Jonathan Serbin, head of Asia for music company Billboard. "Ultimately, for a star to be favourite they have to speak your language."
This year the Communist Party has attempted to channel celebrities' charisma into its own propaganda. It has ordered Chinese cinemas to play short films celebrating themes such as "core socialist values" and featuring movie stars such as Mr Chan before every movie screening.
It also gathered 100 of China's top filmmakers, actors and pop stars in the city of Hangzhou for a day last month to study the "spirit" of October's party congress, which bolstered the status of President Xi Jinping.
But the party has registered little success to date in reining in A-listers' rampant fees, despite surveys showing their unpopularity with the public. China's official TV industry association in September forbade leading actors' salaries from exceeding 70 per cent of the casting budget. The country's top media regulator said this year that "broadcasters are strictly prohibited from using celebrities as their sole bargaining chip".
Filmmakers say rules on salaries can be evaded by steps such as linking actors' pay to box office performance. "There are only about 10 actors who can really open a film here," said an industry worker in Beijing. "There will be ways around the rules."
| Jackie Chan | Actor and director | 330m |
|---|---|---|
| Fan Bingbing | Actress | 300m |
| Jay Chou | Singer and actor | 260m |
| Yang Yang | Actor | 240m |
| Lu Han | Actor and singer | 210m |
| Yang Mi | Actress | 200m |
| Angelababy | Actress | 200m |
| Zhao Liying | Actress | 190m |
| Liu Tao | Actress | 180m |
| Kris Wu | Actor and singer | 150m |
Additional reporting by Wang Xueqiao
Twitter: @hancocktom
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