Behind The Scenes: Yu Dong: On making bona fide films

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The Chinese film industry has seen a boom with domestic films spearheading the box-office in recent years. Yu Dong, one of the pioneers in the Chinese film industry, has been on a mission in the past decade to make better films.

Many movie-goers might not be familiar with his name, but most of them are already fans of his company's latest film production - "Operation Red Sea".

The military blockbuster produced by Yu Dong's Bona Film Group has raked in over 3 billion yuan, or roughly 495 million US dollars at the Chinese box office since its release on February 16th.

Yu Dong, who is the CEO and Producer of Bona Film Group, explains the inspiration behind the film.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "The film was inspired by a Chinese military evacuation mission carried out in Yemen nearly three years ago. It was for the first time that we made such a film, which demonstrated the modernization of the Chinese Navy. There are more detailed accounts of stories about the evacuation that the public should know about, so we decided to put that to film."

"Operation Mekong", another production of Bona Film Group, was released on September 30th 2016 and became the top earner during the 7-day Chinese National Day Holiday that year, grossing 1.2 billion yuan at the box office.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "I think the success of 'Operation Mekong' was mainly because the story struck a chord with the Chinese audience. They were touched when they saw that their government spared no efforts to bring to justice those who were responsible for the murders of Chinese sailors."

During the 2014 Spring Festival, Bona Film Group's 3D epic action film "The Taking of Tiger Mountain ", again topped the Chinese box office during its opening week, earning 51.9 million US dollars in six days.

"Operation Red Sea", "Operation Mekong" and "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" are some of the most well known movies from Bona Film Group. The combination of Chinese stories mixed with national sentiment has been the key to success for these domestic films.

YU DONG, CEO BONA FILM GROUP "China has become a world-renowned film market in just 20 years. I think Chinese filmmakers should do more to introduce Chinese culture to the world through their movies."

Yu Dong is forecasting a golden era for the Chinese film industry in the next decade.

He says he is also urging leaders of the film industry to come to the world's second-largest film market to take advantage of growing opportunities.