‘Hollywood’s Share of China Box Office Collapses, Now Less Than 10%’
By David Ng
In a
dramatic turn for the major studios, Hollywood’s share of China’s box office is
in free fall, reportedly collapsing to less than 10 percent as Beijing aims to
bolster its domestic movie industry while continuing to block major Hollywood
releases from playing in Chinese cinemas.
The result is a potential existential crisis for Hollywood,
which has bent over backwards to please China’s Communist dictators in the
hopes of maintaining access to the lucrative Chinese market.
But the reverse has happened. Hollywood’s share of the China box
office market has plummeted to just 9.5 percent so far this year, according to
data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, as reported by Variety.
The stark decline comes as Hollywood imports are being edged out
by domestic releases.
Last year, only two Hollywood releases cracked China’s top-ten
grossing movies — Tenet and The
Croods: A New Age. For 2019, only Avengers:
Endgame and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs
& Shaw made the top-ten list. A decade ago, Hollywood
accounted for eight of China’s top-ten grossing movies.
Chinese audiences are instead gravitating toward home-grown
movies in larger numbers, lifting the time-traveling comedy Hi,
Mom and the buddy-cop adventure Detective
Chinatown 3 to blockbuster status. Meanwhile, recent
Hollywood titles like Disney-Pixar’s Luca and
Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon have
failed to resonate with local audiences.
Even Universal’s dependable Fast & Furious franchise,
which has been enormously popular in China, is showing signs of fatigue. The
latest installment, F9, saw its China grosses
plummet in the second week by a stunning 85 percent.
Hollywood’s decline in China comes as the Communist country has overtaken the United States to become the world’s largest movie market.
Beijing also appears to be exercising tighter controls over its
Hollywood import quotas. Disney hasn’t seen a Marvel superhero movie released
in China since Avengers: Endgame in
2019. Marvel Studios’ Black Widow still
doesn’t have a China release date.
Disney’s Jungle Cruise and
Warner Bros.’ The Suicide Squad have
also failed to score a China release so far.
Variety noted the
supply of Hollywood movies into China has taken a hit due to the Wuhan
coronavirus pandemic.
Political relations between the two countries could also
continue to impact the industry. As opposed to former President Donald Trump’s
hardline stance, the Joe Biden administration has so far taken a more
conciliatory attitude toward China, recently approving chip
sales to Huawei.
The Chinese Communist Party plays the long
game. In this case, “long” was about 10 years, time enough for Hollywood to
become dependent upon Communist money and Communist theaters. The CCP has
different rules.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.