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Will Chinese films really dethrone Hollywood? Spider-Man: No Way Home may have earned over US$1 billion worldwide, but China became the biggest box office in 2021

  • Chinese authorities shut out Marvel movies like Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – and have a five-year plan to keep the box office crown
  • War flick The Battle at Lake Changjin and dramedy Hi, Mom were the highest-grossing movies of 2021, making US$800 million in Asia alone ... but then along came Spidey
Chinese film The Battle at Lake Changjin was the highest-grossing film of 2021 ... until Spider-Man: No Way Home came long. Photos: Bona Film Group Limited, Sony Pictures

Hollywood and cinemas in the US were given a boost of confidence recently when Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed more than US$1 billion worldwide, becoming the first movie of the coronavirus pandemic to do so. More than US$600 million of that has come from the US.

But No Way Home is an anomaly.

Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home. Photo: Sony Pictures via AP
Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home. Photo: Sony Pictures via AP

Only two other films, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, have cracked US$200 million in the US last year. The data firm Comscore estimated that the 2021 box office ended with at least US$4.5 billion – double last year’s total, but down from 2019’s US$11.4 billion.

The real winner of the film business in 2021 was China, which surpassed the US as the world’s biggest box office, thanks largely to local films that have made heaps of money.

Two films made more than US$800 million just from the region’s box office alone: the war film The Battle at Lake Changjin and the dramedy Hi, Mom. They were highest-grossing films in the world in 2021 until No Way Home came along.

Jia Ling in a still from Hi, Mom. Photo: Handout
Jia Ling in a still from Hi, Mom. Photo: Handout

Looking at Hollywood’s other releases last year, and the state of US cinemas, the US theatrical industry still has a long way to recovery. But the Chinese market rebounded much quicker, and the country’s government intends to keep its box-office crown. The China Film Administration recently laid out a five-year film plan to do so. It involves more government oversight over the country’s film business.

We spoke with experts about China’s theatrical market and the future of Hollywood and China’s relationship. Here are the biggest takeaways:

China’s success could have continued consequences for Hollywood

Zhang Hanyu in a still from The Battle at Lake Changjin. Photo: Handout
Zhang Hanyu in a still from The Battle at Lake Changjin. Photo: Handout

China’s dominance was often at Hollywood’s expense in 2021. Disney’s Marvel films were shut out by Chinese authorities (No Way Home, a Sony release, has been approved but doesn’t have a release date yet).

“They don’t need Hollywood to fill seats any more,” said Chris Fenton, a film producer and author of Feeding the Dragon. “The Battle at Lake Changjin can do that.”

Aynne Kokas, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia and the author of the book Hollywood Made in China, predicted that fewer Hollywood releases would be approved in China in the future, and those that are would face tighter regulatory approval.

“There are Chinese blockbusters that Chinese filmmakers are making that people want to watch, and they feel less derivative than those made in Hollywood,” she said.

A man walking past a poster for the movie Hi, Mom at a cinema in Beijing, in February 2021. Photo: AFP
A man walking past a poster for the movie Hi, Mom at a cinema in Beijing, in February 2021. Photo: AFP

Hollywood blockbusters have benefited from China in recent years. But John Fithian, the CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said that the importance of the China box office for Hollywood tentpoles has been “greatly exaggerated”.

“The studio take of money in China is much lower than it is anywhere else in the world,” Fithian said. “If a movie ticket is US$10 in America, a studio will take US$5 or US$6 of that. In China, it will take US$1 or US$2.”

Still, if a movie like Avengers: Endgame, the biggest Hollywood release in China of all time, makes US$630 million in the region, that’s a lot of money for Disney.

Simu Liu in the Marvel Studios film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios/TNS
Simu Liu in the Marvel Studios film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Photo: Marvel Studios/TNS

“Disney should be worried and we are, too,” Fithian added, referring to the shutout of Marvel in China. “We want Marvel product to play in China. That’s what will make theatres in China truly successful, is to have an open market of content, and Marvel’s huge. So yeah, that’s a big problem.”

Stanley Rosen, a political-science professor at the University of Southern California who specialises in Chinese politics and cinema, said that there’s reason for hope for Marvel in China. But the government’s attitude toward Hollywood films in general won’t be like before the pandemic.

“China wants to be seen as a global power,” Rosen said. “You can’t keep out Hollywood films and call yourself a global film power. But they will be more selective in the future.”

How the Chinese government plans to keep the top box-office spot

Jackson Yee and Wu Jing in a still from The Battle at Lake Changjin. Photo: Handout
Jackson Yee and Wu Jing in a still from The Battle at Lake Changjin. Photo: Handout

Fithian thinks that China’s success may not be a bad thing for the theatrical industry as a whole.

“From the cinema perspective, the growth of a vibrant movie industry in China is a very good thing,” Fithian said. “They’re building the most expansive cinema market in the world. That’s a good thing for our industry.”

The China Film Administration has plans to expand from 70,000 theatres to 100,000 over the next five years. That’s just one part of its film plan to turn China into a “strong cultural power” by “adhering to the party’s total leadership over film work,” the five-year plan reads, according to Variety.

The plan also includes:

  • Releasing 50 films per year that gross at least US$15.7 million

  • Releasing at least 10 films per year that are “critically acclaimed and popular”

  • Local films accounting for more than 55 per cent of total box office per year

  • Improving special effects and promoting sci-fi films

Rosen said that the Film Administration recognises that it needs more blockbusters rather than just a handful in a given year, both to supercharge its own box office and to get films in other countries.

“They realise that if they want to be an international film power, foreign nations have to take Chinese films in the way that they have taken Hollywood films,” he said.

11166654 – SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
11166654 – SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Fithian sees opportunity in that for the theatrical industry.

“I think long term there’s the possibility for Chinese films to be entertaining and watchable enough to audiences around the world,” Fithian said. “If you’re a cinema operator, having a second important supply of content can go a long way. Studios may not necessarily feel that way because it’s competition. But for us, the more supply the better.”

This article originally appeared on Insider

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