by With the United States and China locked up in an escalating trade war fueled by President Trump’s rates, the greatest economic competitor of America does not limit his reaction to material goods only.
China said on Thursday that it also focuses on the American film industry, which limits access to the second most important film market in the world.
“We will follow the market rules, respect the choices of the public and moderately reduce the number of imported American films,” wrote China’s national film administration on its website on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Earlier this week, two very influential Chinese bloggers wrote with connections with the official news agency of the Communist Government that local leaders potentially considered the American films completely. The decision of the NFA to follow a less aggressive approach probably means that the impact on the Bottom Line of Hollywood will be limited, experts told Reuters.
Yet the move is a signal that is prepared to focus on the cultural capital of America as a way to hit back at Trump. With both parties who keep rattling their economic attacks, it can be very good to be a precursor for a complete ban on American films in China.
China’s Box-Office Boom
When it comes to the film business, there are the US, there is China and then there is everyone. American cinema visitors issued $ 9.1 billion in the cinema in 2023, which in that year 27% of the total global cash register were good, according to estimates of the film industry Gower Street. China earned $ 7.7 billion, 23% of the global market and more than $ 6 billion before third place Japan.
Most of the 20th century, the cash register of China was largely dormant. But then it exploded over the years 2010 and grew from less than $ 1 billion in 2011 to more than $ 9 billion in 2019. Hollywood films played a major role in this, while American studios used the interest of the mass population of China to rake in huge coupons for his large blockbusters. Avengers: endgame, Released in 2019, only $ 632 million earned in China on its way to become the second largest film of all time.
US Studios usually only receive about 25% of the money that their films earn in Chinese cinemas, but that is still a pretty big windfall for Hollywood when the top position figures can get so high.
Hollywood loses its grip
American productions do not earn as much if they were just a few years ago for two reasons: the overall film market of China has shrunk considerably and the local audience is now increasingly choosing to see homemade films about the import of Hollywood.
Chinese domestic films are reportedly making around 80% of his annual cash register, an increase of approximately 60% before 2020. The extraordinary earning power of the Chinese film industry in China was set to a striking representation with the release of release earlier this year Ne ZHA 2“ An animation film that has earned almost $ 1.9 billion since it came out at the end of January. It is already the most profitable animation film that has ever been made by a country and is currently number 8 on the list of all time.
Despite these shifts, China is still an important market for Hollywood. There were five American films that earned at least $ 50 million there last year – led by Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, that are made $ 132 million. Chinese viewers also spent $ 14.5 million to see A Minecraft film During the opening weekend last week.
Having their films from China would probably not be a extinction level event for US Studios, but it would be a blow to an industry that still yields billions of dollars less per year than before Covid made sure that his income from a cliff fell.
“Such a controversial punishment from Hollywood is an All-Win Motion in force by Beijing that will certainly be noticed by Washington,” Chris Fenton, who wrote a book about Hollywood’s relationship with China, told Reuters.
Whatever China wins from even his modest reprimand from Hollywood, the US is simply unable to take revenge in kind. That’s because Chinese films make almost nothing in the American theaters.
