There is no doubt that 2023 will be a losing year for Hollywood in the mainland market.
According to the data, 41 Hollywood movies will be released in the mainland in 2023, with an average of one Hollywood blockbuster per week to meet Chinese audiences, and this number has returned to the level of 2019. However, the box office performance has been hard to talk about.
Wu Jing can't be saved, and Hollywood has been suffering a year of losses in the Chinese market.
Despite the constant release of blockbusters, Chinese audiences seem to be suffering from aesthetic fatigue with Hollywood blockbusters.
In 2023, no Hollywood blockbuster has reached 1 billion at the box office in China. Compared to the record-breaking 42 in 2019 in "Avengers 4".500 million box office, such a situation seems quite lost. And the best score of "Fast and Furious 10" in China is only 98.4 billion, a new low for the series.
Fast & Furious 11's production costs have dropped significantly, largely due to the fiasco in the Chinese market, which is considered one of the film's most important box office leaders.
Hollywood felt the crisis, so it launched a Chinese element and invited Wu Jing to star in "Megalodon 2", but the box office was only 85.1 billion. Fortunately, Wu Jing's popularity helped the film avoid too much box office decline, and it was not affected much compared to the previous work's 1 billion results. However, it also proves that Hollywood can't try harder, and the ZZZQ and assembly-line production model have bored Chinese audiences.
The next super blockbusters "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", "Oppenheimer", "Aquaman 2", "The Flash" and many more failed to live up to expectations.
Whether it is word-of-mouth or box office performance, Hollywood has experienced a year of dismal performance in the Chinese market!
2024 has entered February, and 5 blockbusters have been screened in just one month, is this a Hollywood counterattack?
Despite the crushing defeat, Hollywood still has great expectations for the Chinese market and plans to launch a counterattack in 2024.
Dune 2, Godzilla vs. Kong 2, Kung Fu Panda 4, Argyll: Mystery** and Lady Spider: Wake Up, five Hollywood films have been announced to be released in Chinese mainland in 2024, despite the fact that it has only been a month since that year.
There are a variety of genres, including fantasy, animation, superheroes, and spy action.
The performance of "Dune" in 2021 at the Chinese box office is actually average, only 25.3 billion. As a result, Dune 2 was released a week later in China than in North America, and the plot is too complex for audiences who have not seen the previous game to be less interested, posing a challenge to the Chinese box office of Dune 2.
Hollywood has made a mess of the themes of "Argyle: Mystery**" and "Mrs. Spider: Super Awake".
Argyle: Mystery**, a $200 million blockbuster, has now hit theaters, but unfortunately, Chinese audiences won't be able to enjoy it until nearly a month after its release in North America. For this reason, "Madame Spider: Ruthenia" faces a huge challenge at the Chinese box office.
Not to mention Super Awake", Marvel superhero movies are really aesthetically tiring.
Therefore, the most talked about are "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" and "Kung Fu Panda 4", two new films that are truly eye-catching.
Godzilla vs. Kong 2" was released simultaneously in China and the United States, with a production cost of more than 1.2 billion.
Hollywood has begun to show signs of decline in the Chinese mainland market in 2021.
Godzilla vs. Kong had its global premiere, but it did not perform well at the overseas box office. The North American market has not even grossed $80 million, while the Japanese market has only $16 million. However, the Chinese audience stood up and said that they didn't care about the plot, and as long as they saw Godzilla and King Kong fighting well, they were willing to pay for it.
The film eventually made 1With a box office of $7.1 billion, it managed to break even and make a profit.
The almost untimely sequel was re-included in the plan, and even cost from the first part of the 1$500 million** to the current 1700 million US dollars, equivalent to 1.2 billion yuan. "Godzilla vs. Kong" was released a week late in the Chinese market, and this sequel directly chose to be released simultaneously in China and the United States. It can be seen how much the filmmaker attaches importance to the Chinese audience.
Godzilla is incarnated as Pink Barbie in Godzilla vs. Kong 2, while the handsome man of Skull Island gets his own Infinity Gauntlet.
In order to fight against more powerful enemies, the upgrade of equipment is imminent. As can be seen from the trailer, there are fewer human characters in the movie, and monster wars have become the main event, which is what Chinese audiences love. On the premise of maintaining high quality, the box office of "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" in China will exceed 1.5 billion, becoming a rare Hollywood sequel box office growth masterpiece in recent years.
After 8 years of waiting, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is finally released, will Chinese audiences still pay for it?
When the dragon hero Po appeared, the most anticipated Hollywood blockbuster was undoubtedly "Kung Fu Panda 4".
In 2008, "Kung Fu Panda" premiered in China, and the Chinese-style animated film produced by Hollywood, although it was slightly incongruous at its core, eventually won 1With a box office of 8.6 billion, it ranks among the top five annual box office in Chinese mainland, undoubtedly breaking the box office record in the history of Chinese animation films.
In 2011, the second film came out, and the Chinese box office approached 6100 million, what a staggering number!
This result is much higher than the domestic super blockbusters "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins", "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" and other star-studded films, and finally won the annual box office runner-up, and once again set a new record in the history of Chinese animation films.
In 2016, "Kung Fu Panda 3" set a box office of 1 billion in Chinese mainland, and also broke the box office record of Chinese cartoons. It's a pity that it didn't take long for Zootopia to surpass it. The global box office of the film is only 30.6 billion US dollars, except for the Chinese market, other major overseas markets are showing a downward trend. As a result, the sequel after Kung Fu Panda 3 has been stranded.
Of course, given the presence of the Chinese market, Kung Fu Panda 4 is still in preparation.
According to online reports, the cost of making Kung Fu Panda 4 has dropped to about 1$500 million, as long as the box office revenue exceeds $300 million, the cost can be recovered. In general, the goal of this film is to target the Chinese market, and I hope that mainland audiences will buy it.
However, after 8 years, mainland audiences' expectations for movies have also changed.
Domestic cartoons have ushered in the rise in recent years, and we finally have our own superhero image and unique story core. But the success of a Hollywood story like "Kung Fu Panda" with Chinese elements remains an open question.