Data shows that the total box office of Chinese mainland films in 2023 will be 5491.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 83%, of which the box office of domestic films was 4600.5 billion yuan, accounting for 8377%, the top ten box office of the year are: "Man Jianghong", "The Wandering Earth 2", "Desperate", "Disappearing Her", "Fengshen Part 1", "In the Octagonal Cage", "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an", "Bear Infested, Accompany Me "Bear Core"", "Solid as a Rock", "Unfamiliar with Life", all of which are domestic films, with a single box office of more than 1 billion yuan.
In recent years, domestic films have continued to make efforts. In 2017 and 2018, there were 5 imported films and 4 imported films among the top 10 films at the box office, and 8 Hollywood films grossed more than 1 billion yuan in the mainland every year. In 2019, 2021, and 2022, only 2 imported films were among the top 10 films at the box office, and 5, 2, and 2 Hollywood films respectively grossed more than 1 billion yuan in the mainland. The top 10 box office films in 2020 and 2023 are all domestic films.
In 2023, no Hollywood movie will have a box office of more than 1 billion in the mainland, and the highest is 98.4 billion yuan, followed by "Megalodon 2: The Abyss" 85.1 billion yuan, "Lingbud Journey" 80.7 billion yuan and "Avatar: The Way of Water" 74.3 billion yuan.
In the past, Hollywood represented "box office" and "good" in China, so much so that the country had to create a "Domestic Film Protection Month" to give domestic films a little room to survive. But now it's clear that times have changed, while Hollywood movies are no longer popular, and China's domestic blockbusters are growing rapidly, why is this? Is Hollywood regressing? Or have the tastes of Chinese audiences changed? In this regard, the "New York Times" launched a special article analysis, which is excerpted as follows:
Before Aquaman 2: The Lost Kingdom was released in China last December, Warner Bros. did everything in its power to continue the success of Aquaman 1.
The Hollywood film company released a large number of movie clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and a ** of the "Sea King" ice sculpture at the Harbin Ice Sculpture Festival on Douyin. Warner also sent star Jason Momoa and director Wen Ziren to China to tour the promotion. Momoa said Chinese love for "Aquaman" is the reason why the sequel was released in China two days earlier than in the United States.
I am proud that Chinese people like this film, so we are going to bring it so that Chinese audiences can see it first," Momoa said in an interview with CCTV, China's official television channel.
The movie "Aquaman 2" starring Jason Momoa and director Wen Ziren toured China to promote.
These propaganda campaigns have not worked.
Aquaman 2 only grossed about $60 million a few weeks after its release in Chinese mainland. That's a far cry from the $90 million that "Aquaman 1" earned in the weekend it premiered in China in 2018. "Aquaman 1" finally grossed 2$9.3 billion, or 25 percent of the film's hugely successful $1.2 billion worldwide box office.
The producers of Aquaman are not the only studios to have failed in the Chinese market.
Although the "Mission Impossible", "Fast and Furious" and "Spider-Man" movie franchises all have highly anticipated sequels in 2023, none of the American films have made it into the top 10 of the annual box office in China.
According to Maoyan, a Chinese entertainment data provider that has tracked box office receipts since 2011, Hollywood's two highest-grossing films last year, "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie," failed to make it into the top 30 at the Chinese box office.
Hollywood's two highest-grossing films last year, "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie."
Chinese audiences who are flocking to Hollywood blockbusters are fading away. China is by far the largest film market outside the United States, and as the industry struggles, it is also a place for American studios to rely on for growth and profitability.
Gone are the days when a Hollywood blockbuster made hundreds of millions of dollars in China," said Stanley Rosen, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Chinese politics and the film industry.
China's film industry is producing more high-quality films that resonate with domestic audiences. Two of China's most popular films last year highlighted the diversity of domestic films: "Man Jianghong," a suspenseful thriller with rich dialogue, and "The Wandering Earth 2," a sci-fi blockbuster with special effects.
Against the backdrop of growing tensions with the United States, China** has advanced its ambition to spread its cultural influence and support local producers to create better films with themes.
In recent years, some of China's highest-grossing films have portrayed themes of a stronger, more assertive China. The highest-grossing Chinese film to date is "Changjin Lake", released in 2021 (57700 million yuan), the film tells the story of the Chinese volunteers who overcame many difficulties to defeat the United States in the Korean War. and "Wolf Warrior 2" released in 2017, in which the Chinese protagonist resembling Jason Bourne competes with American mercenaries.
The highest-grossing Chinese film to date is "Changjin Lake," released in 2021.
Ishikawa, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, said that many American film companies once saw China as a market that could always make money. But that is no longer the case. "What I'm telling American studios now is that the old way of thinking doesn't work anymore," Ishikawa said. "You have to learn more about the Chinese market, the Chinese audience and the Chinese pop culture. ”
Hollywood's enthusiasm for the Chinese market goes back many years. Released in 1994, "The End of the World" was the first American blockbuster to be imported from China. A year later, China began allowing 10 foreign films to be released domestically each year. In 2012, seven of the top 10 films at the Chinese box office were made in the United States. By then, theater attendance in the U.S. had begun a slow downward trend that had lasted for decades. **Dismal sales. Streaming is still in its infancy.
Growth-hungry Hollywood studios see the rapidly expanding Chinese market as a solution. When Biden was deputy president, he helped Hollywood gain more access to Chinese theaters, which were building new theaters at a breakneck pace. China has increased the number of U.S. films allowed into China, from 20 to 34 per year. China agreed to give the United States 25 percent of the box office for films approved to be released in China, up from about 13 percent previously.
Since making a profit is difficult for most films, additional revenue from China is important. Hollywood studios are beginning to change their content to appeal to Chinese ticket buyers: more spectacular scenes based on visual effects and less dramatic and comedic plots based on dialogue.
Tensions between China and the United States have left Hollywood in a dilemma.
But after the U.S.-China and diplomatic tensions worsened, Hollywood was caught in a dilemma. Some of the workarounds used by American studios to circumvent censorship in Chinese films have come under increasing scrutiny, especially in 2020, when a report by a watchdog group that harshly criticized Hollywood caught the attention of politicians of both parties in the United States.
Studio executives have found that, at least for now, China's demand for American films has changed so much that budgets for film production have had to be readjusted. Less money must be spent on making blockbuster sequels, as China can no longer be counted on to provide the same level of revenue as before, even though the number of cinema screens in China has quadrupled in the past decade.
In 2014, "Transformers 4: Rebirth from Extinction" had a 2With a revenue of $800 million, it topped the box office list in China. Last year, the latest installment in the series, Transformers: Rise of the Power Warriors, earned about a third of what it did when it was Transformers 4, ranking 24th at the box office in China.
Part of the reason is that many Chinese people love to watch Douyin, and Hollywood doesn't promote movies fast enough on the platform.
Zhao Jin, head of Vision, an overseas film sales company based in Beijing, said Hollywood studios were reluctant to reveal plots and key scenes on social media before a movie was released, but in China, such operations were crucial to capture audience interest.
Hollywood blockbusters haven't quite caught up with Chinese marketing," Mr. Zhao said.
Many of Hollywood's blockbuster releases last year, including the Transformers sequel, the latest Mission: Impossible, Oppenheimer, and Barbie, don't have their own official TikTok accounts.
Hannah Lee, 27, works for a technology company in Beijing. She said that she used to only watch foreign movies, but recently it has changed. Her favorite movie last year was The Wandering Earth 2, which tells the story of how the world came together to save the planet from being swallowed by the sun. The film promotes a collectivism that she rarely sees in Hollywood films, and it should send a signal to American studios.
The Wandering Earth 2 is a blockbuster that Chinese like.
If they don't want to put down the shelves and see what we like, then they're going to be eliminated," Ms. Li said. "Hollywood movies can no longer bring freshness to Chinese audiences. ”