There were no U.S. films that were ranked amongst the 10 highest-grossing movies in China in 2023.
KNX News’ Charles Feldman looked into why China is losing interest in Hollywood movies all of a sudden. He spoke to Stanley Rosen, a professor of political science and international relations at USC, who studies Chinese politics and the film industry. He said many things happened that caused this drop in interest, one reason being COVID-19 preventing people from going to the movies.
“But if you look at some of the survey data coming out in the Chinese publications asking audiences why they do or do not like domestic or Hollywood films, you find that one, the gap is narrower, that the Chinese domestic films are using Hollywood-style filmmaking, including special effects, including romantic comedies, and other kinds of films, big blockbusters, and beating Hollywood at its own game,” Rosen said.
He also explained that people said domestic films connect with them more. Even Hollywood-style movies have local characteristics. Another thing people said in the survey is that Hollywood has no new ideas, Rosen noted. He thinks this is going to be a long-term change.
“I don't think we're gonna ever go back to those earlier days. Yeah, even films that were surefire tremendous hits, like Avatar, Fast and Furious when they played in China in 2023, they still did relatively well, but the numbers were way down,” he said.
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There are four big film-going times of the year in China: the Lunar New Year, summer vacation, Golden Week in October, and the end of the year. Rosen said that for a lot of that time, Hollywood films were not allowed to be screened. If they are allowed, they’re in very limited release.
“There is an attempt by the government to manage the box office, to limit Hollywood's impact,” he said.
Even though that is a major factor, other things are impacting the market as well, he said.
Years after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered movie theaters, and months after the Hollywood strikes ground production to a halt – will the entertainment industry ever get back to normal? Or is this state of upheaval and uncertainty the new normal?
Join us for our next KNX News Town Hall, “Streaming Wars: The End of Content's Golden Age?” on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. from Audacy's Helpful Honda Sound Space on the Miracle Mile.
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