Hollywood relies on China to stay afloat. What does that mean for movies?

[beijingwalker]

Hollywood relies on China to stay afloat. What does that mean for movies?​

Fresh Air | By Terry Gross
Published February 21, 2022 at 8:00 AM CST

AFP Via Getty Images
Audience members sit separately for social distancing at a cinema in China's eastern Zhejiang province in July 2020.

Today's Hollywood blockbusters are specifically being crafted to appeal to Chinese audiences — and pass muster with the Chinese government — according to Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel.

He highlights a few notable situations of product placement: In the 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction, Mark Wahlberg's character withdraws money from a China Construction Bank ATM — while in Texas. In another scene from the same film, a character buys Chinese protein powder at a Chicago convenience store.

And just 10 days after its release, Age of Extinction became the highest grossing film of all time in China. The movie has since been overtaken at the box office by a string of other blockbusters, but Schwartzel says its influence lingers.

Schwartzel has trained his eye to spot what he calls "Chinese elements" in movies: "You'll start to see it everywhere," he says. "I go to the movies now and I can see the Chinese cell phone — even if it's blurred in the frame."

In his new book, Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, Schwartzel writes about China's growing influence on Hollywood. He contends that China has watched as Hollywood films helped sell America to the world — and it wants to do the same.

"As China has broadened its ambitions on the world stage and tried to become a bigger and bigger player in global politics, it has seen how culture can play a huge role in helping that effort," Schwartzel says.

China is already a powerhouse at the box office: In 2020, it overtook North America as the world's largest film market, and Schwartzel says that movie studios are increasingly reliant upon Chinese audiences to break even.

"It comes to the point where even on some of the biggest films that make tons of money around the world, like a Fast & Furious film or a Marvel superheroes movie, getting into China and making money there ... can mean the difference between profit and loss," he says.

But before a film can be shown in China, it must first get past Chinese government censors. And Schwartzel notes that the Chinese government has been quick to punish studios that take on topics it doesn't want the Chinese public to see or that it feels will make China look bad.

"No studio in Hollywood today would touch a movie that concerns a storyline involving the Uyghurs or Xinjiang or issues involving Taiwanese independence or demonstrations in Hong Kong," Schwartzel says. "Because of the economic muzzle that China has on the studios today, those things are just complete non-starters."

Hollywood relies on China to stay afloat. What does that mean for movies?

Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel says that film studios increasingly need Chinese audiences to break even — which can result in self-censorship. His new book is Red Carpet.

www.nprillinois.org

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Chinese market generates 100% profit boost to box office of a movie , even a failed movie can break even when released in China

Population Dense areas like Pakistan or China are massive money makers , for Hollywood , more people in China watch a Cinema release due to GDP of household people can afford to watch the movie in Cinema

Also phone companies like Apple made a killing in Chinese market

Only self imposed ban by Apple caused it to loose market share in China allowing local Chinese companies to take over

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Chinese market generates 100% profit boost to box office of a movie , even a failed movie can break even when released in China

Certainly you are going to get more movies created by Hollywood that normally wouldn't have been made because the Western market wouldn't have shown high interest in it.

For example maybe the Transformer movies. High budget but not really an avid Western market so would be risky to make without the Chinese market.

But then you have things like Star Wars movies that don't do well in the Chinese market but makes close to $2B in other markets.

The more markets you have the more different tastes may save a movie. What one market sees as crap might succeed in another market.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Certainly you are going to get more movies created by Hollywood that normally wouldn't have been made because the Western market wouldn't have shown high interest in it.

For example maybe the Transformer movies. High budget but not really an avid Western market so would be risky to make without the Chinese market.

But then you have things like Star Wars movies that don't do well in the Chinese market but makes close to $2B in other markets.

The more markets you have the more different tastes may save a movie.

That's because Star Wars is basically Japanese samurai mythology in disguise. It is an utterly alien philosophy to China.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Certainly you are going to get more movies created by Hollywood that normally wouldn't have been made because the Western market wouldn't have shown high interest in it.

For example maybe the Transformer movies. High budget but not really an avid Western market so would be risky to make without the Chinese market.

But then you have things like Star Wars movies that don't do well in the Chinese market but makes close to $2B in other markets.

The more markets you have the more different tastes may save a movie.

A business person can see China as a Market , where there is demand for unique western products

Prior to the current escalation between US - China , Apple company was making good money selling phones , I believe some of the American Luxury vehicles were also popular

Hollywood was making big profits in China , and of course Tourism when Chinese Tourist visited counties economies also benefited

How much trade both ways can be negotiated without any negative relations