Learning how to please Chinese audiences without alienating moviegoers in the US is becoming crucial for Hollywood as box office receipts stagnate in home market but explode in China. Quarterly ticket revenues in China surpassed those in North America for the first time ever in the first three months of 2018, with Chinese cinemas netting $3.15 billion compared to $2.85 billion in Canada and the US. Those figures were boosted by massive takings during the Lunar New Year holiday, always a peak time for Chinese cinemas, but China could become the world’s largest film market in whole-year terms in 2019.
China Film Group and the Art of Playing Favorites in China’s Movie Market
How gatekeeping by the China Film Group is altering the dynamics of Hollywood blockbusters in China.
China and Hollywood Shake up the Box Office
The unlikely partnership of China and Hollywood is creating big blockbusters like Iron Man 3 and Furious 7. But why are such co-production arrangements necessary?
China Roundup: Transformers in China; Tencent’s stake in 58.com; and Hon Hai dumps Huawei
The week that was: Transformers raked in the riches in China; Chinese brands stole market share from global brands; Tencent picked up a stake in China’s Craigslist 58.com; and the exchange rate for the RMB was further liberalized. Transformers in China: Age of Prosperity Michael Bay’s latest movie doesn’t have the apocalyptic undertones in China […]
China’s Movie Market: Screening for Gold
What are foreign production companies up against in the race to win in China, the world’s second-largest movie market? When Iron Man 3 hit screens in China, audiences were rather unimpressed by the four minutes of extra footage that was added especially for the domestic market. While some deemed the inclusion of an extra scene […]
Romancing Hollywood
The US and China are trying to tie the knot with new film deals, but will politics and culture intervene? Would Die Hard still be a classic hit if Jet Li had played the lead role? Would it have made a difference if Spiderman had been set against the backdrop of the Great Wall? And could Zhang Ziyi have […]
Ready for the Big Screen: Chinese Movie Makers flourish in the lime-light
Bona Film Group chairman and CEO Yu Dong talks to CKGSB Knowledge about the potential of China’s film industry, future opportunities and prospects for international collaboration
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