China Box Office Crisis

Box office takings for Hollywood movies in China have dropped as enthusiasm for American films there dramatically cools.

Only two U.S. blockbusters made it onto China’s top ten list in 2019—that’s the fewest in the past decade.

Those films, Avengers Endgame and Hobbs & Shaw, found themselves trailing behind Chinese—language titles like sci-fi adventure The Wandering Earth and animated fantasy Ne Zha.

Hits like those prove that local producers are moving in on the big budget epic territory which had previously been the preserve of international moviemakers. There was an especially big drop in China revenues for American independent and mid-budget films.

But while most other Hollywood studios are suffering in China, Disney continues its domination being responsible for 54 percent of all US studio revenue there last year.

Hopes of the situation improving in 2020 were shattered by the coronavirus which saw cinemas across China closed due to the outbreak.