At a time where Hollywood and the Chinese market find themselves in an uneasy flux, we’ve seen the China Film Administration announce its new 5-year plan. What will this mean for the film market at large? Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake at Blake & Wang P.A offers his expert analysis.
Increasing infrastructure
First up, the plan includes expanding movie screens to 100,000 throughout the country by 2025, alongside promoting 10 local tentpoles each year. So far, this is in line with pre-pandemic plans. What does this mean for foreign filmmakers hoping for a slice of the market? As China has become the largest box office market, outpacing North American growth during 2020, that’s a question that matters a lot. And China isn’t all that eager to answer.
To date, the Chinese box office has pulled in $6.7B, with the propaganda-packed The Battle at Lake Changjin topping the individual earnings chart at $884M. Nor does China want that growth to stall, announcing an intention to be a dominant global film power by 2035.
Outlook for foreign films
With a plan heavily centered around local promotion and filmmaking, what does that mean for Hollywood? To date, China has been an important market for Hollywood. Yet we’ve seen many Hollywood hits over the last year rejected, especially those from the Marvel franchise. This is despite great local support for previous titles.
Not that this particularly indicates any anti-Hollywood sentiment. An odd collection, including movies vastly after the release date, has been approved for and enjoyed by local viewers. Regrettably, the 25% takings from several of these releases have been drastically reduced by the easy availability of titles earlier through pirate copies in the country.
For now, it seems China is intent on forging its movie path its own way and ignoring those courting its screens from the outside. Yet the appetite for Hollywood pictures remains strong. As the overall US movie market enters a full recovery, it will be well worth watching further developments carefully.
