Hollywood's China romance withers faster

Maoyan Entertainment

23/08/2021 04:45

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Robyn Mak
    HONG KONG, Aug 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hollywood's
China fantasy is waking up to ugly political realities. Films
like Disney's  DIS.N  "Black Widow" have been conspicuously
absent as cinemas in the People's Republic reopen. The delay
coincides with Beijing's renewed censorship campaign and rising
nationalism. Local studios are also steadily pushing Tinseltown
aside.
    Hollywood has spent decades wooing the Chinese market with
mixed success. Lucrative franchises such as the "Fast & Furious"
and the "Marvel Cinematic Universe", hugely popular in the
country, have been meticulously tailored and sanitised to
appease both local audiences and censors. Despite that,
bureaucrats in Beijing have yet to roll out the red carpet. The
annual quota for imported films has remained stubbornly stuck at
34 for nearly a decade, while box office takings for foreign
studios are capped at 25%. In video streaming, strict media and
foreign investment rules have effectively shut out Netflix
 NFLX.O  and peers.
    Thanks to a relatively quick pandemic recovery, the Chinese
box office looks appealing as ever. Ticket sales surpassed the
virus-stricken United States last year; over the week-long
February New Year holiday, they set a new record of $1.2
billion, according to online movie ticketing service Maoyan
Entertainment  1896.HK . But that hasn’t trickled into
Hollywood. Summer blockbusters including the superhero hit
starring Scarlett Johansson, as well as “Jungle Cruise” and
"Space Jam: A New Legacy" have yet to be released in China.
    The holdup comes amid a renewed censorship campaign that has
targeted everything from video games to karaoke songs to online
videos. President Xi Jinping also wants to reduce foreign
cultural influence in China: authorities have restricted
foreigners from live-streaming on video apps, cut cooperation
with educational institutions abroad, and prevented Chinese
students from studying with overseas tutors via online services.
Recently, officials in Beijing barred foreign textbooks in
primary and junior high schools. In a prescient move, Disney
quietly shut down its highly popular English-language centres
last year, blaming the pandemic and the shift to online classes,
according to local media.
    Local film-makers are exploiting the situation. Even before
Hollywood studios were disrupted by shutdowns, eight out of the
10 highest grossing movies in China in 2019 were domestic,
according to Box Office Mojo. It may not be long before
Hollywood finds itself written out of its own China romance.  
    Follow @mak_robyn https://twitter.com/mak_robyn on Twitter 
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Chinese movie-ticketing service Maoyan Entertainment on
Aug. 19 reported revenue of 1.8 billion yuan ($277 million) in
the six months to June, an increase of 786% from a year earlier.
Net profit for the period was 387 million yuan, compared with a
net loss of 430 million yuan in the first half of 2020.
    - The company said as of end June, the Chinese box office
totalled 27.6 billion yuan this year, compared to 31.2 billion
yuan in the first half of 2019.
    - Chinese movie "Hi, Mom" has grossed over $822 million in
ticket sales as of Aug. 23, according to Box Office Mojo, making
it the world's top grossing film this year. Disney's "Black
Widow", which has yet to be released in China, has grossed $370
million so far, with roughly half from overseas markets.


    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Maoyan press release    http://media-maoyan.todayir.com/202108201012261772622938_en.pdf
BREAKINGVIEWS - Mulan flounder previews Hollywood’s next red
scare     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2GJ0CO
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by Pete Sweeney and Sharon Lam)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  MAK/   
SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS http://bit.ly/BVsubscribe
 | robyn.mak@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
robyn.mak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))