The Morning: China’s changing tastes

Hollywood's bad year at the Chinese box office.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 28, 2024 By Desiree Ibekwe Good morning. China was once a big moneymaker for Hollywood. Last year, no American movie broke the Top 10 at the Chinese box office. A multiplex in Beijing. Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times Changing tastes "Barbenheimer" — the portmanteau given to the same-day release of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" last summer — was a genuine cultural phenomenon for much of the world. Cinemas were filled with outfits in various hues of pink. Social media frothed with opinions. And the films brought in a combined $2.3 billion globally. The "Barbenheimer" story played out differently in China, though. Neither movie cracked the nation's top 30 releases last year. In fact, as my colleagues Claire Fu, Brooks Barnes and Daisuke Wakabayashi have reported, it was a bad year for all of Hollywood at the Chinese box office, where no American movie broke the list of top 10 highest-grossing movies. The numbers must be chastening for Hollywood studios; China has often been a salve for declining domestic revenues. In 2012, seven of the top 10 releases in China were American, and Chinese companies were soon investing billions of dollars in U.S. entertainment. Studios went out of their way to appease the Chinese market, amending scripts for censors and shoehorning in Chinese product placements. In the past few years, though, as tensions grew between the countries' governments, China began to look inward. It invested in domestic filmmakers and filmmaking technologies like C.G.I., Claire Fu told me. And it began the construction of thousands of new movie screens, in part to expand the reach of movies that "exhibit the Chinese national spirit," officials said. This investment appears to be paying off — the top grossing films last year were Chinese-made productions like "The Wandering Earth II," a sci-fi movie heavy on special effects and themes of collectivism. Chinese audiences are shunning Hollywood for domestic film options that are improving in quality, and reflect their own societal issues and values. "Chinese films have the content that Chinese audiences can relate to, culturally and emotionally," Claire told me. Examples include "No More Bets," based on a real-life scam in which people were kidnapped and forced to work online fraud jobs in Southeast Asia, and "The Battle at Lake Changjin," the country's top-grossing movie of all time, about a Chinese triumph over the U.S. during the Korean War. Hannah Li, a 27-year-old Marvel die-hard who grew up watching Western movies, told Claire that Hollywood needs to change its approach if it wants to succeed in China. "If you don't want to get off your high horse to see what we like, then it's natural that you will be washed-out," Hannah said. Will Hollywood studios double down in China and adapt to a new normal, or cut their losses? The change in the Chinese audience has already altered the calculus in Hollywood more broadly. Studios have decided to spend less money on the kind of franchise movies that have historically relied on the Chinese market to recoup their large budgets. "If they want to meet the Chinese market's requirement and make the audience feel like they can relate more," Claire said, "then Hollywood will need to weigh up the losses and gains." Read the full story by Claire, Brooks Barnes and Daisuke here. For more: After a decade collaborating with top filmmakers, the Chinese authorities have figured out how to make watchable propaganda films, The Economist reports. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS 2024 Election Nikki Haley returned to South Carolina, her home state, in search of support in high places for her flagging campaign for president. She's finding little. 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