cinemas are popping up in malls like
these all over china
and that's because the movie industry
here is booming hollywood's ticket sales
are slowing at home
thanks to piracy and streaming services
like netflix and hulu but
china's growing appetite for the movies
is helping to make up the difference
with a massive population of nearly 1.4
billion people
china is the world's most populous
country and has become a lucrative
market for many industries and
in the first quarter of 2018 it
surpassed the us in box office revenue
for the first time
so perhaps it's no wonder why hollywood
is now catering to a whole new audience
china's box office cashed in nine
billion dollars in 2018
just behind the us and canada which
brought in a total of 11.9 billion
dollars
in 2017 china which was building around
25
cinema screens a day surpassed the us in
number of total screens
and in 2018 more than 9000 screens were
added across
china taking its total tally to more
than 60 000 screens
compared to the about 40 000 screens in
the us
those astronomical numbers mean china is
now on the mind of producers and writers
alike you have to be very careful before
you shoot a script knowing how big the
chinese market is
to make sure that you get china right
stanley rosen is a professor of
political science at the university of
southern california
it's not easy to find things has anyone
ever made the kindle joke
in here uh why did oh no but it's
time to get a kindle a kindle yeah well
i've come close to getting kindle as
much as 70 or more
of blockbuster films box office comes
from overseas
not from north america and china is a
big part of that you've really got to
get
the china portion right under an
official government quota china only
allows
38 foreign films into the cinemas each
year that's to preserve its cultural and
financial interests
but in recent years that number has
quietly grown
in 2017 china imported 40 films and in
2018 it rose to 42
but that's still a small fraction of the
hundreds of movies released in the us
and canada every year the trend in box
office sales has prompted hollywood to
now
seriously consider the chinese audience
in some cases casting specific actors
and even rewriting movie scripts
in tom cruise's top gun sequel the
japanese and taiwanese flag were
allegedly removed to appease china
and if you watched bohemian rhapsody in
china well the movie was about three
minutes shorter
after references to freddie mercury's
sexuality were removed from the original
release
mr schwartz meanwhile china halted the
release of quentin tarantino's once upon
a time in hollywood
after bruce lee's daughter reportedly
complained to china's national film
administration
about the film's unflattering portrayal
of her father it's not just foreign
films getting censored
in 2019 china blocks domestic films the
800 and the hidden sword blaming
technical and market reasons
experts meanwhile say they were censored
because of political sensitivities in
the lead-up to the 70th anniversary of
the founding of the people's republic of
china
but naturally china wants its own films
to win the box office
both for financial reasons and as a
matter of national pride
and that's why it's building its own
studios
in 2018 dalian wanda group opened the
world's biggest movie studio which was
touted as china's answer to hollywood
that same company bought iconic american
cinema giant
amc it was founded in 1920 in kansas
city missouri
and in 2012 dalian wanda group paid 2.6
billion dollars to acquire the company
the acquisition would make
amc the largest movie theater chain in
the world
it later sold part of its stake due to
mounting debts
holly wants two things from china they
want the film market
in china and they want chinese money
well chinese money is now drying up
compared to the past but the full market
is still there
and that hasn't changed and so now
you're seeing
uh more either co-productions or at
least assisted productions
just take a look at this between 1997
and 2013
china helped finance a mere dozen
hollywood movies of the annual top
hundred highest
grossing films worldwide but within the
next five years
china co-financed a staggering 41
hollywood films
for example alibaba invested and
promoted paramount pictures
mission impossible films fallout and
rogue nation
while china's bona film group funded
once upon a time in hollywood
despite never making it to chinese
screens china wants to be the largest
film market in the world as quickly as
possible and hollywood's absolutely
essential to that you see while chinese
investment has made its mark on
hollywood
the domestic film industry is struggling
after a decade of rapid growth
the chinese government's crackdown on
tax evasion means that movie producers
are struggling to get the funding they
used to
profits at all but three of china's 15
listed
tv and movie companies fell in 2018.
and even china's best paid actress fan
bing bing mysteriously disappeared from
the public eye for three months
when she appeared again she promised to
pay back taxes and more than 100 million
dollars in fines to tax authorities
experts predict that by 2020 china will
be the world's largest cinema market
with box office revenue expected to jump
from 9.9 billion dollars in 2018
to 15.5 billion dollars by 2023
and it will have hollywood to thank more
than a third of china's highest grossing
films over the last two years were made
in the us
it was hollywood selling out or cashing
in probably was in the business of
selling out on cashing in
the two go together hey guys it's upton
thanks for watching check out more
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let us know in the comments do you think
china's influence will continue to grow
in hollywood
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