China and the US have not always been able to find ways to work together.
One area that they have been able to collaborate successfully
has been the movie business
even if that hasn't been without its problems either.
Because?
Because, I was in love with you.
But so cozy did the relationship get, that in the last decade,
some films from the two countries have been hard to tell apart.
But just as China was starting to assert its independence,
the world came to a halt.
So why can't China just quit Hollywood?
If you were a cinemagoer in early 1990s China,
the films available to you would have consisted mostly of propaganda films,
approved by the communist regime.
With the occasional older Hollywood film,
thrown in for good measure.
But in 1993, ticket sales were in steep decline.
So in the following year,
the Chinese government allowed the very latest Hollywood release
to be shown in cinemas for the first time.
Don't give a damn which way you go.
Just don't follow me, you got that?
Yeah.
The move worked and paved the way for a decade of success,
but it was James Cameron's Avatar that really showed both parties
the potential of the Chinese market.
When it grossed a massive $202 million in China alone.
Though not immediately sold on the idea of opening its market to the US,
by 2012 the two countries reached an agreement.
Which led to the rapid growth of Chinese box office revenues.
However all this success came at a price,
both parties came to rely on the added revenue.
China from a bounty of new blockbuster imports
and the US from a successful new market,
making them interdependent.
Which is how we ended up with Tilda Swinton
replacing a Tibetan character in Doctor Strange,
the Taiwanese and Japanese flags being replaced in Top Gun Maverick
and lots of Chinese product placement in Transformers.
May I finish my Shuhua milk Donny?
Any film playing in China,
needs to be approved by the State's Administration of Radio, Film and Television
and adhere to their regulations.
Which Hollywood had been only too happy to accommodate,
to keep the flow of money coming from Chinese sales.
Which is why this alternative ending of Fight Club exists.
Having witnessed a seemingly endless string of Hollywood's successes
and huge growth in its own own box office revenue,
that saw it catch up with the US.
China sought to get in on the act, proper.
In an attempt to replicate the Hollywood model
and avoid any awkward cultural differences altogether,
China began to launch its own franchise-style films,
like Wolf Warrior and the Wandering Earth.
Both of which bear more than a few similarities to their US counterparts.
Then from mid-2019, amid a period of trade tension with the US,
China made a further move to bolster it's own domestic product.
and banned all Marvel films.
However 2019 wasn't the best year to try to consolidate this position
against US imports.
Box office revenues for 2020 plummeted to one-fifth of the previous year.
2021 saw numbers recover slightly
and there was even hope that the Marvel blackout was working too.
As the Battle of Lake Changjin broke Chinese box office records,
grossing over $899 million.
But the recovery was short-lived.
The sequel, Water Gate Bridge opened the following year
and earned just two-thirds of its predecessor.
So amid shaky economic projections
and continuing zero Covid policies,
which saw just under half of Chinese cinemas in operation.
A decision was made to end the Marvel blackout in 2023,
but the U-turn failed.
Wakanda Forever made just $15.2 million.
A fraction of the success enjoyed by the last Marvel release pre-ban.
All this leaves China in a bind.
An increasing anti-American sentiment in China,
may have rendered viewing Hollywood films as unpatriotic.
And US lawmakers are pushing to restrict spending funds
on movies that are altered to appease Chinese censors.
Chinese cinema audiences have grown used to an endless supply
of Hollywood-style franchise blockbusters.
Which over time brings diminishing returns,
as audiences lose interest.
Having become so dependent on each other,
after years of collaboration,
both parties are now in need of each other,
more than they've ever been.