Posted on Jan 7, 2022, 6:31 PMUpdated Jan 7, 2022, 6:43 PM
Does Hollywood cinema still have a future in China? One thing is certain, he will not have been at the party in 2021, the year of the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party and of growing Sino-American rivalry. The Chinese box office recovered last year, driven by a reopening of dark rooms and the success of a patriotic epic breaking all records.
In a global context still disrupted by the Covid-19 epidemic, revenue reached 47 billion yuan in China ($ 7.4 billion), placing the Chinese market in first place in the world for the second year in a row, ahead of the American market.
The Chinese box office has rebounded significantly compared to a year 2020 when it had completely unscrewed (to 3 billion dollars) without however reaching the abyss of the American box office (2.3 billion). But it has still not returned to its pre-crisis level ($ 9.3 billion in revenue in 2019).
Local productions take over 85% of revenue
China pursues a policy of zero cases of Covid-19 and some cities have temporarily closed their theaters to avoid the slightest risk. There is also a more structural reason: “The epidemic has accelerated the viewing of films on the Internet at home,” explains Liu Haibo, professor at the Shanghai Film Academy. The time between theatrical release and the films uploading to platforms has also been greatly reduced ”.
A sign of the Hollywood decline for the Asian giant, the contribution of Chinese films has never been so strong in recent years. Local productions claim nearly 85% of revenue, according to figures released by the Chinese film administration. This share was 64% in 2019, 58% in 2016. “This situation is not only due to a sharp decrease in the number of film releases abroad due to the pandemic but also to the lack of attractiveness foreign films, which testifies to the evolution of the taste of Chinese viewers. This means that the disappearance of imported films might become a general trend in China, ”writes Pang Hongbo, columnist for Chinese media Yuemu Film.
Liu Haibo is more nuanced: “The quality of Chinese films is still very uneven and I do not think that on their own they can fully meet the expectations of Chinese viewers.” One thing is certain, Chinese films still fail to export.
In this centennial year of the CCP, the Chinese movie industry has played a patriotic cord. Released on 1is October, National Day, the film “The Battle of Changjin Lake” was a historic success. In just four days of operation, it established itself in the Top 10 of the global box office for 2021. Becoming the highest grossing film of all time in China in the space of two months, it dethroned “Wolf Warrior 2 ”, a feature film of 2017, also exalting the patriotic fiber, by collecting 5.6 billion yuan of receipts (781 million euros) in two months. “The Battle of Changjin Lake” deals with an episode in the Korean War, when Chinese troops pushed back their American opponents on a North Korean battlefield in freezing temperatures.
The largest network in the world
While relations between China and America are under strain, President Xi Jinping encourages patriotic works and intends to counter Hollywood influence. Since April 2018, the Cinema Bureau has been placed under the direct control of the Party’s Propaganda Department. And this while the other cultural fields depend on the Ministry of Culture.
Last November, Beijing also unveiled its 14e five-year plan for the development of Chinese cinema with the objective of making China “a cinematographic power” by 2035. This notably involves a greater number of screens which will exceed 100,000 in 2025, once morest 82,248 at the end of 2021 , which already makes it the largest network in the world.
