U.S. Box Office Heroes Proving Mortal in China

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  • U.S. Box Office Heroes Proving Mortal in China

    From The International Herald Tribune:

    By MICHAEL CIEPLY

    LOS ANGELES - Hollywood's global business strategy, which counts on huge ticket sales in China for high-budget fantasies in 3-D and large-screen Imax formats, is coming unhinged.

    Last year, helped by a high-level deal that expanded the number of foreign films for release there, American blockbusters like "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol- led the Chinese box office for 23 straight weeks, and received a disproportionately large share of their ticket sales from China.

    More big releases were on the way, and the floodgates in the world's second-largest film market appeared ready to swing open.

    But something unexpected happened on the way to the bank: demand tapered off sharply.

    In the first quarter this year, ticket sales for American movies in China - including films as prominent as "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- and "Skyfall- - fell 65 percent, to about $200 million, while sales for Chinese-language films rose 128 percent, to well over $500 million, according to the online publication Chinafilmbiz.com.

    The weekend brought one sign of a rebound for Hollywood: "G.I. Joe: Retaliation- from Paramount Pictures, took in a respectable $33 million at the Chinese box office, matching roughly 75 percent of its ticket sales when it opened in the North American market on March 28.

    But if the preferences of Chinese moviegoers continue to shift to domestic releases, China will maintain control of its own film market just as Hollywood was ready to seize it.


    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/bu...-in-china.html
    "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

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  • #2
    Re: U.S. Box Office Heroes Proving Mortal in China

    I find Asian movies in general -- and Chinese movies in particular -- to have a higher entertainment value, more surprises (reversals) of all sorts, more sharply drawn characters, and simply more color, than Western movies in general and Hollywood in particular.

    Granted, this seems to come at a cost -- the local markets appear to get fixated on certain genres. Epics and war movies in China. Horrors in Japan. Horrors, mysteries, and war movies in Korea. But what they produce has, IMO, more bang for the buck. (Korean movies, in particular -- across the board).

    I read somewhere that China "bought" the patent for Technicolor back in the early '90s. One of the things about Hollywood and Indie American movies that I've noticed, since then, is the diminished color range (which I notice even though I'm technically red/green color deficient/blind), darkness, and blurriness of background -- to the point where watching a Hollywood production at the cinema practically hurts my eyes (and the darkness problem is even worse, with 3-D, particularly when you watch it at home, as 2-D).

    I find none of these problems in Asian films. Technicolor may be an outmoded technology, but if China really put their money on the process, it shows where they're headed, with production values, why their films are easier on the eyes, and why they may eventually overtake the West in the quality of their movies.

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    • #3
      Re: U.S. Box Office Heroes Proving Mortal in China

      I look at it this way: if given the choice, would you rather watch a subtitled film with cultural differences from your own or a film made specifically for your culture and in your language?

      Duh.

      Every human being ever would prefer to consume entertainment that was made and targeted specifically for them. Don't see that ever changing.

      Hollywood will continue to make money in China and other major foreign markets, but their own country's output was bound to rival ours. It was and is inevitable.

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      • #4
        Re: U.S. Box Office Heroes Proving Mortal in China

        I'm pretty sure China started to limit and schedule the Hollywood releases to stack the favor toward local Chinese films. Hollywood can not determine when and where their films get released in China. Ticket sales are not based solely on audience preference but who controls the screens.

        Ironically, we do the same thing in the US but favoring Hollywood releases. Our 20 theater multiplexes just show 4 or 5 movies on multiple screens -- instead of the diversity of having 20 different films. It's Big Brother all the way. And I have to watch in 3-D. God help us.

        Roger Ebert used to always complain about living in a major city like Chicago and not being able to see the best films released, but rather the films selected to be distributed by "the powers that be".

        NY still seems to have some options. This weekend I saw the best film I've seen in a while and it wasn't American or Chinese. It was a great French film: "In the House".

        Originally posted by ATB View Post

        Every human being ever would prefer to consume entertainment that was made and targeted specifically for them. Don't see that ever changing.

        Hollywood will continue to make money in China and other major foreign markets, but their own country's output was bound to rival ours. It was and is inevitable.
        Last edited by magnet360; 04-22-2013, 04:18 PM. Reason: 3-D comment.

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