In a blow to 2025’s blockbusters, an escalating trade war has seen China reduce the number of Hollywood films it will show in its cinemas.
Well, this didn’t take long. Just 24 hours after saying it would respond to Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China by reducing the import of US films, the country’s government has confirmed that it’s following through on its threat. While certainly not the box office goldmine that it used to be, Hollywood exports to China still earned around $600m last year.
Over recent years, China has vastly reduced the number of American films that make it into the country’s huge theatrical market. Back when it was building its theatrical infrastructure of almost 90,000 screens, the country was happy to import US films to create a supply that would in turn create demand. Now it has that demand, the country has replaced American imports with homegrown cinema, not least because it wishes to limit the ‘soft power’ cultural influence of Hollywood films.
The number one film at the global box office is Ne Zha 2 – an animated adventure sequel that has made almost $1.9bn in China and just $20m in other territories. In a sign of how vast China’s cinema market has become, Ne Zha 2 has eclipsed Inside Out 2 as the highest-grossing animated film of all time – almost entirely from its own country’s ticket sales.
Per the most recent trade agreement between the two countries, China had to allow 34 US films into its territory per year, with the bulk of them being big, splashy Hollywood blockbusters. Studios were entitled to 25 percent of each ticket sold (thanks, The Hollywood Reporter) but with a trade war between the two countries now in full swing, that agreement has been torn up. Studios now find themselves an unwitting pawn in the wider powerplay between the world’s two largest economies.
Here’s the official statement from the China Film Administration:
“We will follow market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported. China is the world’s second-largest film market. We have always adhered to a high level of opening up to the outside world and will introduce more excellent films from the world to meet market demand.”
This spells unwelcome news for those big Hollywood blockbusters set to release this year – films that may have been hoping for some of that Chinese box office. In particular, it will come as yet another blow to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning which has faced hurdle after hurdle in a battle to release and will somehow have to drag itself into profit.
This is a reduction rather than a total ban, so it’s quite possible that Tom Cruise’s supposed final Mission film will still make it into the territory. But for Cruise (and everybody else in Hollywood), the bar of entry just became significantly higher.
