Hollywood Mulls Dumping China As U.S., Canada Boost Box Office Earnings

Hollywood has historically gone over itself to accommodate Chinese censors. Not any longer.

Photo Insert: Some critics have questioned if Hollywood still requires China, or vice versa.

Over the past year, makers of some of the most popular U.S. blockbusters have included scenes that may irritate China's censors, indicating that they are less concerned about the potential loss of access to theaters across the country of 1.4 billion people., Michelle Toh and Ben Westcott reported for CNN.

As a result, several of the most anticipated films released in recent months, such as "Top Gun: Maverick," "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and "Lightyear," have yet to reach the world's second highest box office and may never do so.

According to Comscore, "Top Gun: Maverick" became the year's highest-grossing film this summer, surpassing the billion-dollar mark in global box office receipts. "Spider-Man" also had a record-breaking debut, becoming the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark since 2019.

In itself, the Chinese box office is worth billions of dollars every year, rivaling that of the United States and Canada combined. It surpassed North America as the world's largest movie market in 2020, as its cinemas recovered faster from the effects of the Covid pandemic. Last year, the trend continued.

This year, however, the balance has shifted once more. While US theaters have recovered, China has maintained a rigorous zero-Covid policy that has kept many of its cinemas closed.

According to Comscore data, North America's box office is marginally ahead so far in 2022, collecting more than $3.6 billion compared to China's about $2.7 billion.

According to analysts, film companies have begun to reconsider the trade-off involved with appeasing censors in China, especially as the country's box office gets more insular, more strictly regulated, and continues to be hammered by COVID-19 limitations.

The question for Hollywood executives is whether China will allow their films into theaters, censored or not. While China generally allows 30 to 40 foreign films to be released each year, this number has decreased since the pandemic.

According to Artisan Gateway, a film industry analytics agency, the government approved 20 theater releases of Hollywood films last year, up from 36 in 2018. The proportion of annual box office receipts in China going to Hollywood films has decreased from 30.7 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent this year.

Some critics have questioned if Hollywood still requires China, or vice versa.

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