Hollywood films are losing their appeal amid changing Chinese preferences

Although Hollywood films have maintained a notable presence in the Chinese market over the past two decades, their performance has declined significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

While certain films have achieved great success, one expert attributes this decline to what she said is an outdated and hackneyed narrative style that fails to respond to the current interests and aspirations of Chinese audiences.

“Hollywood’s routine narrative style has lost its appeal in China,” Qi Fina, a professor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, told China Daily.

“There is nothing new in this novel, and there is a lot of political correctness,” she said. “The gap between the means and value orientation of these narratives and the needs of mainstream audiences in China is widening, so routinizing them will not work.”

Qi, chief expert of the Chinese film industry research report, found that the decline in the influence of Hollywood films is not only limited to the Chinese market, but has also occurred in Japan.

Even in 2023, as epidemic restrictions are lifted and the market rebounds, Hollywood films such as Oppenheimer and Black Panther 2 have failed to achieve major success at the box office in China, Qi said.

Qi added that Hollywood’s declining influence in China is also due to the “neglect” of confidence and national identity of the current Chinese mainstream, especially among young people, with audiences expressing a stronger preference for content that reflects or is related to their own culture and culture. expertise.

She added that the saturation of Hollywood’s “high-concept, high-style” films may not mesh with the current interests and aspirations of Chinese viewers.

Studies have found that the average age of Chinese moviegoers is around 30 years old. China’s improved economic and social development has contributed to a more mature sense of national identity and self-identity, leading to a preference for topics that reflect this.

Despite the general decline in Hollywood influence, Chinese audiences do not generally reject foreign films.

In 2023, Japanese films such as Suzuya’s journey And First slam dunk It was a notable success at the Chinese box office.

Suzuya’s Journey emerged as the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time in China, surpassing 807 million yuan ($112.7 million) at the box office.

“In fact, the Chinese film administration is very open to imported films, especially Hollywood films,” Qi said.

In 2023, China’s film market showed signs of recovery, with the box office total reaching 55 billion yuan. Domestic films dominated the market, generating 46 billion yuan, or 83.77 percent of the total, while imported films accounted for just over 16 percent. All of the top ten films at the box office were local productions.

Among them, create First Gods: Kingdom of StormsThe film, an epic blend of history, folklore and mythology, grossed an impressive $156 million at the box office after just 11 days in Chinese theaters, topping the mainland Chinese box office in 2023.

It was the highest-grossing import film Fast and Furious 10With 984 million yuan, followed by MiG 2: Trench (851 million yuan), Suzuya’s journey (807 million yuan) and Avatar: Water Road (743 million yuan). These films topped the box office total of imported films, which exceeded 8 billion yuan.

Despite these successes, the numbers reflect a significant decline compared to the peak of Hollywood films in previous years, which indicates a noticeable decline in the market share compared to local films.

“This kind of market contraction is evidence of the fact that the Chinese market basically has few political restrictions on Hollywood films, which shows that Hollywood films are no longer particularly favored by Chinese audiences,” Qi said.