Sony executives breathed a sigh of relief when “Uncharted,” a big-budget adaptation of the popular video game, secured a release date in China.
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The Chinese government, which has absolute control over which movies play in its theaters (and when they debut), has recently been ultra-selective about the non-Chinese films it allows to screen in the country’s tens of thousands of venues. As a result, many of Hollywood’s biggest pandemic-era releases, such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Eternals,” weren’t granted access to Chinese movie theaters. That absence has wound up costing those movies tens — and in some cases hundreds — of millions of dollars in box office revenues.
“Getting any blockbuster into China right now feels like a big deal,” says Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations.
But just because “Uncharted” is set to open in China on March 14 does not mean the film is destined to succeed there. In an alternate timeline, an action-adventure like “Uncharted,” which stars “Spider-Man” actor Tom Holland as treasure hunter Nathan Drake, would have likely minted money in China. Now, it will instead serve as a vital test of whether or not Chinese moviegoers have any interest in Hollywood product. As of late, the select movies that China’s censors have approved ultimately failed to connect at the box office.
That was the case with the latest James Bond sequel “No Time to Die,” which made $64 million in China, and director Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake, which earned $39 million in China — far less than their studios would have hoped when they were greenlit years ago. “Death on the Nile” continued that trend, debuting to a paltry $5.9 million over the weekend. The star-studded murder mystery from Kenneth Branagh will struggle to match the box office receipts of its predecessor, 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” which made $34.6 million in China.
“Hollywood exports that have opened in the Middle Kingdom recently haven’t exactly set the box office ablaze,” Bock says. “China used to be a surefire way for American films to blow past $1 billion worldwide.”
In the current world order, reaching the billion-dollar mark without playing in China is no longer a guarantee. In more cases than not, it has become entirely out of reach. It’s an issue because these big-budget tentpoles were produced in another era: Not just pre-pandemic, but at a time when China was showing a great deal of enthusiasm for Hollywood films. Fervor for franchises like Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe and “The Fast and the Furious” gave executives the confidence to push production budgets higher and higher, knowing a strong turnout in China would pay off handsomely.
The PG-13 “Uncharted” cost $90 million to produce and several millions more to market to global audiences, which is a hefty total but not enough to require “Spider-Man: No Way Home”-level revenues to make money. (“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” another Holland-led tentpole, grossed a mammoth $1.83 billion globally.) However, ticket sales in China could be the difference between simply breaking even and making the kind of bank that leads to sequels and spinoffs.
Already, “Uncharted” has been popular at the box office. The film has grossed $139 million globally so far, suggesting the path to profitability for “Uncharted” may not rise and fall on China. The long-gestating tentpole collected a huge $51 million domestically through the extended holiday weekend and another $55.4 million from 62 overseas markets, bringing its four-day tally to $106 million globally. That’s an unusually robust start for a non-sequel, and a sign of Holland’s new box office prowess outside of his stint as Spider-Man.
Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel, who wrote the book “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy,” says there are several other theories to explain the hostility from moviegoers in China.
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https://moodle.recitfga.ca/blog/index.php?entryid=33714
https://moodle.recitfga.ca/blog/index.php?entryid=33707
https://with.the.sb/post/review-movies-dark-disciple-star-wars-621521f61e3ed2687e2c761d
https://ofe.ai/blog/index.php?entryid=8193
https://teachin.id/blogs/113633/Here-s-5-Body-Snatching-Horror-Films-to-Watch-Next
https://hype.news/cinecitta-us/the-best-way-to-beat-cancer-is-to-prevent-5p5isuc3
https://biiut.com/read-blog/20273
“One is there’s a broader trend toward Chinese moviegoers preferring Chinese entertainment,” Schwartzel recently told Variety. “This feels more charged than that. It feels like an effort to punish America as tensions rise.” He adds, “There also seems to be an effort within China to stir nationalism and keep outside influence out.”
Other elements weighing against Hollywood include China explicitly using film imports to punish political enemies (the U.S., South Korea, India) and woo potential friends (Russia, Japan, Italy and India again), as well as the shortage of Hollywood tentpoles in 2020 when U.S. theaters were closed and Chinese turnstiles were still spinning.
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