China Box Office

Deadline is reporting that the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party met with Hollywood executives last week to express their concerns about the studios’ business practices with China. Among the topics raised was the way movies were edited, and sometimes self-edited, to appease Chinese censors in order to get distribution in the territory, indirectly allowing China to control the content that is made for the worldwide market.

Titanic will be re-released in China for its 25th anniversary in an enhanced 3D format on April 3 in time for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday two days later. Director James Cameron addressed Chinese fans remotely at an advanced screening in Beijing, telling them that they were seeing the film “the way it was meant to be seen…When we made Titanic, we made it for the big screen.

The two highest-grossing films of 2023 are Chinese. Full River Red, the Zhang Yimou-directed historical movie earned $673 million this year, followed by The Wandering Earth 2, the sci-fi action thriller directed by Frant Gwo with $600 million in receipts, both over 64 days.

At the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (Filmart) which ran March 13-16, China had a prominent position with the China Film Co-Production Corporation (CFCC) presenting “multiple channels and forms such as exhibition booth, online promotion, themed videos and bilingual booklets,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. With representatives from Chinese film companies touting films completed and in production, the goal was to interest potential partners from the filmmaking community and to showcase the Chinese industry’s recent performance so as to “pave the way for domestic film institutions and relevant projects to go global,” the CFCC said in a statement.

China’s Hengdian World Studios (“Chinawood”) is the largest outdoor film studio in the world, and since the lifting of Covid restrictions, business has been booming, according to Global Times. Located in Zhejiang province, five hours by car from Shanghai, it covers 2,500 acres.

Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania managed to stay No. 1 at the box office till Thursday – just about a week since its opening – with a disappointing gross of $32.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania led the Chinese box office this weekend, knocking off The Wandering Earth 2 from its perch on top of the list. The film grossed $19.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuted on Chinese screens on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, to $3. 47 million in box office grosses, according to Chinese data site Maoyan, landing in third place on the day but ending the weekend in sixth place with $12.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is another Marvel movie that will release in China on March 17, day and date with North America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This will be the third Marvel movie to be released this year along with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on February 7 and Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17 after an almost four-year ban.

The Chinese box office has rebounded with a bang as moviegoers thronged cinemas during the Lunar New Year holiday week which started last Sunday with its plethora of new releases and the lifting of Covid restrictions. According to the business website China Briefing, quoting data from Dengta Database which tracks box office sales in real-time, the sales for January 21-27, including presales, reached 6.