The Walt Disney Co’s latest Marvel film, Deadpool & Wolverine, has taken the world by storm since its release on July 22, but it has yet to replicate that box-office success among Chinese moviegoers.
According to Chinese movie-ticketing platform Maoyan, the superhero sequel, starring Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and Australian actor Hugh Jackman, made a respectable US$57mil (RM249.6mil) in its first 20 days in China. But China-produced comedy-drama Successor made six times as much during the same period.
Released in China on July 16, Successor – directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo – stars Chinese actor Shen Teng and actress Ma Li as a wealthy couple who design a life of poverty in an attempt to toughen their son up.
The film has since grossed more than 3.176 billion yuan (RM1.9bil) as of Aug 22 to become the third most-watched movie of 2024 in China, with Deadpool & Wolverine languishing at No. 15.
In an Aug 19 article titled “Beijing and Hollywood are decoupling as Chinese audiences favour domestic productions”, American news channel CNBC said Hollywood blockbusters have lost their lustre in recent years in China, the largest movie market outside the US.
Film experts have said that though signs of Hollywood’s waning influence on China’s box office were evident even before 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic helped solidify the trend.
“China learnt all they could from Hollywood,” CNBC quoted Dr Stanley Rosen, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California, as saying. “Now, they make their own big-budget blockbuster films with good special effects, and even good animated films... They don’t need Hollywood any more.”
Meanwhile, Chinese films like Successor have “a major home-field advantage”, according to CNBC.
“The Chinese audience, mostly young people, want stories (that can resonate with them)... films that relate to things happening in China in one way or another,” said Dr Rosen.
Professor Emilie Yeh, dean of the Faculty of Arts at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, said Successor matches that description, with the film touching on issues of child-raising, education and upward mobility.
The CNBC report said that in addition to films that are culturally relevant and relatable to the Chinese market, nationalistic and patriotic movies have also become increasingly popular, referring to films such as Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) and The Battle At Lake Changjin (2021).
“This patriotic streak has gone hand in hand with increased Sino-US tensions and the ‘decoupling’ of the world’s two largest economies,” CNBC said.
According to Dr Zhu Ying, an expert on Chinese film and television and author of the book Hollywood In China (2022), strained relations have been a considerable factor in Hollywood’s increasingly lukewarm reception in China.
“The ongoing Sino-US tensions are an underlying factor that dampens the Chinese public’s enthusiasm for US popular culture, including films,” she said. – Xinhua
