American and Chinese Audiences Competing for Hollywood
As it stands now, Hollywood is the largest and most profitable producer of motion pictures in the world. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spend on tens of films each year by major studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., Universal and the like. Spending these huge amounts of cash, the studios expect to see a great deal of revenue. In some cases, such as Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, a studio can spend a couple-hundred million and earn a couple billion back, but in other cases, such as the new Ben-Hur remake, they can flop tremendously. Lowering the risk involved in releasing a film is essential for movie studios, and they have found their saving grace it seems in the international markets, especially China. According to the LA Times, China’s film audience will surpass the U.S. for American-made films by 2017. Their film audience was a huge supporter of the aforementioned The Force Awakens, and oftentimes, their box-office revenues can save a film with shoddy domestic returns, such as with Warcraft (2016). But what does this mean for Networks?
Due to China’s film audience increasing by the weekend, big-budget American films will begin to shift towards being made for American audiences to being made for Chinese audiences. The Great Wall starring Matt Damon is one of the first in a line of many films that will be made in a joint venture between Chinese and Hollywood studios. The international influences we start to see in our films is a great step forward in including characters and stories from many different cultures, but there is a downside. This summer’s Ghostbusters remake was banned from Chinese theaters as it promoted “cults or superstition”. Due to the lack of Chinese revenue, Ghostbusters did not do as well as Sony hoped, so the previously planned sequel was scrapped entirely.
This becomes an issue with bargaining. Say we have a pre-existing trade agreement between Node A (American box-office) and Node H (Hollywood producers). Now, a new Node C (Chinese box-office) offers an outside deal with H. Depending on what China is willing to offer Hollywood for their films, American audiences may start to be left by the wayside when it comes to which films get greenlit or which get sequels. Depending on how much money America is willing to give a film, it may or may not be ever produced, understanding that aiming at international audiences will do better for it. However, this also means that Hollywood will begin to stress international influences, which will provide a fresh perspective for American audiences. The international market has been exposed to American influences for over a century of cinema, but now it appears to be our turn to allow ourselves to be exposed to their ideas, stories, and cultures. All for the sake of big money, of course.
Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-china-growth-20151105-story.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ghostbusters-denied-release-china-910563