After taking over the box office, the Chinese giant threatens the throne of Hollywood

A large number of critics find themselves at a loss about the future of the Hollywood film industry, in light of the rise of China during the past year and the achievement of huge revenues with films of local production, not including American films, Beijing aspires to compete with this legend of American cinema.

This boom in the film industry comes in light of controversy over the importance of the Chinese market, as a large market that maximizes the revenues of profit-hungry Hollywood production companies, after two years in which the industry was not spared from the epidemic.

Cinemas in the United States have jumped well after two years during which the waves of the Corona virus did not stop, which deprived this industry of the seventh art of breathing, closing halls and cinemas and stopping the work of films and art productions, cutting the way for thousands to earn their living from this creative industry.

Cinemas returned to breath after the movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home" recently achieved more than a billion dollars worldwide, becoming the first movie at the time of the Corona pandemic to achieve such numbers, mostly in America. , over $600 million.

"Spider-Man: No Homecoming" broke records with movie revenues exceeding one billion dollars (communication sites)

The war for control of the seventh art screens

In 2020, the Chinese film market has officially surpassed the North American market as the world's largest box office.

Analyst figures estimated that the 2021 box office ended at around $4.5 billion, a number that's double last year's total for America, but also lower than 2019 that ended with revenue of $11.4 billion.

Film critic and journalist Rebecca Davis said - in an article on Variety - that China has always taken exceptional measures to protect its huge market from Hollywood content, but the year 2021 put an end to the influence of the world cinema capital.

She explained that China had made up its mind and decided to block the road to Washington, as it allowed only 21 Hollywood films to be shown in 2021, which is far less than even the number 34 that was set under an agreement to show films between the two countries signed in 2012.

As an indication of the scale of the boom witnessed by the Chinese film industry, as well as cinemas that have become the winning horse in launching new international shows, two Chinese-produced films have earned more than one billion dollars at the box office in China alone, the war movie “The Battle at Lake.” (Changjin and "Hi, Mom," which were the highest-grossing films in the world in 2021 until Spider-Man came out.

Critics also point out that China's success could have continued consequences for Hollywood, as its dominance will often be at the expense of Hollywood, as evidenced by the year 2021 when American films occupied less than 12% of the total box office in China, the lowest number in seven years. past.

According to Variety, China wants to be seen as a global power with its cultural soft power, rivaling Hollywood.

But the reality says that it cannot remove Hollywood films from the scene, not even in any near future, and if it wants to excel, it must open competition, and allow the good to be seen by the world, especially since they are building a larger market for cinema in the world, and all that is necessary for the industry, with goals of issuing 50 films a year, with domestic films taking more than 55% of the total box office annually.

Expected 2022

As with 2021 and many years prior, the international box office is expected to continue to account for more than 70% of the world's total in 2022.

Among the expected large productions, the American companies have: Warners 5 films, including “The Batman” expected in March, and Disney has 3 films from Marvel, starting in May with “Doctor Strange” up to To Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in October, and finally Avatar 2 in December.

Art editor Nancy Tartaglioni says that such a large mass production, with a movie or two a month, may not all make room in China, making 2022 a mystery for Hollywood cinema in the Chinese market.

Many critics ended up saying that despite China’s domination of the global box office in two years, especially with its production of local films, it will not be able to abandon Hollywood because it will not be able to keep pace with the number of screens and theaters constantly increasing, which currently amounts to 822 thousand and 48 theaters, and it will increase to reach 100 thousand in 2025.