Latest news with #Maoyan
Business Times
16 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
China passenger trips up 3% during Dragon Boat holiday
[HONG KONG] People took an estimated 657 million passenger trips during this year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, up 3 per cent year on year, China's state broadcaster reported, with the indicator closely watched as a barometer of Chinese consumer confidence. Consumption in the world's second-largest economy has suffered amidst sputtering growth and a prolonged property crisis, while uncertainty from the US-China trade war has also affected consumer confidence. The Dragon Boat Festival took place from May 31 to Jun 2 – and is celebrated throughout the country with local dragon boat races and many people taking the opportunity to have a short holiday. There were an average of 219 million domestic trips per day, broadcaster CCTV said late on Monday (Jun 2), with both China's rail and air volumes seeing robust passenger flow. Cross border trips rose 2.7 per cent to 5.9 million, with a total of 231,000 foreign nationals entering the country visa-free during the holiday. China has been expanding its visa policy, with citizens of 43 countries granted visa-free access, while visa-free transit for up to 240 hours in China is available for 54 countries. Rail lines saw the peak of return passenger flow on Jun 2, with authorities adding 1,279 trains to more than 11,000 passenger trains overall across the country, while road travel was up 3 per cent year on year, with 600 million travellers recorded, mostly travelling short distances. The holiday also boosted spending on entertainment, with total box office revenue reaching 460 million yuan (S$83 million), surpassing last year's 384 million yuan, according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan. Tom Cruise's latest movie Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning topped charts, and generated 228 million yuan, half of the total revenue during the holiday period, which was seen as a positive indicator for the upcoming summer season. REUTERS
Mint
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Tom Cruise's Final ‘Mission Impossible' Tops China Box Office
Tom Cruise's film is back on top in China. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning posted the biggest opening for a US film in the country this year, defying trade and geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing. Paramount Global's eighth installment in the action franchise earned $25.2 million across 11,847 locations in China during the opening weekend, the studio said in a statement. The film is likely to become the top-performing US release in the country for 2025, with Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.'s A Minecraft Movie so far holding the lead with about $29 million since its April 4 debut, according to ticketing platform Maoyan. While the Final Reckoning opening is comparable to its 2023 predecessor, the latest film's performance stands out in a year when most US titles have struggled to gain traction in China. Minecraft opened with $14.5 million, while Walt Disney Co.'s Thunderbolts and Lilo & Stitch brought in $10.5 million and $8.7 million, respectively, on opening weekend. The solid performance of Cruise's new film, which he's said will be his last Mission: Impossible, suggests that Hollywood pictures have withstood rising tensions between the world's two largest economies. In April, Beijing said it would 'moderately reduce' the number of US films allowed into the market as part of a broader response to trade friction. While initial negotiations between Washington and Beijing began shortly after, talks have since stalled. The Mission: Impossible series, starring Cruise as secret agent Ethan Hunt, has long been emblematic of China's enthusiasm for Hollywood. In 2018 — when US films reached a peak share of the Chinese market — the sixth installment of the franchise opened to around $77 million in China. But that momentum slowed after the first Trump administration sparked off a trade clash, leading to fewer releases and diminished returns. Under the Chinese government's national agenda to boost consumption, China has been gradually allowing more foreign films in an effort to help stimulate spending while moviegoers are visiting theaters at malls. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
RTHK
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTHK
Hong Kong films reign during May Day break in China
Hong Kong films reign during May Day break in China 'The Dumpling Queen' is projected to finish with earnings of around 387 million yuan. Photo: courtesy of Mandarin Motion Pictures China's May Day holiday box office revenue, including presales, has surpassed 400 million yuan as of Saturday morning, according to film data platform Maoyan, with Andrew Lau's "The Dumpling Queen" topping the chart. The five-day holiday, running from May 1 to 5, is being led by the fact-based drama starring popular comedienne Ma Li. The film traces the journey of a Hong Kong street food vendor who becomes the founder of a household frozen food brand. "The Dumpling Queen" has already grossed around 100 million yuan, and is projected to finish with earnings of approximately 387 million yuan in the mainland, according to Maoyan forecasts. Second spot was filled by "A Gilded Game," a financial crime thriller from prolific Hong Kong director Herman Yau – starring Andy Lau and Oho Ou. Centered on high-stakes fraud and market manipulation, the film has taken in roughly 70 million yuan so far. Completing the top three on Saturday morning was Studio Ghibli's "Princess Mononoke," marking its first-ever theatrical release in the Chinese mainland. Originally released in Japan in 1997, this environmental epic is widely regarded as Hayao Miyazaki's breakout international hit. While 2025 May Day box office growth is lagging behind the same period of the past two years, its diverse lineup has drawn varied audiences. (Xinhua)
Daily News Egypt
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily News Egypt
and why U.S. tariffs are making it worse
Once the king of China's silver screen, Hollywood now finds itself sidelined, as local blockbusters surge and Washington's tariffs against the rest of the world add fuel to shifting audience sentiment. According to data released this week, Chinese animated feature 'Ne Zha 2' has scored a thunderous success, raking in 15.2 billion yuan (about 2.11 billion U.S. dollars) at China's box office in just 12 weeks. In stark contrast, the top-performing American film so far this year, 'A Minecraft Movie' from Warner Bros., has just crossed 150 million yuan and failed to break into China's top 10 films of 2025. That continues a sobering trend: 2024 marked the second consecutive year in which no Hollywood title cracked the one-billion-yuan mark, a symbolic threshold once routinely surpassed. The sharp contrast highlights the deepening decline of Hollywood's influence in the world's second-largest movie market. Analysts say U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions are only accelerating the slide. CREATIVE DECLINE Industry data tells the story. American movies' share of China's annual box office revenue has plunged from 36 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2019 to just 14 percent in 2024, according to figures from box office tracker Maoyan, obtained by Xinhua. That fading influence extends beyond box office numbers. 'American blockbusters aren't drawing much of a crowd anymore,' wrote one Weibo user nicknamed 'SurfaceMe,' blaming a mix of lackluster quality and declining favorability amid tariff and trade tensions. 'The appeal, emotional resonance, and cultural impact of Hollywood films are fading among Chinese audiences,' said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association. 'Creatively, Hollywood has grown conservative, leaning too heavily on Marvel and other franchise fare. The visual spectacle remains, but viewers are experiencing aesthetic fatigue. And on a deeper level, American stories often feel disconnected from Chinese life, making it harder to generate empathy or emotional response.' According to a China Film News report, original Hollywood productions accounted for just 18.6 percent of all U.S. studio releases in 2024, a dramatic decline from 40.9 percent in 2000. In contrast, sequels, reboots, adaptations and spinoffs now account for 81.4 percent. This cost-efficient but creatively cautious model has dampened Chinese viewers' expectations for high-quality cinematic content, it says. DWINDLING FAVORABILITY But Hollywood's creative slump is only part of the picture. Industry insiders point to another force hastening its fall in China: the long shadow of Washington's aggressive tariff policy and its downstream effects on public sentiment. Film is part of the broader U.S. services sector, where the United States has traditionally maintained a significant trade surplus with China. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. service exports to China grew more than eightfold between 2001 and 2023, with the annual surplus peaking at nearly 40 billion dollars. Film and other IP-driven content have long been a key part of that advantage. 'U.S. politicians fixated on manufacturing trade deficits are overlooking the billions America has earned through services,' said Ming Jinwei, a Beijing-based commentator and widely followed blogger. He warned that weaponizing tariffs could backfire by undermining America's winning sectors. 'Irrational U.S. tariffs could trigger a chain reaction, as IP-driven cultural industries are 'cross-media, integrated and long-chained,'' said Chen Xuguang, director of the Institute of Film, Television and Theatre at Peking University. Washington's tariff policies risk triggering a ripple effect, with audiences drifting away from Hollywood films and potentially other U.S. cultural exports tied to major IP, he said. REPERCUSSIONS Washington's trade restrictions and tariff escalations against China are already being felt in the reception of American cultural exports here. Franchises like Transformers, Fast & Furious and even Marvel, once guaranteed box office juggernauts, are now performing inconsistently — or outright poorly — in China. 'It's been rare for an American film to cross the 100 million yuan mark in China in recent years — unless it's something truly special,' said Dong Wenxin, a film critic and manager of a cinema in Jinan, Shandong Province. 'They're getting beaten not just by Japanese anime but also by European arthouse and regional Asian surprises.' Tastes are shifting. Japanese animation continues to draw steady crowds, while European and Southeast Asian films are gaining ground. This year's surprise hits, Italy's 'There's Still Tomorrow' and Britain's 'National Theatre Live: Prima Facie,' have exceeded expectations. Thailand's 'How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies' became a breakout sleeper last year. Looking ahead, Dong said China's film market is likely to forge even closer ties beyond the United States to meet the increasingly diverse audience needs. And Beijing is already moving in that direction. A recent film agreement with Spain calls for deepening collaboration on co-productions, film festivals and mutual screenings, signaling that China is broadening its cultural partnerships. The irony is stark: Washington's trade restrictions and tariff moves, designed to protect American industries, may end up crippling one of the country's most impactful exports — its cultural influence, analysts say. 'U.S. tariffs don't just tax goods — they tax appeal,' said Ming. 'And in today's global entertainment economy, once that appeal wanes, even the strongest cultural influence may have to struggle to endure.' ■
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Film Industry Takes Latest China Threats in Trump Trade War in Stride — for Now
When asked about China's plan to cut back on the Hollywood films it approves for release in its theaters in response to his tariffs, President Donald Trump responded with a chuckle on Thursday: 'I think I've heard of worse things.' Trump may not have many friends in Hollywood, but based on what studio insiders told TheWrap on Thursday, the response from the film industry to China's move against them is closer to the president's outright indifference than to any significant worry. That's because Hollywood has already largely made the adjustment to life without China after the country decoupled its rapidly rising market from American imports during the last surge in political tensions in the early stages of Joe Biden's presidency. In 2022, only 25 films from the U.S. were approved for Chinese release, according to data from Bloomberg and Maoyan. Last year, that number increased to 42 as annual box office totals fell 23% year-over-year to $6 billion, but that number is still two-thirds of the all-time high of 63 American imports released in 2018. Now, with the local film market back in high gear thanks in great part to the record-breaking success of 'Ne Zha 2,' China can afford to close the valve on Hollywood again. 'I think with only a couple exceptions, everyone has been making movies the last few years with China not really included when judging box office potential,' one studio insider told TheWrap on condition of anonymity. *** Back in 2021, without a public declaration from its government film board like the one made Thursday, China significantly curtailed the number of U.S. movies that it approved for local release. With films like 'The Battle of Lake Changjin,' 'Hi, Mom' and 'Detective Chinatown 3' topping the charts, some of the top Hollywood titles of that year, including all of Marvel Studios' output like 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' were not approved for Chinese release. That sudden pullback forced Hollywood to pivot from a strategy it had adapted through the 2010s that put China at the forefront of its overseas releasing. After a 2012 agreement between the two countries that guaranteed a quota of 34 Hollywood imports, the American film industry worked tirelessly to attract Chinese audiences as thousands of theaters were rapidly built across the country. Though studios only received 25% of grosses from Chinese theaters, it was still a rapidly developing and largely untapped market. Films like 'The Meg' and 'Warcraft' were developed through co-productions with Chinese companies, and studios subjected their films to state censor boards to receive distribution approval. But in the 2020s, the decrease in China's dependency on the U.S. to sustain its box office has been rapid. No Hollywood films cracked the top 10 highest grossing movies in China in 2023, while Warner Bros./Legendary's 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' was the sole U.S. entrant on the 2024 charts with $132 million, good for eighth that year. And this year, the Chinese film industry achieved a remarkable milestone and its own flag of independence from the Hollywood machine, when the animated blockbuster 'Ne Zha 2' became among the top five highest-grossing films in history with a $2.14 billion box office. It's the first animated film to cross $2 billion thanks to repeat viewings from Chinese moviegoers excited to see a film rooted in their culture and with the production value that until recently they could only get from American companies like Disney and DreamWorks. Since the pandemic, only eight films from American studios have grossed more than $100 million in China, the highest being Disney/20th Century's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' in 2022-23 with $246 million. By comparison, nine Hollywood films crossed that threshold in 2019 alone, led by 'Avengers: Endgame' with $632 million. Perhaps a complete ban may have been a bigger concern in Hollywood. That was rumored to have been on the table when a Xinhua news editor and the influential grandson of a CCP official posted on social media that a film ban was among six countermeasures being considered by the Chinese government in response to Trump's tariffs, which on Thursday were hiked to 145%. But one executive who oversees Chinese film distribution told TheWrap on Wednesday that his company didn't think a ban was seriously considered. Despite Hollywood's reduced footprint, there are still several American films with substantial hype among Chinese audiences set for release this year, including December's 'Avatar: Fire and Ash,' November's Disney animated sequel 'Zootopia 2' (Shanghai Disneyland is the only Disney park with a 'Zootopia'-themed land) and Paramount's 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,' which is driven by the global star power of Tom Cruise. It's possible that, as the CFA spokesperson suggested, Trump's actions lead the Chinese public to skip 'Zootopia 2' and all other American cinema that does make it into theaters out of a sense of patriotism, similar to how Canadians have responded to Trump's tariff threats by pledging to buy local goods rather than American imports. But an insider at Disney said that it was still too early to conclude that the tariff dispute would result in a significant hit to Disney. This executive suggested that the company's exposure was significant, but not so significant as to pose an insurmountable risk. That's not to say that Trump's tariffs don't have Hollywood worried about other forms of negative impact. An insider at another major studio said that a bigger issue beyond China is how the tariffs could weaken the U.S. dollar against other global currencies. 'From a box office perspective, returns come in at a higher rate internationally when the value of the dollar is lower. However, the cost of doing business increases, so there is a tradeoff,' the insider said. 'Given the volatility, we're not sure what that will ultimately entail.' The post Film Industry Takes Latest China Threats in Trump Trade War in Stride — for Now appeared first on TheWrap.
