Transformers, Age of Extinction movie poster.JPG
Hollywood keeps conquering box offices worldwide--and China is its Number One target.
From January to June 20, Hollywood movies decisively defeated Chinese-made films in China's box office sales by a landslide.
Hollywood's five biggest money making films in China during the June 20 weekend were Godzilla, Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Grace of Monaco.
Unfortunately for China's movie moguls, another Hollywood hit, Transformers: Age of Extinction, that opened in China June 27 continued this trend of Hollywood dominance.
Director General Zhang Hongsen, head of the China Film Bureau, isn't pleased by the less than sterling box office of Chinese films. He said the box office conflict between Hollywood and Beijing being waged in Chinese theaters is well and truly "a war."
"This is the year when the battle between Hollywood and China really begins," Zhang said.
"Chinese films are encountering serious challenges, and 2014 is a crucial year to decide who the winner will be."
Zhang and Chinese moviemakers are concerned Chinese studios and distributors won't be able to compete against the box office appeal of Hollywood's big stars; its massive resources and marketing savvy.
"The main point is that we need to defend and fight for our cultural territory. On the economic aspect, we will have to see if we will be forced to surrender," said Zhang.
One thing that has so far prevented Hollywood from making even more money in China is that China only allows 34 internationally made movies to be screened in Chinese theaters every year.
That restriction, however, will be lifted in 2017. Zhang and China's movie makers are scared of the massive flood of Hollywood that will inundate China beginning that year.
They see a further loss of ticket sales to Hollywood. China's box office sales came to US$3.9 billion in 2013, the world's second largest next only to the U.S.
With growth in the U.S. box office remaining weak, Hollywood studios are primed for an even greater invasion of China.
MichaelBay's Transformers 4: Age of Extinction dominated last weekend's box office in the U.S. and in China, where the movie opened simultaneously.
Age of Extinction, a Sino-American co-production, scored the biggest opening weekend of 2014 in the U.S. It earned a huge US$100 million in the U.S. and US$301.3 million worldwide.
The movie earned US$30 million in China on its first day and US$90 million on its opening weekend, a record for a foreign film playing in China. Age of Extinction's massive box office success in China confirmed Zhang's worst fears.
"With the release of Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, domestic film's market share will fall below 50 percent," Zhang said before the opening of Age of Extinction.
Zhang's self-fulfilling prophecy became a reality despite his appeal to Chinese theater owners not to give Age of Extinction 100 percent of the screening time.
His appeal failed and he has just three years to prevent to inevitable.
