A Short History of China’s “Summer Blackout”
In 2004, China’s Film Bureau started to carry out an undeclared annual moratorium on imported, especially Hollywood, films during summer moviegoing season with the aim to facilitate the growth of domestic films. This strategy seems to be effective, as local films gradually increased their market share and started to dominate the summer season since 2015. As local films have been showing great momentum, the Chinese authorities seem to feel more confident nowadays to welcome foreign films during the summer in order to encourage competition and boost overall box office figures. This year, 15 foreign films were released in Chinese theaters between June and August. While some Hollywood movies, such as The Meg, Skyscraper and Ant-Man and the Wasp, enjoyed the loosened policy and went on to make big bucks, some movies flopped. The biggest Hollywood flop is Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, which only made 4 million yuan ($0.59 million) in the middle kingdom. It remains to be seen if the “summer blackout” will be eliminated for good or reappear next year. Read more on Mtime
A Look at This Year’s Summer Cinematic Season in China
As the summer moviegoing season is going to an end, we take a look at the overall performance of this year’s summer films in China. From June 1 to August 25, 128 films were released in Chinese theaters and grossed 16.346 billion yuan, slightly higher than last summer’s total box office of 16.337 billion yuan made between June 1 and August 31. This year’s summer slate demonstrates more diversity in genre. Many commercially successful movies, such as Dying to Survive and The Island, also received decent reviews. However, this summer also saw an unprecedented number of flops. Among the 128 released films, ticket sales of the top 5 films made up 58% of the total box office earnings. In addition, this summer saw an astonishing number of films cancelled or postponed their releases. The most memorable box office bomb that cancelled its release was Asura. Read more on entgroup.cn
Bruce Willi’s ‘Death Wish’ Set for September 21 China Release
2018 American action thriller film Death Wish, which is produced by MGM Studios and directed by Joe Carnahan, has been scheduled to release in China on September 21. The film stars Bruce Willi as a Chicago doctor who sets out to get revenge on the men who attached his family. In addition to Bruce Willi, cast members also include Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue and Dean Norris. Read more on Mtime
