Watching Hollywood blockbusters in throngs and with bags of popcorn in arms used to be a kind of coming-of-age party for Chinese millennials, who spent their childhood and teenage years admiring the mighty cohort of American superheroes and secret agents.
Little did Hollywood know that its usual cinematic magic would one day fizzle out.
When Chinese cinemas reopened in 2023 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, studios were quick to offer China a slew of blockbuster hopefuls, only to find that the country’s audiences had seemingly moved on from superheroes and Tom Cruise-style individualism.
As Hollywood struggled to regain a foothold in the country, 2023 was also the year that China’s domestic film industry came into full bloom.
According to data published by Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, as of December 27, the Chinese box office had topped 53.8 billion
