China's film market performs well, and the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's largest box office

At the US-Asia Entertainment Summit held in Los Angeles recently, a report pointed out that the box office scale of movies in the Asia-Pacific region has reached 16.7 billion US dollars, accounting for 40.6% of the global total box office. Asia-Pacific has become the region with the highest box office in the world.

"Whether you like it or not, the relationship between the United States and China is affecting the development of the Asia-Pacific region." Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that China-US relations in 2020 will become a key factor affecting the future, both from the perspective of geopolitics and the entertainment industry.

Michael Ellis, president of the Asia-Pacific region of the Motion Picture Association of America, pointed out that according to data from the Oxford Economics Institute, the film and television industry directly contributed $48.4 billion to China's gross domestic product (GDP) last year and directly created 4.7 million jobs; in Japan, the film and television industry's direct contribution to GDP was $22.53 billion and added 521,000 jobs; in South Korea, the film and television industry contributed $7.53 billion to GDP and provided 315,400 jobs.

China adds more than 20 new movie screens per day, but the average number of viewers per screen is still only 1, while the more mature South Korean market is 4. Despite its smaller population, South Korea has more screens per capita than China and Japan, and has the highest per capita penetration of video-on-demand, reaching 38%, while China is only 14% and Japan is 13%.

Other data shows that South Korea exported a total of $600 million worth of film and television products last year, of which about 31% were film products and 69% were television products. South Korea's animation industry has 5,600 employees, accounting for 16% of the direct employment rate in the film industry.

So far this year, the top three Hollywood movies in China are Avengers: Endgame at $597 million, Hobbs & Shaw at $202 million, and Spider-Man: Far From Home at $199 million. The top three Hollywood movies in Japan are Aladdin at $97 million, Toy Story 4 at $74 million, and The Lion King at $69 million—all three of which are Disney movies.

Last year, a total of nine Hollywood movies had higher box office in China than in the United States, including two superhero movies - "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" and "Aquaman"; two movies starring Dwayne Johnson - "Rampage" and "Skyscraper"; three science fiction action movies - "Pacific Rim: Uprising", "Ready Player One" and "Tomb Raider"; and two Sino-US co-productions - "The Meg" and "Johnny English Strikes Again".

So far this year, four Hollywood movies have performed better in China than in the United States: Bumblebee, the first Transformers spin-off, Alita: Battle Angel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Fast & Furious Hobbs & Shaw.

Michael Ellis said that Hollywood movies are often criticized for too many commercial blockbusters and a lack of "family-oriented movies", but he said: "This is a business, and these numbers speak for themselves: This is what the audience likes to watch. As long as the audience likes these movies, we will make them."