{"id":1028,"date":"2018-11-18T16:47:11","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T16:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forbes.co.il\/e\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2022-01-06T11:24:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T11:24:11","slug":"why-are-there-no-more-chinese-villains-in-american-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forbes.co.il\/e\/why-are-there-no-more-chinese-villains-in-american-films\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Hollywood Stopped Using Chinese Villains?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 2nd, the movie \u201cIncredibles 2\u201d broke the $600 million mark in North America. It became the ninth movie in history to do so, and the fourth to make it within eight months. It was preceded by \u201cStar Wars: The Last Jedi\u201d, \u201cBlack Panther\u201d and \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d. Outside of North America, we are seeing inflation in revenues \u2013 2018 was the fourth year in a row in which at least four films reached billion dollars in global ticket sales, a club which until recently was highly exclusive – but now seems to be expanding at a dazzling pace.<\/p>\n

This huge film industry was already declared dead, with the rise of television, and then again, with the home theatre system, and finally – with the internet illegal downloads of the 2000s. But Hollywood is still alive and kicking and skyrocketing to new heights: in 2017, about $40 billion worth of movie tickets were sold, of which about $11 billion was from within North America.<\/p>\n

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7.7 tickets for every 1000 people in 1987, compared to 3.8 tickets in 2017 | Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The necessity of increasing revenues can be better understood if you consider the fact that movie budgets have gone up greatly \u2013 resulting from the increasing investment in digital effects, global marketing campaigns, and huge salaries for the stars who demanded to benefit from this spectacle. These expenditures have to be covered. If at the end of the 1980s, the big movies, such as \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d or \u201cBatman\u201d were produced for about $60-70 million (around $120-140 million in today\u2019s dollar) today, $200-250 million for a big movie is considered a standard budget. We have already seen movies spend as much as $300-400 million or more, like in the case of \u201cAvatar\u201d and the later installments of \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d, \u201cThe Avengers\u201d and \u201cStar Wars\u201d.<\/p>\n

The competition between the big films for the American viewer\u2019s ticket price is more difficult than ever; despite the nominal growth in revenues, in the last thirty years, the average number of North American film-goers has been cut in half (7.7 tickets for every 1000 people in 1987, compared to 3.8 tickets in 2017). In 2017, the number of tickets sold in North America was the lowest it has been in 25 years. The giant classic theaters, which were an inseparable part of the cinematic and cultural scene for half a century, could no longer survive the new era \u2013 most have closed and those that remain now offer a greater number of screens rather than one big one.<\/p>\n

A fateful week<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do studios manage to return these huge investments in this new era of increasing competition? The answer is improving the viewing experience, which makes it possible to charge more for your ticket, creating more aggressive marketing campaigns, but also\u00a0 by appealing to new audiences, namely, China.<\/p>\n

Like movie budgets, average ticket prices have also risen faster than inflation in the last 30 years, thanks<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>among other things, to the rise in popularity of projection methods such as 3D and IMAX, for which a higher ticket price can be charged. As such, big theaters have been replaced with the \u201cmultiplex\u201d such as\u00a0<\/span>Cinema City\u00a0<\/span><\/em>or\u00a0<\/span>Globus Max<\/span><\/em>, which offers dozens of screens, while switching to digital screening, which increases the flexibility of the theater, allowing them to meet a large demand for a particular film.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Today $200-250\u00a0million for a big movie is considered a standard budget | Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a battle being waged over the number of tickets sold as well. The solution that the studios have found has been to turn every average-plus film into an event and to hold a large global launch. As a result, if in the past a good movie could be shown for six months to a year and accumulate revenues gradually, these days the most successful movies typically make a third of their revenues by the end of opening weekend, and two-thirds of their revenue in the first ten days. So the fate of the production, which lasts years and costs hundreds of millions of dollars, is determined within days and even sometimes within hours.<\/p>\n

If we go back and compare how things look in the 80s and now \u2013 the peak revenue at the end of the first weekend of screening at the box office in North America has jumped tenfold since \u2013 from $25 million dollars for \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d to the $257 million dollars that \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d made by the end of its first weekend, earlier this year. No less important \u2013 this phenomenon, of opening with full force, has, in the last two to three years, going from an American event to a global event, and revenues from the rest of the world are likewise made mostly in the first days.<\/p>\n

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These days, great trailers alone are no longer enough | Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A strong global opening weekend is made possible by huge investments in marketing, which often amount to almost half of the entire production budget. This budget tries to create a buzz and make every movie into an event that must be seen \u2013 and fast. These days, great trailers alone are no longer enough. Before the big movies come out, we witness the creation of an entire world of content \u2013 comic books, viral campaigns on social media, and of course \u2013 merchandise and computer games, two fields that might yield several hundred million dollars to the rights holders.<\/p>\n

The biggest success story is the Marvel superhero series which brought us the Avengers and all of the related films such as \u201cIron Man\u201d and \u201cCaptain America\u201d. After a series of mediocre attempts to bring some of the characters of the 90s and early 2000s comics to life, it was decided to produce a series of films on those characters that exist in the same cinematic reality, and who might sometimes make crossover visits to the other films. The beginning was the first Iron Man in 2008. Let\u2019s have a look at the numbers then and now: 20 movies in the world of the Avengers have been produced at the cost of about $4 billion, and have brought in $17.5 billion in revenue to date. The revenues from related merchandise constitute many more billions, and another 12 movies are in various stages of production, along with several television programs.<\/p>\n

Star Wars has also had a revival in the new era – in 2012, Disney (which also owns Marvel) acquired Lucas Film for $4 billion. This acquisition granted them all of the rights to the worlds of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, two of the most successful series in film history. Since then, Disney has released four films in the Star Wars world, which together earned $5 billion at the box office and pumped fresh blood into the endless world of merchandising Jedi knights. Next year will bring us the 9th<\/sup> installment, which will conclude the sequel trilogy, but Disney is already working on two additional trilogies and a television series, all of which will take place in a galaxy far, far away.<\/p>\n

A matter of taste<\/strong><\/p>\n

With all due respect to the aggressive advertising in the existing market, the real potential for growth is Hollywood\u2019s entrance into a huge new market – the enormous Chinese viewership. In 2012, China agreed, for its own reasons, to open the market for some of the months of the year to foreign movies – 34 foreign films are allowed to be shown per year, and the studios only receive a quarter of the revenue. At a time when Western movie theaters are closing, they are expanding in China.<\/p>\n

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20 movies in the world of the Avengers cost $4\u00a0billion and brought in $17.5 | Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everyone wants a cut of this huge market, especially the locals who flock to American films. But movie taste is not the same, and some of the movies that were successful in the US failed in China, or the reverse. But there is a discernible trend of strong openings in the first weekend and rapid decline. In many cases, American movies are logging bigger revenues from their release in China than in North America. And it really is an enormous market – last year ticket sales for American movies in China reached nearly $3 billion (a third of total ticket sales). At this rate, within two years China will replace North America as the largest market for ticket sales in the world.<\/p>\n

When so much money depends on it, Hollywood is willing to make a few concessions and adaptations to please its new audience and entice them to come out to the movies in full force. And so we get special content for the Chinese alongside local casting for smaller roles. \u201cIron Man 3\u201d, for instance, was released in China in a different version than the rest of the world saw and included a number of scenes intended especially for the Chinese audience.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Asian stars, whom most of the Western audience will not have likely heard of, are being cast in small roles in American films to add market appeal for the Chinese audience – Fan Bingbing, the biggest star in the industry who, according to Forbes ranked fifth in the list of the world\u2019s most profitable actresses per film (and two months ago disappeared from the face of the earth, until it became clear that she had been arrested for tax evasion), appeared in a small role in \u201cX-Men: Days of Future Past\u201d. She herself admitted that her performance was aimed at attracting the Chinese viewership but added, half-jokingly, half-serious, that \u201cten years from now I will be the heroine of the X-men movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement may well come true. Hollywood is going out of its way to please its new public. Try to remember the last time you encountered an evil Chinese character in a Hollywood hit. Movies like \u201cThe Departed\u201d by Martin Scorsese, won the Oscar for best picture in 2006 and a film adaptation from Hong Kong was not screened in China after Scorsese refused to cut problematic scenes that challenged Chinese censorship. Two years later, Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cDark Knight\u201d was not even submitted for Chinese approval because of the presence of a dubious Chinese businessman character in the film.<\/p>\n

But since then Hollywood has gotten the idea (money talks) and the Chinese villain characters have almost completely disappeared, and in their place are characters that present the Chinese in a more positive light.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fan Bingbing | Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hollywood\u2019s big stars also recognize the trend and many of them are looking for ways to integrate into the new market. It is not a one-way street: while Asian talents come to act in Hollywood, American stars and professionals have been doing the reverse: Michael Douglas appears in the Chinese \u201cAnimal World\u201d this year, Bruce Willis and Adrian Brody act in \u201cUnbreakable Spirit\u201d about the Japanese bombing of China during World War II, and Matt Damon starred in the failed project \u201cThe Great Wall\u201d two years ago.<\/p>\n

Spoils of war?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This American-Chinese honeymoon is being dampened by the trade war between the two countries, which has already brought about a dramatic drop in this year\u2019s American films\u2019 successes in China. A few months ago, in the midst of talks between the two sides regarding the future of trade, the Chinese offered a temptation in the form of willingness to open the movie market to more American films – in exchange for American concessions in other areas. Hollywood lobbyists, despised by Trump, are exerting pressure to include an industry benefit for any future agreement or at least to preserve the status quo.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that Hollywood now has efficient mechanisms for producing and marketing films that cost tens of billions of dollars a year, despite all of the at-home tech developments of TV, VCRs, and the internet. But ultimately, even the most successful marketing machine can not hawk a bad product over time and anyone looking for big success in this industry must, as in all industries, innovate. The cash cow that Hollywood has found overseas is an opportunity to do so \u2013 even if it means that we will be seeing lots of new faces.<\/p>\n

The first weekend – peak development of opening weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/td>\nFilm<\/td>\nWeekend Revenue in<\/p>\n

millions of dollars ($)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n

2018<\/td>\nThe Avengers: Infinity War<\/td>\n257<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>\nStar Wars: The Force Awakens<\/td>\n247<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>\nJurassic World<\/td>\n208<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>\nThe Avengers<\/td>\n207<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>\nHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)<\/td>\n169<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>\nDark Knight<\/td>\n158<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2007<\/td>\nSpiderman 3<\/td>\n151<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006<\/td>\nPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man\u2019s Chest<\/td>\n135<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>\nSpiderman<\/td>\n114<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>\nHarry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/td>\n90<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1997<\/td>\nThe Lost World: Jurassic Park<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1995<\/td>\nBatman Forever<\/td>\n52<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1993<\/td>\nJurassic Park<\/td>\n47<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* The article translated by\u00a0Zoe Jordan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hollywood has already survived the technological developments that threatened to destroy its industry. A lesser-known fact – is that Hollywood’s real lifeline comes from its huge Asian audience overseas. Not exactly the image of the all-American, white heroes shown in movies. Are we about to see more Asian main characters on the big screen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":1031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Hollywood Stopped Using Chinese Villains? - Forbes Israel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hollywood has already survived the technological developments that threatened to destroy its industry. 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