While the mainstream press freaks out over every headline about tariffs against China, Hollywood’s got a little secret: it doesn’t need China anymore. Yeah, you heard that right. Those long, awkward years of sanitizing scripts, deleting Taiwanese flags, and pretending like the CCP doesn’t have its hand up the backside of every movie playing east of the Pacific? That era is over. Dead. Buried. Good riddance.
Want proof? Just look at the cold, hard numbers.
China’s Impact on the Top Ten Films in 2024
In 2024, the top 10 Hollywood films — the big winners like Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Dune: Part 2 — pulled in nearly $8.9 billion globally. And how much of that came from the People’s Republic of China? A paltry $429 million — a mere 5% of the total haul. Even worse (or better, depending on your stance), the studios only take home 25% of their China earnings, meaning the check cut to China was just $107 million.
Let’s be real — $107 million feels significant but barely covers the CGI budget for a Marvel third-act punch-fest. If China banned all American movies tomorrow, the impact on Hollywood would be the same as losing a cup of coffee off the craft services table.
And this isn’t just some rogue opinion from the fringes of indie film circles (ahem, like us). Even The Wrap admits Hollywood already made peace with life beyond the Great Firewall. As reported in our own coverage and echoed by studio insiders, the industry’s been adjusting since the Trump-Biden trade war days. Chinese audiences have been ghosting American films in favor of homegrown blockbusters like Ne Zha 2. In meantime, The Wrap reports Hollywood execs have quietly removed China from their Excel budget sheets since 2020.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Legendary
But what about their 23% BO support of Godzilla x Kong, which was the only top 10 film to get a decent boost from China — but even that’s misleading? China had partial ownership of Legendary Pictures during its release, so it received VIP treatment. Take Godzilla x Kong out, and the Chinese market’s total contribution to the U.S. box office shrinks significantly. NOTE: Legendary Pictures bought out China’s ownership in October 2024, but not before China reaped its portion of ticket sales.
So why are we still making movies that play it safe just to appease the censors in Beijing? Why are we still gutting scenes, rewriting dialogue, and turning Superman into a globalist nothing-burger so that it might pass muster in a market that gives back pennies on the dollar?
Answer: we shouldn’t be.
It’s time for Hollywood to remember its roots. The French make French films. The Koreans make Korean films. The Indians are crushing it with unapologetically Indian cinema (RRR, anyone?). Maybe it’s time America started making unapologetically American movies again — not for foreign bureaucrats or global box office gods, but for us. And if that makes Beijing squirm?
Well, they can always go watch Wolf Warrior 3.
