How China Will Change Hollywood's Future

Over the past few years, Hollywood profits have taken a dip, forcing the industry to rethink how it makes money. This is largely due to the rise in popularity of streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon , but also involves “blockbuster fatigue,” meaning movie-going audiences have become bored of the same formulaic plots playing out on the big screen, time after time.

In an effort to invent new and creative ways to keep turning a profit, Hollywood executives have looked to an unlikely partner: China. As the most populous nation in the world, China holds huge potential as a movie market and boasts the highest number of movie screens worldwide.

While cultural tastes may be too disparate for all-out film collaboration, there may be a new model that can mutually profit Chinese and Hollywood movie industries. For example, “Wolf Warrior 2,” a 2017 Chinese blockbuster that used tech and stunt expertise from America, was a huge success in China and the second-highest grossing film in a single market of all time.

In the short video above, The WorldPost interviews Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy, who is responsible for bringing hits including “Apocalypse Now” and “The Terminator” to the big screen, and Stan Rosen, a professor of Chinese politics and society at the University of Southern California. The two weigh in on the evolution of the China-Hollywood relationship and discuss what may lay ahead for the future of film, in the U.S. and abroad.