World's largest movie markets hit it big

Released in China in 1998, Titanic grossed 360 million yuan ($53.7 million), becoming a major commercial success. Its box office record stood for over a decade before Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar surpassed it in 2010, according to Sha Dan, a researcher at the China Film Archive.

"When Titanic entered the Chinese mainland, the domestic market had just begun importing large-scale, big-budget films in large numbers. It brought a psychological shock to many audiences, and it has since become a strong collective memory for Chinese movie fans — one that still resonates today," says Yin Hong, vice-chairman of the China Film Association.

The growing presence of Hollywood films was closely linked to changes in China's film-import policies. In January 1994, the China Film Administration allowed China Film Group Corporation, the country's largest State-owned film company, to import 10 foreign films a year under a revenue-sharing model. The share foreign production companies received subsequently rose from 13 to 25 percent.

Opening expanded further after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, when the annual quota for imported films under the revenue-sharing model was increased to 20. In 2012, China and the US signed an agreement raising the annual quota to 34, with 14 titles required to be 3D or large-format movies.

By the end of 2025, a total of 1,057 American films — including flat-fee titles acquired through one-time payments — had been officially released in China, more than from any other country, according to data in Zhi's book.

The way those films reached Chinese audiences has also changed. American movies were previously released on the Chinese mainland several months after their US debuts, but in recent years, releases have increasingly been simultaneous, and some have even opened on the mainland a few days ahead of their US debuts, Zhi says.

"Since 2002, American films have been screened in English with Chinese subtitles, as the younger generation of Chinese moviegoers become increasingly fluent in English," she adds.

Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of China's film industry has transformed the domestic market. The number of Chinese films produced each year has grown from around 100 in the 1990s to more than 1,000 in recent years, with annual box office revenue rising from 860 million yuan in the 1990s to 51.8 billion yuan in 2025.

"Although Hollywood films have always been an important force in China's film market, their appeal has somewhat declined since 2021," Zhi says, attributing the shift in part to advances in Chinese cinema, including storytelling and visual effects.

Currently, the highest-grossing American film released on the Chinese mainland is the animated hit Zootopia 2, which has earned 4.14 billion yuan, followed by the superhero film Avengers: Endgame with 4.02 billion yuan. Meanwhile, all five of the highest-grossing movies in China are homegrown features, with Ne Zha 2, which earned a stunning 15.4 billion yuan, topping the all-time charts.

For Chinese filmmakers, however, the relationship with Hollywood has never been solely based on competition. In recent decades, it has also given local filmmakers opportunities to learn from their Western counterparts, says Sha, who has served as a Beijing International Film Festival curator since 2015.

Along the way, Chinese filmmakers — nurtured by traditional culture and a distinctive concern for Chinese values — have found their own ways to attract international attention, Sha says.