Can Hollywood Rescue The Chinese Box Office?

The Middle Kingdom looks to star-driven tentpoles to drive profits

- Patrick Brzeski

By all accounts, 2016 was a disappoint-ing year at the Chinese box office, but three months into the new year, Hollywood fare has created optimism for a rebound. Already, two U.S. imports have crossed the 1 billion RMB mark (an important local milestone) in China: xXx: Return of Xander Cage ($163.6 million) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($159.5 million). Even more encouraging is the fact that Hollywood’s biggest China-friendly tentpoles have yet to hit the market.

“As the 2017 year opens up, there will be many major studio films we’ll be following,” says Rance Pow, president of the Shanghai based cinema consulting firm Artisan Gateway. Indeed, if the blockbuster pedigree of the big-budget releases on the horizon is any indication, China’s box office is in for a major boost.