We are a mere nine weeks into 2017, but already the box office has seen plenty of big releases that are performing like blockbusters worldwide. What stands out about these films is, their journey to the top of the charts is driven by an obvious single common denominator in almost every instance -- huge revenue in China. Granted, it's not breaking news that China is a huge market where films can rack up strong ticket sales to boost their final tallies, but this year those returns from the Middle Kingdom are more important than ever and account for a shocking portion of the overall box office so far. Indeed, without China, most of the top-grossing films would be only modest performers at best.
To get an idea of what we're talking about here, first just take a look at the top seven highest grossing movies released in 2017 to date, including their global box office totals and China receipt totals:
- xXx: The Return of Xander Cage ($332 million worldwide, $154 million in China)
- Fifty Shades Darker ($330 million worldwide, $ million in China)
- Your Name. ($327 million worldwide, nearly $84 million in China)
- The Great Wall ($303 million worldwide, $170 million in China)
- Kung Fu Yoga ($246 million worldwide, $244 million in China)
- Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back ($245 million, $237 million in China)
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($238 million worldwide, $94 million in China)
China account for $983 million of the $2.02 billion worldwide cume for the top seven movies this year, and that includes the tally for one film -- Fifty Shades Darker -- that isn't even playing in China. So if we adjust for that, and only count the films with China releases, then China brought in $983 million out of a $1.69 million global total for those six films. But even with Fifty Shades Darker in the equation, China's box office power made it responsible for 48.6% of the worldwide revenue for the top seven films, an amazing accomplishment by any measure.
Here is an even more astonishing comparison: The U.S. domestic ticket sales totals for those same films adds up to just $216 million, or a mere 22% of China's $983 million total. Put another way, while China accounted for 48.6% of the worldwide box office for the year's seven top films, North American accounted for 10.6% of that same box office.
If we look deeper into the year's box office charts and carry our math through to the top 15 releases, that adds another $1.03 billion to the global cume (raising the grand total for our analysis to $3.05), of which $450 million comes from China (bringing the Middle Kingdom's total share of the top 15 to $1.43 billion). These additional eight films include four that weren't even released in China, so along with Fifty Shades Darker that means one-third of the top-15 releases haven't even made their way to China's market yet. In comparison, only one of the films -- Your Name. -- as so far failed to garner a U.S. release.
Last year, there was a lot of talk about how certain films -- namely, Deadpool and Suicide Squad -- were able to climb into the top box office charts without a China release, and of course it's still possible for plenty of films to enter the charts based primarily on their domestic box office and/or their international tally outside of China. Indeed, we are still early in the year and as time goes by we're going to see lots of movies that are less reliant on the Middle Kingdom for their success.
That said, what we're experiencing is a new phenomenon where the very start of the year can see big box office hits driven largely by China's revenue stream, and even films that don't rely on China to be a hit still seek China's big box office boost to ensure their international blockbuster status. So, while Star Wars: The Last Jedi won't live or die by its China performance, The Fate of the Furious will hang much of its hopes on the franchise's enormous popularity and performance in that market, for example.
Chinese films are likewise proving increasingly popular with global audiences, and the country is committing to a larger, more varied slate of releases with better production values and more international appeal. They'll see a big payoff as their movies expand into wider releases around the world and continue to climb the box office charts, and this is actually good news for Hollywood since Hollywood films -- particularly big-budget branded franchise pictures -- are helping whet the appetite of audiences in China, so it's in China's best interest to allow more releases for longer periods, alongside building of more theaters every year. The larger the audience, the larger the potential box office returns, obviously, and since studios only get about 30% of the ticket sales revenue from that market, increasing attendance and sales is the no-brainer route to upping the value of the Chinese market's contribution to overall success. Which in turn works to China's advantage, and so on.
Most important of all, though, is that more content and increased competition to win attention from a worldwide audiences means the quality of offerings will likewise improve. I know many folks will read that claim and disagree, asserting the common refrain that "they don't make 'em like they used to" and bemoaning the sequels and supposedly "mindless" cinematic output nowadays, but I'd just note last year saw 36 potential Best Picture nominees, a wide array of high-quality cinematic releases from every possible genre, and even our summer blockbuster "popcorn entertainment" is in fact mostly ever-improving great, thoughtful content. Yes, there are exceptions, but that's just it -- they're exceptions, not the rule. And meanwhile, any decade or year or era of cinema you want to examine has plenty of low-rent, low-quality productions as well as remakes, adaptations, sequels, and star-driven simplistic popcorn entertainment. Audiences these days do have a more refined palate, as not only the film releases but also the current golden era of television demonstrates.
China won't entirely dominate receipts and releases once we reach the end of the year and all of the numbers are added up. But that outcome draws closer every year, and it seems inevitable we will reach a time when not only box office receipts but also the films spawning them will prove China rules the box office once and for all.
Box office figures and tallies based on data via Box Office Mojo, Rentrak, and TheNumbers.
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