How the Australian film industry hopes to reshape Chinese cinema
Lured by the promise of profitable co-productions, filmmakers from Australia attempt to cash in on China’s growing appetite for blockbusters
When martial arts blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) earned an astronomical US$854 million in China last year – making it the second-highest grossing film in a single market ever, behind Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) – two things happened. First, the economic might of the Chinese film audience was thrown in the spotlight again. Second, commentators couldn’t stop noticing the film’s unabashed patriotism.
One writer combed the film for evidence of China’s geopolitical strategy; The Australian newspaper even called it “Communist propaganda”. Hollywood movies were once regularly accused of “cultural imperialism”, but the rah-rah flag-waving of a Michael Bay film is now so familiar as to be invisible. Yet when China does the same, everybody takes notice.
The response to the film was symptomatic of China’s growing status as a global superpower and the cultural influence its cinema is set to wield. The moneymaking potential of China’s film economy is difficult to resist, but for Western film industries, entanglement with China means adjusting their product in ways that go beyond the proscriptions of the local censors.
China’s increasing effect on Hollywood is already becoming evident: superstar cameos in big franchises such as Transformers and X-Men, for instance, or the four minutes added to the Chinese edit of Iron Man 3 (2013). The biggest move, though, is co-productions: projects for which international producers officially partner with China’s state film authorities.