{"id":17157,"date":"2019-07-10T01:14:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T01:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17157"},"modified":"2019-07-11T15:25:47","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T15:25:47","slug":"a-booming-international-movie-market-is-transforming-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/a-booming-international-movie-market-is-transforming-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"A booming international movie market is transforming Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weiko Lin<\/a>, Emerson College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s \u201cShang-Chi<\/a>\u201d \u2013 the studio\u2019s first Asian superhero movie \u2013 is a sign of the times.<\/p>\n

Destin Daniel Cretton, who is of Asian descent<\/a>, will be directing the film, which will feature a Chinese superhero who originally appeared in one of Marvel\u2019s 1973 comics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a bilingual screenwriter with projects in the U.S. and China<\/a>, I see \u201cShang-Chi\u201d as yet another example of an exciting trend in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

More than ever before, studios are realizing that diverse casts and stories are just as profitable \u2013 if not more so \u2013 than the traditional Western narratives that dominated Hollywood for decades.<\/p>\n

More \u2018comps\u2019 for inclusive stories<\/h2>\n

When pitching a film to studios, writers and producers will commonly use what are called \u201ccomps.\u201d These examples of previously released films that are similar in style or content bolster the feasibility of a film project; if a version of a pitched script has been successfully pulled off in the past, the studio might worry less about sinking money into it.<\/p>\n

A dearth of financially successful comps with diverse lead casts has made it tough to pitch films with nonwhite main characters. And that\u2019s one of the reasons why inclusive stories were only sporadically green-lit for major studio productions.<\/p>\n

For years, if you were to pitch a story to a major studio with an all-Asian cast, you would have had almost no comps other than \u201cJoy Luck Club<\/a>.\u201d That critically acclaimed film pulled in US$32.9 million at the U.S. box office on a $10.5 million budget. While that\u2019s a respectable profit, it was no blockbuster, and it didn\u2019t trigger an onslaught of movies starring Asians.<\/p>\n

Then \u201cCrazy Rich Asians<\/a>\u201d happened. The 2018 romantic comedy wildly surpassed expectations by earning $238 million around the world with a $30 million budget, making it the top-grossing romantic comedy in 10 years<\/a>, surpassing both \u201cThe Proposal\u201d and \u201cSex and the City: The Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other successes have followed. \u201cTo All the Boys I\u2019ve Loved Before<\/a>\u201d features a Korean American teenager whose secret love letters are mailed to her crushes. \u201cAlways Be My Maybe<\/a>\u201d is about two Asian American childhood friends who fall for each other as adults.<\/p>\n

The same thing is happening with films that feature African American leads.<\/p>\n

Just in the past few years, \u201cGet Out<\/a>,\u201d \u201cUs<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBlack Panther<\/a>\u201d were blockbusters that starred black lead actors.<\/p>\n

Now, any screenwriter who wants to pitch a horror and superhero movie starring black actors or a romantic comedy with Asian characters has a handful of highly profitable comps at their disposal.<\/p>\n

A new definition of \u2018star power\u2019<\/h2>\n

Some claim the lack of representation on screen could be attributed to a simple fact: Movies need star power<\/a>, and very few A-list movie stars were people of color.<\/p>\n

Aside from actors like Denzel Washington or Jennifer Lopez, it was rare for an actor of color to be able to \u201ccarry\u201d a film. That reasoning doesn\u2019t hold water anymore. Today, Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson, who identifies as black and Samoan<\/a>, is the world\u2019s highest-paid<\/a> movie star.<\/p>\n

But one of the interesting aspects of films like \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d is that they were huge successes at the box office without any marquee movie stars.<\/p>\n

This has done two things: It showed studios that star power isn\u2019t as necessary as it was once thought to be. And it has allowed a new crop of diverse actors to emerge, with these films acting as a springboard to stardom.<\/p>\n

Studios have since realized it\u2019s less of a financial risk to hire unknown actors, who they can then cultivate and, if all goes well, leverage for future projects.<\/p>\n

Netflix is doing just that with talents like Ali Wong<\/a>. After two successful Netflix stand-up comedy specials, she co-wrote and starred in her first feature role in \u201cAlways Be My Maybe\u201d for the studio.<\/p>\n

The same thing happened to Daniel Kaluuya<\/a> of Universal Pictures\u2019 \u201cGet Out.\u201d Before the film, he was a relative unknown. Now he\u2019s starring in the upcoming \u201cQueen and Slim<\/a>\u201d from the same studio.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Before \u2018Get Out,\u2019 actor Daniel Kaluuya wasn\u2019t a household name.<\/span>
\nReuters\/Simon Dawson<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The expanding Chinese market<\/h2>\n

But why is all of this happening now?<\/p>\n

Ticket sales at U.S. cineplexes are at a six-year low<\/a>, while marketing costs are soaring<\/a>. As a result, studios are increasingly relying on international markets to reach profitability. Films like \u201cCoco<\/a>\u201d \u2013 which is set in Mexico \u2013 and \u201cFate of the Furious<\/a>\u201d \u2013 which features Hispanic and African American lead actors \u2013 have global appeal.<\/p>\n

The most tantalizing market is China.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoco\u201d is the highest-grossing animated movie ever in China; it pulled in $189 million<\/a> at the box office, which almost matched the $209 million<\/a> it earned stateside. And \u201cFate of the Furious\u201d actually made $392 million<\/a> in China, easily overtaking the $226 million<\/a> it earned in the U.S.<\/p>\n

China is presently Hollywood\u2019s biggest foreign market. According to projections by PricewaterhouseCoopers<\/a>, this year the Chinese box office will rake in $11.05 billion, compared to ticket sales in the U.S. of $12.11 billion. Next year, however, China is expected to surpass the U.S. for the first time and be crowned the world\u2019s largest film market.<\/p>\n

Chinese audiences love superhero flicks. \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d for example, earned more than $600 million in China<\/a> alone. But films with modest budgets can also do well there. With a $10 million budget, the 2016 Bollywood hit \u201cDangal<\/a>\u201d made $193 million in China, almost tripling its $77 million take in India.<\/p>\n

As for the future? Disney\u2019s upcoming live-action \u201cMulan<\/a>,\u201d which is based on a classic Chinese folk tale with an all-Chinese cast and a budget exceeding $100 million<\/a>, has the potential to shatter box office records.<\/p>\n