headlines have lately been dominated by Hollywood movies like Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which has become the first movie of the year to hit $1 billion, and Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.” But a closer look at the global box office recovery indicates that Tinseltown does not have the field to itself.
China’s five-day May Day holiday season was worth over $190 million , according to mainland Chinese sources. Typically, it saw more than a dozen Chinese-produced new release titles, but the lively festival period also kept Japanese animation film “The First Slam Dunk” in play. “There has been a marked increase in the number of titles from China and Japan that are making their mark in the top 10 global chart, particularly over the past few months,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior market analyst at Comscore. But, he adds, “Hollywood films, which had been largely absent from screens in China in 2022, have made a comeback with the acceptance of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.
Researchers at another consultancy Gower Street Analytics recently revised upwards their forecasts for the global box office this year, following a strong first quarter driven by Chinese blockbusters “Full River Red” and “The Wandering Earth II,” the long legs of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and a triumphant debut for “Super Mario.”