China’s national film bureau says US films aren’t very popular after Washington imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.
China has now “moderately reduces” the release of Hollywood films in the Chinese market on the latest front of the growing US-China trade war.
China’s national film administration directly linked Thursday’s decision to US tariffs on Chinese products, which US President Donald Trump raised to Sky High 145%.
“The wrong move by the US government to abuse tariffs on China will further reduce the favorability of domestic audiences towards American films,” the film administration announced.
“We follow market rules, respect the choices of our audience, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported,” it said.
The decision seems not to be surprising to observers who predicted that China might target Hollywood as part of its response to a surge in US tariffs.
China accepts 10 films a year from Hollywood, and the Chinese market was once considered a major source of revenue for the US film industry.
However, in recent years, the popularity of Western films has waned with Hollywood films, which account for just 5% of China’s box office revenue, author of Chris Fenton, author of Dragon Feeding the Dragon, facing Hollywood, NBA and American businesses.
Still, the message sent from China to the US film industry will be hard to overlook, Fenton said because of the industry’s iconic cultural force.
“This famous Hollywood punishment is a move of all strength by Beijing that Washington is sure to be noticed,” Fenton told Reuters.
It is still unclear how the decision will affect the release scheduled for later this year, including Paramount’s Mission Impossible, Final Calculations, Warner Bros.’s latest Superman film, and another version of Marvel’s Fantastic Four.
President Trump, who has been criticized by many Hollywood celebrities for his policy in the past, told reporters Thursday that he hasn’t been plagued by decisions made in China to target the film industry.
“I think you’ve heard something worse,” he said in response to the question.