Hollywood Has Been Shunned in China. What Does This Imply for ‘Uncharted’ and Other Upcoming Films?

When “Uncharted,” a big-budget version of the famous video game, was given a release date in China, Sony officials breathed a sigh of relief.

The Chinese government, which has complete control over which films are shown in its theatres (and when they are shown), has recently become extremely picky about which non-Chinese films are allowed to be shown in the country’s tens of thousands of locations. As a result, several of Hollywood’s greatest pandemic-era blockbusters were denied entrance to Chinese theatres, including “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and “Eternals.” The lack of such films has lost them tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in box office receipts.

However, just because “Uncharted” is due to premiere in China on March 14 does not guarantee that the picture will be a success there. In an alternative world, an action-adventure film like “Uncharted,” starring Tom Holland as treasure hunter Nathan Drake from “Spider-Man,” might have made a lot of money in China. Instead, it will serve as a crucial test of whether Chinese audiences are interested in Hollywood productions. Recently, the few films that China’s censors have permitted have failed to do well at the box office.

“Hollywood exports that have lately launched in the Middle Kingdom haven’t exactly lit the box office on fire,” adds Bock. “In the past, China was a certain method for American films to gross more over $1 billion globally.”

Reaching the billion-dollar threshold without playing in China is no longer a given in the present international order. In many circumstances, it has gone completely out of reach. It’s a problem since these large-budget tentpoles were made in a different era: not just before the epidemic, but also when China was a huge fan of Hollywood movies.

“Two to four weeks after the rest of the globe is OK, especially for these major movies — as long as it’s exclusive to theatres and not available on streaming,” says David A. Gross, president of the movie research company Franchise Entertainment Research. “It shouldn’t take that long.”

Bock said, “Piracy is always a secondary issue.” “However, the vast majority of multiplex patrons want to see popcorn movies on the largest screen available.”