After two brief years of dominance, China is abandoning the global market box office crown in North America in 2022.

During the darkest days of the pandemic for Hollywood, when most of the main tentpoles were suspended or moved to streaming, China has overtaken the United States in total ticket sales for the first time in movie history in 2020. The country repeated the feat last year, raking in $7.3 billion in ticket revenue, compared to just $4.5 billion in North America.

But the first half of 2022 delivered a very different picture. Ticket sales in China totaled just $2.6 billion in the past six months, down 38% from the same period in 2021, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. China’s strict “COVID-zero” approach to the pandemic has continued to weigh on cinema in the country, as major population centers like Shenzhen and Shanghai have been plunged into nationwide shutdowns. city ​​in response to omicron pushes. Frigid political relations between Washington and Beijing and an increasingly repressive political climate in China have also resulted in fewer Hollywood films being granted release dates there, limiting the volume and frequency of bankable products on offer. .

Total sales revenue in North America, meanwhile, made a strong comeback in the first half of the year, as studios began restoring exclusive theater windows for their biggest releases and that pandemic restrictions have moved into the background of civic life. Thanks to huge domestic performances of blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick ($571 million and up) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (410 million dollars) – two titles whose release dates have been denied in China for vague political reasons – North American ticket revenues reached $3.6 billion in the first half of 2022, compared to just $1 billion in dollars over the same period in 2021, according to Artisan Gateway estimates (sales still lagging pre-pandemic; H1 2019 revenue was $5.7 billion dollars).

The bad news for Hollywood is that films from American studios are earning less in China than they have in nearly a decade, despite returning to theaters in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Ticket sales for Hollywood studio films totaled just $400 million in China in the first half, down from $700 million last year – and before the pandemic, American films sold for $1.9 billion worth of tickets in China in the first half of 2019.

“Pandemic control measures limited China’s box office and gross admissions in the first half of 2022 to 2014-2015 levels, or about 57.8% of the first half of 2019 before the pandemic,” notes Rance Pow. , president of Artisan Gateway. “And the gap between the market share of Chinese and imported films has widened,” adds Pow, noting that Chinese-language films have grossed $2.2 billion in the past six months, compared to $400 million. dollars for American studios.

The Chinese box office has never been so busy this year, with eight films accounting for 60% of total receipts. Biggest earner was Bona Film Group’s nationalist war epic The Battle of Changjin II Lake ($626 million), the Chinese comedy by Xing Wenxiong too cool to kill ($217 million) and Wen Muye’s hit drama Nice view ($211 million).

Top Gun: MaverickThe national total of (now $571 million) could eventually catch up Battle at Changjin II LakeChina’s impressive $626 million haul – that’s a close race of rival propaganda war films in terms of the biggest domestic sales total. But China still presents no challenge for Hollywood cinema globally. Whereas maverick earned $544.5 million outside of North America (without a China release), Battle at Changjin II Lake grossed less than $1 million from outside China’s borders.

Artisan Gateway currently predicts that the Chinese box office will end 2022 with around $5.2 billion (RMB 35 billion) in total revenue. Any profit above that figure will depend on the number and quality of imported films Beijing regulators decide to allow into the market, the company said. Many analysts expect North American banknote revenues to exceed $7.5 billion this year.

Among the major Chinese titles expected to boost local sales in the second half of the year are: Chen Sicheng’s sci-fi family comedy Mozart in space (Wanda Media), Alibaba Pictures’ science fiction The Moon Mancomedy thriller ZQ Advancement (funny age); the first film in Beijing Culture’s fantasy franchise Fenshen Trilogy3D animation New Gods: Yang Jian (Light Chaser), sci-fi adventure deep sea (Beijing Enlight), Hong Kong science fiction in full gestation Future Warriors (Media Asia), aftermath of the crime white storm 3 (Universe Entertainment) and the latest nationalist epics from Bona Film Group Anonymous and Ordinary hero.