There was a time when major Hollywood blockbuster releases in China were seen as vital to a film’s ultimate success, and often given as much weight as a domestic release. However, China has always kept tight controls over what western films saw release. And combined with a global pandemic that saw a major clampdown on foreign films, Marvel Studios (once a powerhouse in China), has been dealing with an unofficial ban in the nation. But the over three year drought for Marvel is finally coming to an end.
A Marvel character’s film hasn’t been released in China since Spider-Man: Far From Home in the summer of 2019. The last Marvel Studios production released there was Avengers: Endgame, which mean the entirety of the MCU’s Phase Four has been kept out of China to this point.
However, Deadline reports two films have now secured back-to-back release dates as China will see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which came out in the rest of the world in November 2022, hitting theaters on February 7, 2023, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will open only 10 days later on February 17, the same day it opens in North America.
The global pandemic in China was obviously a big part of the reason that Marvel’s Phase Four was kept out of the country. Theaters spent long periods of time closed and China’s zero-covid policy resulted in lockdowns in major cities more than once. China’s box office has been struggling, and so even when movies were being released, limiting competition for domestic movies was likely a major consideration.
China has always managed foreign movie releases, often instituting blackout periods where Hollywood films are prevented from being released in order to give domestic film productions a chance to be successful. 2021 also marked the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party in China, and it seems that part of the decision to limit Hollywood films in the last couple of years came from a concerted effort to not be seen as unsupportive of Chinese society and culture.
Now that China has abandoned its zero-covid policy, and the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is over, it seems that China has more leeway to do things like release Hollywood films. China’s box office was down 36% last year and Marvel movies tend to be very successful in China, so these movies alone could go a long way to helping the box office recover.
If China is going to start accepting more movies from Hollywood again we could see a significant increase in global box office performance across the board, not just with Marvel films. However, it will be interesting to see if this also means a return to seeing content change for Chinese release. It was not uncommon for studios to make edits to films, such as regarding any explicitly gay references, in order for them to get released in China and other nations. The lack of Chinese film releases in the last couple years has meant those edits largely haven’t happened, but they could be back on the table once again.
