Top 10 highest-earning foreign films in Chinese mainland 2019

Promotional material for Spirited Away Photos: Maoyan

 

Promotional material for Spirited Away Photos: Maoyan

In 2019, a total of eight Chinese-made films made it into the annual list of the top 10 highest-grossing films in the Chinese mainland, with animation Ne Zha garnering a record 5 billion yuan ($717.7 million) at the box office, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday, hailing the success as a major milestone for the Chinese film industry. 

Considering the success of domestic films in the country, how did foreign films fare in the Chinese market in 2019? 

Team USA

While things may look glum if you look at the top 10, which only has two foreign films, Avengers: Endgame (4.25 billion yuan) and Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw (1.43 billion yuan), if we extend the list to the top 20, things begin looking up for foreign films. 

Among the top 20 highest-grossing films in the Chinese mainland, eight were foreign films. To be noted, the top 10 highest-grossing foreign films were all produced by Hollywood studios. Films from Marvel Studios took up three slots out of the 10 - Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Captain Marvel, ranking in at 3rd, 11th and 15th respectively when it comes to all films in the Chinese mainland, and ranking in at 1st, 3rd and 5th among foreign films in the Chinese market.

'Spirited Away' 

The best-performing non-Hollywood film in China in 2019 was Spirited Away directed by famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. The Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy film made its debut in the Chinese mainland in June - 18 years after its original release in Japan - and went on to gross 488 million yuan in total. 

Its success may not seem that significant when set side by side with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was also released in June. Yet Spirited Away earned twice as much at the box office than Toy Story 4 (200 million yuan), which was also released that same month. 

All in all, this is an impressive performance for an 18-year-old film. While many Chinese audiences had already watched the Oscar-winner on TV, nostalgia pushed many moviegoers in their 20s and 30s to head to cinemas to experience the film as it was originally intended. 

"The first time I watched Spirited Away was about a decade ago. I didn't fully understand the movie when I was a child. As I watched it again, tears rolled down my face," wrote one netizen in post on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. 

Coming in January

For the first month of 2020, two foreign films have already been released: Spies in Disguise, a US animated film, and the classic 1997 Italian film Life is Beautiful. After their Friday release, the former grossed 30.44 million yuan over the weekend, while the latter has brought in 29.28 million yuan.    

According to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, 44 films will drop in January, of which 10 are non-Chinese films. On Friday, a total of six foreign films will be released in the Chinese mainland: Violet Evergarden, Fighting with My Family, The Farewell, Richard Jewell, Mirror without Reflection and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged.

Following the fierce competition on Friday, one English-language animated film, The Academy of Magic, is set to come out on January 17, while Extinction, a US sci-fi thriller, will hit theaters on January 18. Directed by Ben Young, the latter was originally released on Netflix on July 27, 2018.  


Newspaper headline: Box-office struggles