China could be about to give Hollywood a big boost

China, an increasingly important market for Hollywood films, is looking to increase the number of foreign productions shown at cinemas.

The box office in China has been slowing in the past year and there have been strong hints from officials that from 2018 there could be significantly more open competition from foreign films entering the market than in the previous 5 years.

Currently, China maintains an import quota where only 34 foreign films are allowed to be shown at the domestic market, however, new negotiations starting in February 2017 could relax these restrictions.

This comes after Wanda Group along with the support of local government established a $750m film fund in China to lure Hollywood productions. A 40% rebate is also being provided to Hollywood producers which is effectively making China considerably more competitive than many US states on production costs.

As a result, we could see more China-US co-productions to provide content to a domestic market that is set to become the largest in the world and the primary source of box office revenue in the coming years for major blockbusters.