China to Reduce Imports of Hollywood Films as Trade War Escalates
It’s official: is set to reduce the number of Hollywood films it imports in response to an escalating tariff war with the U.S. and will look to increase film imports from other countries.
The China Film Administration (CFA), the body that handles film releases and quotas in the country, released a statement on Thursday in response to a reporter’s question about whether the Trump administration’s increasing on China would impact imports of American films. A spokesperson for the CFA said that the U.S. government had made the wrong move to “abuse tariffs on China” and that the situation “will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favorability towards American films.”
Related Stories
The statement added, “We will follow market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported. China is the world’s second-largest film market. We have always adhered to a high level of opening up to the outside world and will introduce more excellent films from the world to meet market demand.”
The move to reduce American film imports comes as Trump increased tariffs on China to 125 percent on Wednesday. China hit back on Thursday with tariffs of 84 percent on American goods.
On Tuesday, reports from China suggested that the country was mulling a ban or a reduction on the number of Hollywood films. Speculation had increased after two widely followed Chinese public figures — one an editor for a state media outlet, the other the son of a former party chief — released identical outlines on Tuesday of countermeasures Chinese authorities were said to be considering in response to Trump’s tariffs, and their outlines included a ban or reduction of imported American films.
Under the most recent trade agreements, China committed to releasing 34 foreign films per year under revenue-share terms, with overseas studios permitted to a 25 percent share of ticket sales.
The news of the reduction appeared to catch many in the Chinese film industry, particularly local exhibitors, by surprise. According to sources, China’s Film Bureau had just approved on Monday Disney and Marvel’s Thunderbolts for a theatrical release on April 30 (it’s now unclear whether that release will go forward). Exhibitors in contact with the bureau told The Hollywood Reporter that they were optimistically awaiting positive news about other upcoming U.S. releases, including Apple’s Brad Pitt starring racing movie F1.
China’s theatrical box office has staged a strong recovery this year from a severe downturn in 2024, when total ticket revenue declined 23 percent. The turnaround in 2025 has been profoundly top-heavy, though. As of Monday, theatrical revenue for the year was up 42 percent compared to the same period in 2024, but virtually all of the gains had come from just one film: Beijing Enlight’s animated sequel Ne Zha 2, which has earned a record-smashing $2.1 billion since its release during Chinese New Year in late January.
The popularity of Hollywood films has eroded drastically in the past several years, but top U.S. tentpoles can still occasionally bring in substantial revenue. In 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water made $246 million at the China box office. Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment’s A Minecraft Movie opened to $14.7 million last weekend, and local theater chains were banking on a summer slate of tentpoles like James Gunn’s Superman and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to help fill seats and keep the market recovery going.
Even with Hollywood’s diminished state in China, the film business is one sector where the U.S. maintains a sizable trade surplus with its geopolitical rival, as Chinese films, despite their enormous earnings in the home market, have made little headway with mainstream North American moviegoers.
Comments (0)