Journey to the East: A Review of Hollywood’s Film Localization Efforts for China’s Film Market

Abstract

The film market of China has been growing rapidly and is now the world’s second largest film market. Hollywood studios have been sending transnational films to China to receive additional revenues. This research investigates the three channels (i.e., flat-rate buyouts, co-productions, and revenue-sharing titles) through which Hollywood studios can enter their films in China’s film market and reviews the China-focused localization efforts that Hollywood studios have made to appeal to China. The review findings show that exporting Hollywood films to China as revenue-sharing titles has become the favorite approach for major Hollywood studios to gain additional revenues. To improve revenue-sharing films’ box-office performance, localization efforts of Hollywood studios are executed throughout a film’s theatrical life cycle, from a film’s planning and production stages to its distribution, promotion, and exhibition stages. Implications and suggestions as to how Hollywood studios can further utilize film localization efforts to enhance box-office success in China are also discussed in the present study.