Bollywood could gain from US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, as China could retaliate by curbing import of US products/services, including Hollywood films. While it could mean job cuts and financial losses in Hollywood industry, it could be ‘advantage’ Indian cinema.
Consider these facts:
- China’s box office surpassed that of North America’s in the first quarter of 2018.
- 2016 fantasy film ‘Warcraft’ made only $47 million in US, whereas most of the overall $433 million global box office earnings was from China
- Chinese audience seem to be bored (call it aesthetic fatigue) of American films
“Given the US-China trade friction and Chinese audience’s aesthetic fatigue toward American films, the Indian film industry will have greater opportunities. Indian films should take advantage of the US-China trade tension to appeal to Chinese audiences and cash in,” Tian Guangqiang, assistant research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times.
All this indicates, there’s a big opportunity for the Indian film industry. Indian films are already popular with Chinese because of cultural similarities. So the Indian movie industry better sit up and pay more attention to the Chinese market.
