Previously, the sustenance of America film Industry came from domestic ticket sales within US but today, overseas markets especially Asia have become profoundly important.
This is due to the increasing growth of Asia’s middle class which has created a huge new entertainment market industry. For example, China was involved in building about 27 cinema screens daily surpassing the US which has a total of 40,475 screens. Also, the revenue from China’s box office is likely to surpass that of the United States making it the largest movie market in the world.
Obviously, the film industry in US will want to reach the Asian customers but some Asian countries limit the number of foreign films that get in every year. Regardless, America film industry is busy adapting to the needs of Asian moviegoers.
Culture clash
The entry of American film industry into Asian countries calls for a lot of vigilance as it can no longer afford to reinforce the old stereotypes if it wants to benefit financially from the international film market. Movie makers have to start considering other cultures, the things they value as well as how they view the world and include them into the storytelling.
This may force the US film industry to go to extraordinary lengths. For example, when Red Dawn thriller was released, it featured Chinese villains which led to a lot of criticism in the Chinese media. This resulted to the removal of all villain scenes and they were replaced with North Koreans.
Another consequence of conveying US values to the rest of the world is that certain American narratives may have to be omitted from the entertainment industry. This includes stories of African Americans as finding their audience in the international market has always been a struggle and other countries do not relate with their stories.
Also, it will pose as a challenge to certain genres especially comedy. This is because most comedians do not translate the humour and it is likely not to play well in most parts of Asia.
Positive impacts of Asian influence in America film industry
A major bonus of the growing Asian market is that it provides a big safety net for the American based movies that fail domestically. There are many examples of stumbling US box office but doing great in the Asian market such as the sci-fi war film Battleship, starring Rihanna and Liam Neeson which generated $65 million only in ticket sales in US but brought a whopping $187 million from Asia.
The growing Asia market brings profitability to films that could have otherwise sunk if they relied on domestic box office only.
Commercially, United States reliance on Asian market has been nothing but successful. Catering for the increased number of audiences may have its challenges but the international market is keeping the American film industry pulsating with life. Even with predictions that Asia may dominate the film industry in the coming years, American film industry still retains its dominance as the most robust exports in the world.