A woman poses for a photo next to a wax figure of US film icon Marilyn Monroe in her classic 'updraft' pose at a new wax figure museum in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday. Photo: IC

The US film industry can be vulnerable to disturbances arising from the China-US trade war, as Chinese importers hesitate prior to buying US films in anticipation of uncertainties in the bilateral trade relationship. Chinese companies may gradually turn to other countries for imported movies, according to industry insiders. 

China became the biggest overseas market for the US film and TV industry, according to a report by the Film TV Observer on WeChat in March 2018. However, an increasing number of Chinese companies are showing concern about importing American films and TV shows.

An industry insider who attended the MIPTV media trade fair in Cannes earlier this year, told the Global Times Monday that his company has completely halted buying US TV shows due to rising uncertainties in the bilateral relationship.

The market sentiment could hurt the US film and TV industry in the short run, as the Chinese market has a rapidly growing volume that contributes significantly to the global revenues of US-made films and many American blockbusters are also making substantial revenue in the Chinese market. In 2018, Universal Studio's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, for example, generated almost one-quarter of its $1.07 billion global tickets sales in China, according to a report by hollywoodreporter.com last summer.

The motion picture and TV industry also constitutes a considerable part of the surplus that the US enjoys in trade in services in general. According to statistics released in March by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), US exports in the film and TV industry totaled $17.2 billion, generating a $10.3 billion trade surplus and accounting for 4 percent of total trade surplus in services of the US. 

However, uncertainties in the ongoing trade war are keeping the US film and TV industry from gaining more share in the Chinese market, as many Chinese companies are reducing imports of American films in anticipation of restrictions. 

The vacuum left by the US film and TV sector could be filled by countries like India. A senior employee of a Beijing-based film company told the Global Times Monday that due to the pressure from the trade war, the company may move to import more films from countries other than the US. "Indian films, for example, have been on the rise in China in recent years," she said. "We are now looking for more opportunities to work with Indian film companies."


Newspaper headline: US movies to be next casualty