By NIU Yifei, LU Yicai

Marvel studio’s latest superhero film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has reigned at the global box office, bringing in nearly US$700 million since it hit the big screen on May 6. But that does not include China, the biggest box office with the most screens in the world.

Doctor Strange 2 is the fifth Marvel film distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures not to make it to Chinese cinemas. Once a prime market, Chinese fans were among the first to see Captain American, Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor. But since the Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Chinese audiences haven’t seen another Marvel film on the big screen.

In a recent conference call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed the “very fluid and very complicated” situation and admitted to “difficulties” getting films into China. But he was “pretty confident” that losing China would not “preclude the success” of Disney globally.

Chapek’s confidence comes from the strong performance of Spiderman: No Way Home, which reaped US$1.9 billion globally without China, the highest of any film to open since the pandemic.

Audiences’ tastes seem to be divided. While No Way Home is rated 8.4 on IMDb, it only gets 6.7 on Douban, a Chinese film rating site. But movie makers overlook the Chinese market at their peril. China has 80,000 big screens and has produced over 4,000 films in the past five years, drawing 8 billion people into cinemas.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure series were hugely popular. From 2012 to 2019, Disney had a top ten movie in China every year. 

In November last year, Luke Kang, the Walter Disney Company’s president in the Asia Pacific, said the company looked at China as “a long-term opportunity” and would not “focus on just one event here and there,” citing the success in China of another Disney distributed film Free Guy.

According to its financial report released on May 11, Disney’s revenue in the second fiscal quarter grew 23.3 percent to US$19 billion, lower than expected. Its net profit was US$470 million, down 48 percent on a year-on-year basis. But the total subscription of Disney+ reached 138 million, higher than the 135 million expected.

Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said in the conference call that the company expects Disney resorts in Asia, severely impacted by the pandemic, to lose US$350 million.