Marvel and Disney would be very eager to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever become a commercial success and perform exactly as Black Panther did. 2022 has been a year of underperformance for them, and they’d love it if Wakanda Forever would enter the Billion Dollar Club. But China could cause a hindrance to their plans as they’ve banned yet another MCU Phase 4 movie. And this has totally enraged the fans.
Why China is Deemed So Important
Before the COVID pandemic, MCU movies used to perform extremely well with the Chinese audience. Even though Studios only got 20% back out of their total Box Office draw from the country, the numbers would still make huge headlines for marketing purposes. Marvel has been trying to cater to China ever since forever. Time and time again, MCU movies would have special scenes added in just to attract their audience. And you can’t blame Marvel for doing so because China has proven to be very lucrative for movies like Infinity War and Endgame, which made $359 million and a whopping $629 million respectively out of the country.
Ever since the COVID pandemic, the Chinese government hasn’t been favoring Disney movies. They’ve found one or the other reason to ban MCU films each and every time. A movie like Shang-Chi was specifically made for Chinese viewers to relate to. And yet it wasn’t allowed to release because long before its release, lead actor Simu Liu had said something about the Chinese Communist Party in a video. Similarly, Eternals was banned because the CCP had a quarrel with director Chloe Zhao.
Now as per The Hollywood Reporter, Wakanda Forever has suffered the same fate after DC’s Black Adam “thanks to the country’s steady tightening of censorship control and nearly three years of strict COVID-zero policies.” And this is costing Studios millions of dollars as China used to be a luxury for them. It is the world’s second-largest theatrical market after all!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Would Suffer, But Not A Lot
Black Panther made $1.344 billion largely on the back of its domestic total of $700 million. It didn’t become as popular in China as the Avengers titles were. It made $105 million in total out of this Asian territory, which is good, but it proves that Black Panther isn’t the hottest commodity over there. So, it is likely that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would have delivered similar numbers with a bit of variability. And since all MCU movies have been banned in China for the last two years, Marvel/Disney wouldn’t have had huge expectations out of the Chinese market in the first place. At the end of the day, it would only mark a dent of about 80-$100 million in Wakanda Forever’s worldwide total.
What The Fans Think of the Chinese Ban!
The fan reactions to this news are quite interesting indeed. Here’s how they’ve reacted to THR’s latest report:
Did Black Adam deserve better?
China shouldn’t be important anymore!
Disney’s exact thought process by now:
This last tweet totally sums it up. Disney, and in fact all the movie studios should look at China as a bonus territory, and not be solely dependent on their market. Agreed???
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in cinemas.
Source: THR
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