China Hasn't Released A Single Marvel Movie In Three Years. Two Will Hit Screens Next Month

The last Marvel film to hit Chinese theaters was Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

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For the next three years, the country, which reviews and releases foreign films on a case-by-case basis, did not approve a new title from Disney’s own superhero studio. But things will change after this Chinese New Year.

Two Marvel movies will hit Chinese cinema screens in February. Beginning February 7, viewers will be able to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which will be released in China three months after its worldwide release. Ten days later, on February 17th, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released in China – the same day as in the US.

A look behind China’s de facto ban on Marvel films

Chinese regulators have not openly discussed the reasons for rejecting Marvel films in recent years. A few motivating factors could be:

🇨🇳 Prioritizing local content. The July release of Scarlett Johansson star Black Widow coincided with a blackout period in China, which has only locked out local productions and foreign films. With sophisticated bootlegging and floods flooding the market, a late release would not have boded well for the box office collections.

🤬 Censorship over anti-establishment views. Eternals was probably not released because director Chloé Zhao has been a vocal critic of her home country in interviews. (China had even censored Zhao’s Oscar win.) Similarly, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Marvel’s first Asian superhero, had less of a chance of getting a release than old videos by star Simu Liu about poverty and Talking about hunger the country emerged. Even Liu, who shared his favorite drink, drew criticism because it was made by a Hong Kong brand deemed “anti-China”. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may have been blocked for a shot where a newsstand displayed the Chinese characters for The Epoch Times, an international newspaper opposed to the Chinese Communist Party.

The story goes on

🏳️‍🌈 Censorship of LGBTQ+ censorship. Another reason Eternals didn’t get a release date might have been a same-sex kiss in the film. Similarly, the Chinese authorities may have denied the release of the latest Doctor Strange film because the character America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez) is a lesbian. Thor: Love and Thunder was also likely banned in China due to multiple LGBTQ+ references.

🇬🇧 Censorship of symbols of US patriotism amid US-China trade war. China has reportedly asked Sony to scrub the Statue of Liberty – a key element of the climax sequence – from Spiderman: No Way Home. Sony refused and the film failed to make it to Chinese theaters.

💬 Racism. Tom Hardy, the star of the 2021 film Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which was also denied a release in China, used the term “Chinaman” in several interviews crediting actors Marlon Brando and Mickey Rooney for their roles praised in Yellowface.

Despite the heightened scrutiny, Marvel films have one important reason to continue showing on the mainland: big bucks.

Marvel Movies in China by Number

10%-20%: Share of box office receipts of Marvel movies made in China since 2012 (before the rules change), second only to the US and Canada

$105 million: China’s Black Panther 2018 box office results

$121 million: China’s box office earnings for the second Ant-Man film called Ant-Man and the Wasp

$170 to $340 million: How much extra revenue Spider-Man: No Way Home may have lost if it doesn’t release in China

Person of Interest: Bob Iger

“It took Iger 40 business days to end the Marvel blockade in China,” entrepreneur and author Matthew Bell tweeted on the news that China is lifting the unofficial ban on Marvel films.

While neither China nor Marvel Studios has disclosed the reason for the change of heart, Bob Iger – the longtime CEO who was brought back for two years to do damage control – has historically had good relations with China. He was responsible for getting the Chinese authorities to give the green light to the Disneyland project in Shanghai. After leaving Disney for the first time, he was even touted as a candidate for US Ambassador to China.

China hasn’t released a single Marvel movie in three years. Two will hit screens next month

A look behind China’s de facto ban on Marvel films

Marvel Movies in China by Number

Person of Interest: Bob Iger

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