China is to cut the number of US films allowed to enter the country.
The move was announced by the China Film Administration shortly after President Donald Trump hiked tariffs yesterday (April 9) on Chinese products to 125%.
“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favorability towards American films,” the China Film Administration said in a statement. “We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”
Once the largest overseas market for US films, Hollywood films have struggled to make significant headway in China in recent years.
China currently maintains an official quota of 34 foreign revenue-sharing films per year, according to the MPA.
The China Film Administration permits only one film importer and two distributors of foreign films, both of which are state-owned companies: China Film Group and HuaXia Film Distribution Company.
With approvals by Beijing unpredictable, US studios have scaled back their efforts to release or promote their films in China.
Chinese movies have also proved increasingly popular with local audiences.
One bright spot came this last week when the Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures-produced A Minecraft Movie topped the charts in China with $14.7m box office.
