Hollywood is worried about losing a lot of money because China has decided to limit the number of American movies it will show in its theaters. This news came from Bloomberg on April 10, 2025, and it’s a big deal for the U.S. film industry, which makes some of the world’s biggest movies.
Big movies like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and James Gunn’s Superman are coming out soon, but they might not make as much money as expected. China is a huge market for Hollywood films, usually bringing in about 10% of a movie’s total earnings, according to CBS News. For example, if a movie makes $1 billion worldwide, China might add $100 million to that. But now, with China’s new rules, these films could lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
A user on X recently shared that movies like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Superman, and the next Avengers film need China to make over $1 billion globally to cover their costs and make a profit. Without China, it’s going to be very tough for these films to succeed financially.
Let’s look at Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The last movie in this series, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, came out in 2023. It cost $291 million to make but only earned $567 million worldwide, which wasn’t enough to make a good profit, according to Variety. If The Final Reckoning has a similar budget, it needs to make at least $600 million to break even. Without China’s box office, this could be almost impossible unless the movie does really well in the U.S. and other countries.
The same problem applies to Superman. Big-budget movies like these often cost over $200 million to make, and they rely on global markets to earn enough money. China’s decision could mean a big loss for Hollywood studios, forcing them to find new ways to make money, like focusing on other countries or making cheaper films.
This news comes at a time when Hollywood is already struggling. The U.S. box office hasn’t fully recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic, and now this trade issue with China is making things even harder. Studios might need to rethink their plans to keep making big, expensive movies if they can’t earn enough money back.