China appears to have loosened its restrictions on the release of Walt Disney Co.'s Marvel movies in the world's most populous country and its second-largest box office market.
The Black Panther sequel, "Wakanda Forever," and the new "Ant-Man" installment, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," will open in Chinese theaters on Feb. 7 and Feb. 17, respectively, Disney-owned Marvel Studios said through its Weibo social media account in China. The thawing marks the first Marvel Studios superhero movies to be released in China since 2019.
Deadline first reported the news.
The releases should be a boost to Disney and the Chinese market.
Hollywood has been struggling with releases in China for several years as the pandemic slowed the rollout of blockbuster movies by film studios. Political tensions have led China, which tightly controls what movies are allowed to screen in the nation's theaters, to limit U.S. imports in recent years.
Improvements in local filmmaking also started to squeeze out competition from U.S. movies as audiences gravitated to domestic fare, with the support of Beijing.
However, China continues to prove it can drive huge box office receipts for U.S movies. So far, "Avatar: The Way of Water," from Disney's 20th Century Studios, has collected $215 million from that country alone, according to data provider Comscore.
"That may have opened the door for Disney to have their Marvel films released there," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. "It's a vitally important marketplace; it used to be that you had to have China to be a global success."
"Wakanda Forever" was released in many countries, including the U.S., in November. The Ryan Coogler film has grossed $837 million in worldwide ticket sales. The third "Ant-Man" feature, which stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, is set for release in the U.S. next month. Marvel films like "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and "Black Widow" had no China release. Sony Pictures and Marvel's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was also blocked from entering China.
Other U.S. features released in China during the last year include Universal Pictures' "Jurassic World Dominion" and "Minions: The Rise of Gru."
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(Los Angeles Times staff writer Stephanie Yang contributed to this report.)
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