A phone-sized entertainment format has quietly eclipsed one of China's oldest cultural institutions: the movie theater. Micro-dramas — serialized shows shot vertically, chopped into episodes short enough to finish before a subway stop, and built to be devoured in a single swiping session — have grown into a business that pulls in more money than China's entire domestic box office. The shockwaves are now reaching studio towns, phone screens, and stock filings well beyond China's borders.
