Lights, Camera... Asians: Hollywood’s Quest for Success in the “Asian Box Office”

This thesis analyzes Hollywood’s attempts to create films that succeed in Asian markets, while still achieving success within the domestic box office. Through analysis of 2018 global box office information of South Korea, Japan, and China and 13 case studies on specific films from the past two decades, I examine whether two strategies have been effective in generating cross-cultural success: 1) the use of actors and directors of Asian descent; and 2) cross-cultural content that attempts to appeal to both American and Asian audiences.
In my quantitative analysis of the 2018 box office data, I found that the most consistently successful Hollywood films in Asia were action/superhero movies. For the most part, these top- ten Asian market films do not have significant Asian characters and were nevertheless extremely successful in China, Japan, and South Korea. The case studies reveal that the use of Asian talent and cross-cultural content has been successful for some films, but largely when targeted toward specific Asian countries. I conclude that for many studios and production companies, a more financially viable strategy may not be to attempt to succeed in the “Asian Box Office” because of the diversity and segmentation the various Asian populations. Instead, the most effective and financially lucrative strategy may be to target the needs of smaller subsets of the “Asian Box Office,” such as a national or ethnic identity. Furthermore, I found that Asian diasporic audiences (such as Asian Americans) may have more shared cultural identity across ethnic differences than Asian populations in Asia. This trend is corroborated by the financial and critical success of films like Searching and Crazy Rich Asians, not only in subsets of Asian audiences, but also in ethnically diverse American audiences.