Within a few years, they figured, China would learn how to do that without anyone’s help. So Chinese companies, with the backing of the government, started investing in Hollywood, with a mission to learn how experienced hands there made blockbusters that thrived worldwide. And with box-office growth in that country slowing in 2016 and early 2017, hits that resonated internationally would be critical if the Communist nation was to grow its movie business and use it to become the kind of global power it wanted to be. China had yet to produce a global blockbuster. But most were culturally specific comedies and love stories that didn’t translate anywhere else. Over the past few years, locally produced Chinese films had become more successful at the box office there.
The Beijing government considered art and culture to be a form of “soft power,” whereby it could extend influence around the world without the use of weapons. The United States had already proved the power of pop culture to help establish a nation’s global dominance. After more than a decade as a place for Hollywood to make money, China wanted to turn the tables. But those who worked most closely with the Chinese knew that the biggest reason for these investments was a form of reverse-colonialism. Certainly Hollywood had long been a destination for legal money laundering. Others had a different theory-that some wealthy Chinese individuals and businesses were seeking to get their money out of China, where an autocratic government could still steal anyone’s wealth at any time, for any reason. It is no doubt true that financing movies is not the smartest way for any investor, from anywhere in the world, to earn the best returns. “Some viewed Chinese investors as the latest “dumb money” to hit Hollywood.