For much of 2021, the highest-grossing film at the worldwide box office was not a Hollywood production. It was The Battle at Lake Changjin, a big-budget, Hollywood-aping Chinese blockbuster flatteringly depicting the actions of Chinese soldiers against Americans during the Korean War. Produced by several Chinese-government departments, the film has become the most successful in China’s history. And because of the Covid-era travails of American studios seduced by streaming and of movie theaters still struggling to bring audiences back, the Chinese propaganda film had dominated the worldwide box office.
Until last week, when Spider-Man: No Way Home, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, took the No. 1 spot. The eighth live-action film this millennium to be centered on the famous comic-book webslinger crossed $1 billion worldwide mere days after its release, buoyed by the biggest pandemic-era domestic box office yet.
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