10 Movies To Blame For The Current State Of Movies

3. Hollywood Pandering To The Chinese Market - Avatar

James Cameron's Avatar is a crucial entry into the annals of Hollywood for many reasons, not least that it was the highest grossing film of all time for almost a decade, before finally being dethroned (barely) by Avengers: Endgame.

But Avatar also played a huge role in helping China become the second largest movie market in the world by 2013.

Though Cameron's blockbuster itself didn't really pander to Chinese markets at all, it nevertheless grossed a record-breaking $203 million in the region, opening the floodgates for more Hollywood productions to do business there, just as China started building more cinemas at an industrious rate.

Fast-forward a few years and it was extremely common to see blockbuster movies desperately trying to appeal to China, either by randomly jetting off to China for a small chunk of the movie, including Chinese product placement, or giving disposable cameo roles to famous Chinese actors.

Or if you're Transformers: Age of Extinction, doing all three.

In 2015, Terminator Genisys became the first U.S. film to gross $100 million in China while failing to pass the same milestone stateside, further exemplifying the market's viability.

And though representation is absolutely a wonderful thing, these forced cameos are really anything but: they're cynical exercises in cross-promotion by bean-counters trying to maximise a film's economic potential. It's not artistry: it's soulless pandering to international audiences.

Take the Matt Damon-starring Chinese action flick The Great Wall, an hilariously clumsy and on-the-nose attempt to appeal equally to both western and Chinese audiences, which ultimately produced only passable box office results.

Some might simply see the China-baiting as "following the money," but would it kill Hollywood to at least try and do it without talking down to viewers so transparently?