When you hear the phrase, “worldwide blockbuster,” your immediate thought likely runs to a motion picture that hails from the U.S. After all, the only features in history to exceed $1+ billion globally originated in America and titles coming from the U.S. always have their box office achievements flouted by the domestic press. However, in the last decade, China has produced several massively lucrative titles that have given the biggest American blockbusters a major run for their money. As of this writing,nine features from China have exceeded the $600 million markworldwide (with the vast majority or entirety of those grosses coming from China), with three of those titles cracking the $800 million barrier. One of those titles is a 2021 comedy,Hi, Mom, a box office juggernaut that’s never been released in the U.S.
A passion project for director,Jia Ling(who also stars in the film in addition to being one of its five writers),Hi, Momdeals with a woman who—in the wake of a familial tragedy—travels back in time 20 years to 1981. There, she strikes up a friendship with a younger version of her mom and tries to create a better version of her future for the woman who raised her. Basically, it’s a mixture ofPetite MamanandBack to the Future. This comedy broke box office records in China and was the highest-grossing motion pictureworldwide directed by a woman until the arrival ofBarbiein 2023. With all of these achievements under its belt,why hasn’tHi, Momever come to the United States?
Have Global Politics Affected ‘Hi, Mom’s Release Chances?
Relations between China and the United States have been incredibly strained in the last few years. This increasingly complicated dynamic has severely impacted the American entertainment industry, which spent much of the first half of the 2010s creating sizable partnerships with Chinese media companies and filmmakers. While the days of Universal co-financing and releasinga massive blockbuster likeThe Great Wallare over, many Chinese titles still find their way to American movie theaters and streaming services, including the 2021 hit,The Battle at Lake Changjin, the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time.This action-packed motion picture was also a government-financed featuremeant to stir up patriotism and loyalty from Chinese moviegoers.
Those qualities might, on the surface, makeThe Battle atLake Changjinseem like a title destined to only get released in China, however, it did reach U.S. theaters in November 2021 (though no box office data was ever reported for it) and is now available to rent and purchase through domestic digital retailers.This particular movie illustrates that even when American and Chinese political matters are in a hostile state, some of the latter country’s movies still make their way to American soil. So, why hasn’tHi, Mommade it to the big screen if Chinese blockbusters aren’t automatically off-limits for domestic distributors? The problem may actually lie within the genreHi, Mominhabits: comedy.
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Throughout history, Hollywood has often lived by the creed that domestic comedies don’t travel well internationally. The logic behind this thought process reasons that the dialogue-driven nature of modern American comedies—not to mention culturally specific gags—may get lost on moviegoers in other countries.It’s unclear if this actually has any truth to it,but it’s a concept so ubiquitous that it determines which foreign films do and don’t get released in America. The majority of the Chinese features that make their way to America are action-heavy movies with stars that domestic viewers are more familiar with. Marketers believe that explosions can transcend any language barrier, while witty dialogue may be a tougher sell to American viewers.
In recent years, American studios have struggled to get English-language comedies likeAbout My FatherorThe Machineto secure sizable box office hauls. The thought of trying to successfully release a comedy likeHi, Mominto theaters may have been too daunting for distributors, especially since this film premiered in early 2021. Studios, both major and indie outfits alike, were very picky about which features they brought into domestic theaters in 2021. People were just getting vaccinated for COVID-19 at that point and it was still unclear which genres people would or wouldn’t show up for theatrically. In a year of uncertainty, the prospect of domestically distributingHi, Mommay have seemed like too much of a risk for American studios.
Could an English-Language Remake of “Hi, Mom” Be Preventing the Release of the Original Film?
In March 2021, the producers ofHi, Momannounced that the production would be getting a major international theatrical release; the hope was to mimic the box office success of this comedy in more territories beyond just its home country of China.There were clearly hopes of getting this movie available to moviegoers across the planet,so what happened here? Another business strategy may have prevented this title’s release in America. In October 2023, Sony and Escape Artists announced plans for an English-language remake ofHi, Mom. This was an especially interesting development becauseEnglish-language remakes of films hailing from Chinaare nowhere near as popular with studios as English-remakes of French, German, or Japanese features. It was another sign of how bigHi, Momhad become, it was even inspiring to see Sony enter the rare territory of American remakes of Chinese cinema.
While a scarce possibility, there’s a chance that an English-language version ofHi, Momemerging in the near future may be preventing this blockbuster from reaching domestic viewers. Possibly out of a desire to not give the newHi, Mommovie extra competition, the producers of the original feature may be holding back a domestic launch for Jia Ling’s blockbuster. If it hasn’t been released already, why not keep it on a shelf away from North American moviegoers so that the English-language version can be extra fresh for prospective moviegoers? It certainly doesn’t sound like an outlandish scenario, even if there’s no evidence that it’s going on in the mysterious domestic absence of the originalHi, Mom.
Gender-Based Double Standards Might Have Affected the U.S. Release of ‘Hi, Mom’
Whatever the reason behind the lack of a proper North American launch forHi, Mom, it’s utterly baffling simply due to how readily available most other Chinese blockbusters become in the U.S. are Recent titles like the 2023 smash hit,No More Bets,or the 2022 success,Lighting Up the Stars, for example, both got theatrical launches in America after their Chinese runs. In looking at this discrepancy, one has to point out that, whether intentional or not,a gender-based double standard has emerged in terms of what kinds of Chinese features American distributors are handling.Male-heavy projects likeThe Battle at Lake ChangjinandWolf Warrior 2made it to North American theaters without breaking a sweat, whileHi, Mom(a title with a largely female creative team concerning a mother/daughter relationship) languishes without any domestic release. The absence of a title headlined and created by women of color while Chinese blockbusters anchored by dudes are readily accessible in the U.S. is, at best, unfortunate.
PerBox Office Mojo,Hi, Momhas only ever been released in three other countries beyond China (Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand), which combined, only brought in $1 million to the feature’s staggering $822 million worldwide haul. Clearly, this blockbuster doesn’t need the money of American moviegoers or the patronage of any other country to be a lucrative hit. However, for the sake of artistic accessibility, it would be a welcome sight to seeHi, Momgracing movie theater screens in North America someday. Perhaps Sony’s arthouse division (Sony Pictures Classics) will giveHi, Moma brief theatrical run before the English-language remake premieres, a long-overdue happy ending to the odd saga of one of the biggest movies of all time never playing in the U.S.
