Jeff Goldstein’s first year as global distribution chief at Warner Bros. has been a whirlwind with $4 billion in worldwide grosses and counting. But amidst the successes, the domestic distribution veteran said he has learned plenty of new lessons about releasing Hollywood films overseas, particularly as surprise blockbusters like “Ne Zha 2” makes $2 billion just in China and “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” hits No. 1 at the box office.
“Trust your local teams,” Goldstein said at TheWrap’s annual business conference TheGrill on Tuesday. “They tell you what’s happening locally, they inform you, and sometimes you ask questions because you have fresh eyes and they’ll come back and say, ‘You know, I really haven’t thought about that, or maybe this will happen.’ World audiences aren’t monolithic. They’re really very different.”
It’s been good advice, as all of Hollywood’s studios face a changed theatrical landscape where many countries, especially in Asia, have leaned increasingly more on local films as American film output has dropped amidst the pandemic and the 2023 strikes.
That changing landscape was a major topic of discussion at TheGrill’s box office panel — titled Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? — which Goldstein was a part of alongside his former Warner Bros. colleague and current Disney global distribution chief Andrew Cripps, as well as Regal/Cineworld CEO Eduardo Acuna.
“Eighty percent of Japan’s box office is local now; 90% of China’s box office is local,” Cripps said. “As Hollywood, we’re struggling to break through. We’ve got to make sure that we weave and dive and make sure you don’t come up against a local hit.”
Born and raised in Yokohama, Cripps is quite familiar with the Japanese box office, and he knows that it can be full of surprises. While anime films fill the all-time charts in that country, he points to the $104 million gross of “Kokuho,” a drama about the son of a slain Yakuza leader who is adopted by a kabuki master and taught the ways of Japanese theater.
“If you read the synopsis, you’d think that’s a small arthouse drama. But people are flocking to see it,” said Cripps. “The local teams pick up on that.”
With their work at Disney and Warner, Cripps and Goldstein are quite familiar with how Asia’s tastes in Hollywood’s offerings are changing. They each oversaw the release of summer superhero films, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Superman,” which sagged on that continent compared to past Marvel and DC films.
In South Korea, for example, the total for “Superman” was 59% down from the 2013 film “Man of Steel,” while the $4.6 million total for “First Steps” was down a staggering 78% from the $21 million grossed by the 2015 Marvel film “Ant-Man.”
But on the flip side, Warner Bros./Apple’s “F1” grossed an impressive $38.7 million in Korea, topping the $30 million the film grossed in one of Formula One’s biggest bastions of fandom, the United Kingdom. Disney is also expecting massive turnout in Asia for its two holiday offerings, “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
“The great thing about local teams is that when they see that something’s working, they quickly pivot and lean into it,” Goldstein said. “We’re so proud of ‘F1.’ We knew it would do very well outside of the U.S., but it was a surprise how much the audience in Korea embraced it. Once the word of mouth got out, the whole audience wanted to see it.”
“Korea’s market, it’s a little bit unique. I think audiences there wait to see what the reviews are going to be like,” added Cripps. “I think they wait to see what their fellow audience members are going to think, and then if it’s big, there’s a lot of FOMO and it becomes a collective experience, and you need to be part of that conversation. But it takes them a while to get there.”
On the exhibition side, Acuna agreed that while audience tastes are changing, his faith in the public’s enjoyment of moviegoing has never faded. While the summer 2025 box office remained flat in the U.S. compared to last year, he pointed to the surprise success of “Sinners,” as well as the anime record success of “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” as examples of films that become hits off of untapped parts of the audience.
“Five years ago, anime wasn’t on anybody’s radar. Now, look at how big it has become. Maybe we need to do more anime,” Acuna said. “There are some theaters we have where Hollywood films don’t do as well, but they succeed with other films, like one in New Jersey that makes or breaks on whether or not there’s an Indian film to screen.”
Catch up with all of TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 coverage here. And watch the full Big Screen, Big Questions: What’s Next for Theaters? panel below:
