15/04/2025 - Paola Cortellesi’s film has also conquered the female public in China, where other European films such as Anatomy of a Fall and Flow eventually established themselves

There Is Still Tomorrow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paola Cortellesi
film profile] has earned over €5,2m in China after screening for five weeks. The film written and directed by, as well as starring Paola Cortellesi (read the interview), and whose international sales are handled by Vision Distribution, is the first title of the new distribution outfit Unknown Pleasures Pictures (UPP) which released it on 8 March, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Still playing in Chinese cinemas, it has attracted 1,09m spectators to this day.

There Is Still Tomorrow was sold in practically all territories (it came out in the United States on 7 March) and Box Office Mojo IMDb indicates it has earned over $50m across the world, but China is now the film’s second market for revenue at the international level, behind Italy only, where the film was released in October 2023, selling 5,4m tickets for a total revenue of almost €37m.

At the beginning of March, filmmaker and producer Jia Zhangke (Golden Lion in Venice for Still Life) launched with cofounder Tian Qi the distribution company Unknown Pleasures Pictures, with the objective to promote international auteur titles and amplify the variety of films projected in Chinese cinemas. Jia Zhangke told Deadline: “There Is Still Tomorrow resonates with the increasingly strong women’s consciousness among Chinese female audiences. Unlike other female-themed stories, it tells us that women don’t necessarily have to escape, they can also take the initiative to become part of the public, and it empathizes with audiences.”

The success of There Is Still Tomorrow in a difficult market for international arthouse films such as China is a sign of rebirth after a post-pandemic stagnation period, together with the release in the same period of the Oscar-winning animated film Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile], by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, which has earned €3,2m in the Chinese market and other $36m at the international box office until February 2025 (Charades is handling its international sales). Justine Triet’s French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] (sold by mk2), winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2023, also earned €3,5m of its global €36m profits in China in 2024 (to May 2024). Amongst the other European titles distributed in China in 2024, there is also the multi award-winning animated film Robot Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Paolo Berger (Spain/France), with €1,4m in revenue.

Greater possibilities could be afforded European cinema in the Chinese market following the announcement by the China Film Administration (CFA) that it wishes to reduce its number of imported American films in response to the latest wave of increased tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. In the official press release, the CFA has highlighted that the importation of films from the United States will be rescaled in accordance with market regulations and with preferences expressed by audiences. The authority has also reiterated the role of China as the second cinema market in the world, reaffirming the country’s commitment toward international cultural openness and its desire to continue to offer a selection of high-quality cinematic works from all over the world. The previous agreements granted the annual admission of 34 foreign films into the Chinese market, with a revenue-sharing system (i.e. with a percentage of revenue going to foreign studios, usually 25% of the box office).

(Translated from Italian)