China, meanwhile, envies Hollywood as much for its cultural empire as for its financial clout.

The two sides need each other, want each other, and yet—despite last year’s landmarkfilm deal a decade in the making—neither side is ready to completely embrace the other. Will the story end with carnage or with the two sides riding off into the sunset together? Too soon to say. In the meantime, here are some numbers to give you a sense of what’s at stake.

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U.S. $2.8 billion

Gross in movie tickets sold in China in 2012

$10.8 billion

Gross in movie tickets sold in the U.S. in 2012

$2.7 billion

Gross in movie tickets sold at China’s box office in first nine months of 2013

35%

Rise in gross value of movie tickets sold in China in the first nine months of 2013, up from the same period in 2012

$1.6 billion

Gross of Chinese-language films at China’s box office from January 1 to September 30, 2013

58.2%

Market share of Chinese-language films at the box office from January through September 2013

93.8%

Rise in box office sales grossed by Chinese-language films over the first nine months of 2012

$1.1 billion

Gross of films imported into China from January 1 to September 30, 2013

41.9%

Market share of imported films in the first nine months of 2013

5.2%

Decline in box office gross sales of tickets to imported movies in the first nine months of 2013

$182 million

Gross of Avatar in China in 2009, making director James Cameron’s sci-fi film the all-time No. 1 movie in China

$197 million

Grossed of Lost in Thailand in China in late 2012 and early 2013, making director Xu Zheng’s comedy the biggest Chinese-language hit of all time

$280 million

Amount spent to produce Avatar

$4.8 million

Amount spent to produce Lost in Thailand

$750 million

Gross of Avatar in North America (Source: Box Office Mojo)

$57,000

Gross of Lost in Thailand in the United States in February 2013

$54 million

Gross of Hero in the United States in 2004—making director Zhang Yimou’s film the all-time No. 1 Chinese-language movie released in the U.S.

$77,000

Gross of director Jia Zhangke's A Touch of Sin in the United States in autumn 2013

0

Ticket sales for Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin in China, where the film has yet to gain censors’ approval for theatrical release

5

Number of years in a row (2007-2012) China’s box office gross jumped an annual compound rate of more than 47 percent

2

Number of films from mainland China nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

2

Number of films from Hong Kong nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

3

Number of films from Taiwan nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

1

Number of Chinese-language films to win the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, from Taiwan, by director Ang Lee in 2000

2018

Year when China’s box office will surpass that of the U.S., predicts IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond