THE Communist Party’s publicists, though powerful and feared, are not known for their skill in winning audiences. Their output for cinema and television is often ridiculed (albeit discreetly) as wooden, out of touch and simply not believable. They have tried to up their game, rolling out cute animations and rap videos, but with limited success. Their attempts are like those of an unfashionable adult trying to look hip by wearing teenagers’ clothing: embarrassing and off-putting. Last year the party’s own disciplinary body accused official propagandists of failing to meet the demands of the digital era.

The private sector has had better luck. In recent years non-state firms have been churning out works that have the kind of impact the party craves. The goal of such businesses is to make money, not to create propaganda for its own sake. But to survive they need to stay in the party’s good books. So they have found ways of producing pro-party entertainment that is popular. A common technique is appealing to youthful patriotism.

A good example of the genre is “Wolf Warrior 2”, a film released in July about a Chinese soldier in Africa who saves hundreds of his compatriots and locals from wicked American mercenaries. It closes with an on-screen message: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China. When you encounter danger in a foreign land, do not give up! Please remember, at your back stands a strong motherland.” Audiences stood and applauded. Some broke into the national anthem.

The movie has grossed almost 5.7bn yuan ($870m), ten times as much as its (also big-hitting) “Wolf Warrior” predecessor, released in 2015. It is by far the biggest box-office hit ever in China and just shy of the top 50 of all time globally. The extraordinary success of “Wolf Warrior 2” has grabbed headlines in China, although on November 25th it did not win a prize at the annual Golden Horse awards in Taiwan, the Chinese-language movie industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Chinese media speculated that its pro-party message—hardly popular on the island—may have ruled it out as a candidate.

The director and lead actor, Wu Jing (pictured in character atop a military vehicle), was using a tried and trusted formula. In 2016 “Operation Mekong”, about Chinese soldiers battling an Asian drug-trafficking gang, grossed 1.2bn yuan and was the sixth-biggest earner at the Chinese box office that year. Production and distribution of that film were privately led.

State media have praised “Wolf Warrior 2” and “Operation Mekong” for launching a new era in the development of what are officially known as “main melody films”, that is, ones that promote the party line. The party itself had been trying to achieve such a breakthrough since the 1990s, when it began encouraging state-employed screenplay writers and directors to mimic the storytelling techniques of their commercial counterparts. It achieved occasional successes, such as with “The Founding of a Republic” in 2009, but nothing on the scale of “Wolf Warrior 2”.

Online, too, the private sector has taken the lead. One example is “The Chronicle of the Rabbits”, a series of animations about China’s modern history. Since it began circulating online two years ago, it has been watched more than 500m times. The cartoons depict the party as a rabbit that is weak and small at first but ultimately overcomes countless hurdles to become strong. As a result, netizens often use the term “our rabbit” to refer to China. State media have extolled the series, even though Lin Chao, its creator, has insisted that he has no links with the government.

The party can take some credit for the success of such entertainment. It cultivates the nationalism that feeds it; for example, by promoting “patriotic education” in schools. Censors tilt the playing field by blocking Hollywood films when their release might tempt audiences away from favoured home-grown ones. They also ban anything that they deem to be unpatriotic—including anything critical of the party. No matter what accounts for the recent success of main melody works, official propagandists can take it easy. The private sector is helping them do their work, and making big money from it.