Global box office rose by just 1% in 2014, with dwindling audiences in the US propped up by strong growth in Asia.

Americans seem increasingly indifferent to their homegrown product, with a fall of 5% in cinema revenues according to the annual report from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The downturn came despite a rise in the number of films released. But China is enthusiastically embracing both Hollywood and Asian films, with revenues there hitting a record high of $4.8bn.

China will be the world's biggest film market by 2020 Read more

That’s still some way off the $10.4bn spend in the US, but it’s an increase of 34% on 2013’s figure, proving China is a market with massive significance. Ernst and Young recently predicted that China would overtake the US as the world’s biggest film market in 2020, but perhaps it could be even sooner. February became the first month ever where China outspent the US, by $10m, driven in part by lunar new year celebrations.

China’s growth is being generated by an ever-expanding number of screens, with 25,000 being added in the next five years, and by the increasing number of foreign films authorised for release.

The country’s enthusiasm for Hollywood films can massively increase their profitability, or help flop movies turn into hits. Transformers: Age of Extinction earned more in China than the US last year, helping it become the highest-grossing film of the year, while relative failures like Robocop, Edge of Tomorrow and Penguins of Madagascar were helped into profitability by strong Chinese showings.

The 1% rise is a marked slowdown, with the industry having enjoyed four and six percent increases in the previous two years. But MPAA chairman Chris Dodd put a positive spin on the 2014 report, saying: “This is not just an American story of success, but a worldwide story about the value of craft, creativity and the importance of a story well told. We tell stories that transcend borders and transform individual experiences into shared ones. 2014 was a strong year, and 2015 is starting out tremendously, with box office in the US/Canada up 11 percent in the first two months of this year.”