I'm a couple weeks late on this, but I learned about Disney's upcoming animated feature, Raya and the Last Dragon from a friend on Facebook. And at first I thought "okay, ha ha, cute". Another Disney princess animated feature, it ought to do well.
But then, with the success of anime', and films like Mulan and Kung Fu Panda, it made me realize the size of the business prospects of the southeast Asia movie audience.
(copyright Disney, taken from polygon.com, taken from Twitter during D23 in Anaheim.)
While older anime' films and TV shows may have brought a distorted, and cliched view of Asian culture to me and the west, I hope that it has made Americans more aware of current events happening overseas. Not to mention giving Hollywood more cash flow. 'Nuff said!
Another factor seems to be the news of protests in cities like Hong Kong show a demand for democracy, although the authoritarian governments there are clamping down hard on free speech and human rights. In a backhanded way, Hollywood may be helping to bring democratic values and human rights to our tattered world.
And then, cliches and stereotypes may be scrapped, and new life may be brought to beloved Asian characters:
https://www.businessinsider.com/marvels-shang-chi-could-be-huge-at-china-box-office-2019-7
But it all comes down to business. I hope they can continue to entertain, while respecting cultures and maybe helping humanity in the long run. I've only scratched the surface on this subject.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/movie-box-office-in-china-now-bigger-than-us-as-domestic-films-draw-big-audiences-2018-05-21
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-china-movies-20181213-story.html
https://screenrant.com/american-movies-better-china/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_China
