From the Chinese rescue assistance in The Martian to actress Angelababy in Independence Day 2 and Jay Chou in Now You See Me 2, Hollywood is looking to include more Chinese elements to appeal to a vast movie market expected to overtake the US as the world's largest next year.

The two sequel movies are doing better at the Chinese box office than in the US. Industry leaders said more Hollywood films are expected to have Chinese perspectives and global appeal.

China will be influencing film content development as the country serves as something of an insurance policy against money-losing movies, said Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of East West Bank. One of the bank's key business areas is facilitating entertainment investment.

"If Hollywood wants to be a sustainable entity, they have to cater to the taste of consumers to make their choices of the movies being made," he explained. "They have to look at who (is) the biggest audience in the world that they are going to do business with."

China's box office hauled in $6.8 billion in 2015, a nearly 50 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. A growing middle class is fueling the explosive growth in movie theaters in the country, where 15 new screens open daily and the number of cinemas is projected to nearly double this year.

"The only thing Hollywood needs to catch up with is what the Chinese audiences are interested in," Ng said.

"Chinese audiences will generate bigger box office sales than the US to cover the cost. It happened several times," Ng said, citing examples of Fast and Furious 7, Pacific Rim, Terminator Genisys and Warcraft - all of which did better in China than in the US.

He pointed out a new phenomenon in the last two years - "making a movie doesn't mean that the No 1 audience has to be the US, and it doesn't mean the domestic-consumption US will carry the lion's share".

"A film will not be considered successful globally if it doesn't see success both in the US and China," said Jack Gao, vice-president and CEO of Wanda Cultural Industry Group. In January, Wanda Group bought Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion.

"China's investment in Hollywood will not take on Hollywood but help refuel the Hollywood studio business," Gao said. "Hollywood is doing so well because of the growth of the Chinese market."

It is a natural development for Hollywood to connect with China, he added.

In 2015, 11 Chinese investment deals worth $1.1 billion in the US entertainment industry were recorded by Rhodium Group, compared with $275 million in the previous year.

"This (investment) is just the beginning, a tip of the iceberg," said Ng, whose bank has been engaged with the industry for several years. "There are tremendous opportunities to do more."

He said the Chinese companies came to the US and looked at the market just three years ago but started passively investing the past two years.

The reason for Chinese investing in Hollywood is that Chinese movies don't do as well overseas, and China needs to turn to Hollywood to make movies with global appeal, to become a global player in cultural business, Ng said.

"The Chinese will do active investing — produce their own movies and set up distribution channels in the US, which will create a lot more jobs here," he said. "Making Chinese movies that have international appeal will be happening soon."

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com