‍In light of the recent allegations of rampant abuse in Hollywood, female talent and female-focused films became the starring attraction at this year’s Oscar nominations. However, the awards still snubbed Asia.    

The Oscar nominations, announced on Tuesday morning, are diverse in range offering honors to low-budget and high-budget films, indies and studio productions, and other noteworthy contenders.

Yet they still lack the region that makes increasingly substantial box office contributions each year.   

According to comScore figures, the global box office made a record 39.92 billion US dollars in 2017. That is the highest-grossing year ever in global box office history.

The majority of the global box office profits, 28.8 billion US dollars, were made at overseas theaters last year. A large portion of that record-setting haul comes from China’s hit “Wolf Warrior 2” which grossed over 854 million US dollars in just that market alone.

China’s movie box office revenue rose by more than 13 percent to 8.7 billion US dollars last year, according to the country's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television. China’s rise to the top of the global box office market certainly played a significant role in the global box office earnings.  “The Fate of the Furious” became China’s biggest import in 2017 with 392.8 million US dollars, contributing to that films global success as well. 

But China’s not the only country making significant contributions at the global box office, or for the most part, snubbed continuously by the Oscars.

In 2016, China led the top 20 international box office which also included 6 other Asian countries.

The emerging South East Asia markets also helped fuel growing ticket sales in general, as did the Middle East - and Saudi Arabia will soon join the party.

Asia’s international box office influences have risen every year since 2012 it was 10.4 billion to nearly 15 billion in 2016. A number that will likely increase in years to come as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reported that the Asia Pacific region started experiencing double-digit growth in 2016. At the same time, in America, the biggest increase in moviegoers was among Asians. 

While the Academy Awards are almost exclusively a US ceremony one category, Best Foreign Language Film, pays tribute to films made around the world.

Yet, in the 90-year history of the Oscars, only 24 films from Asia have been nominated for an Oscar. Three of those films come from China. They were “Ju Dou”, the first film from mainland China to be nominated for an Oscar. The 1990 art house drama received mass critical praise when it was nominated but it did not win.

Several years, later “Farewell My Concubine” won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival before receiving its Oscar nomination. More than a decade later, Jet Li’s “Hero” was nominated. The martial arts hit was the last Chinese language film to be nominated. It was one of the highest-grossing foreign language films and martial arts film in North American box office history. 

In recent years, the Oscars have come under fire for their lack of diversity, sparking the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag movement. Likewise, this year’s #MeToo movement has hit Hollywood with mounting pressure forcing the Oscars to make strides for women. Only time will tell if the Academy Awards needs a hashtag movement to address its Asian absence.