How a heavy hand of censorship is stifling China's lucrative movie industry

In the year after Chinese President Xi Jinping put the Communist Party's propaganda office in charge of regulating films, box-office totals are headed for their first annual decline in a decade

As trade tariffs and tweets by President Donald Trump hammer some of China’s biggest companies, the country’s movie business is taking a hit -- from its own government.

Tougher government censorship has blocked potential hits and compelled filmmakers to stick with safe formulas that aren’t winning audiences, while a tax evasion crackdown has made some investors reluctant to back films, crimping output even further.

In the year after Chinese President Xi Jinping put the Communist Party’s propaganda office in charge of regulating films, China’s box-office totals are headed for their first annual decline in at least a decade. Further hurting