One of the Most Successful War Movies of the 2020s Is Hiding on Prime Video

Though not guaranteed moneymakers every single time they open in theaters, war movies tend to make a pretty penny at the global box office. These titles feature the kind of grandiose spectacle people love seeing on the big screen, but they also exploit real-world events that lend extra dramatic urgency to the proceedings. Over the years, American and British war films like Saving Private Ryan, 1917, and American Sniper have turned into box office juggernauts. However, neither of these countries can lay claim to one of the most lucrative war movies of the 2020s.

That title would be the 2021 Chinese box office juggernaut The Battle at Lake Changjin. Quietly available on Prime Video in the United States, this feature’s not a household name domestically, but its staggering box office haul shows it left a profound impression culturally, nonetheless.

What is The Battle at Lake Changjin?

Released in September 2021 and hailing from directors Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Dante Lam, The Battle at Lake Changji retells the Korean War historical event, The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. This feature, full of historical inaccuracies and widely criticized for hailing from China’s Central Propaganda Department, starred box office phenomenon Wu Jing (who previously anchored the Wolf Warrior movies) as one of two sibling soldiers who must survive harsh wintertime conditions and defeat invading American forces. Plenty of gunfire and crowd-pleaser moments ensue.

The film’s critical reception was decidedly mixed, with many suggesting it suffered from some of the same propaganda-based flaws that dragged down Western action films approved by various American and British intelligence agencies. Other critics praised the gargantuan spectacle of The Battle at Lake Changjin while also noting that the film’s extremely long runtime ensured many disappointingly tedious sections. Such mixed notices, though, didn’t stop Lake Changjin from becoming a box office behemoth in its home country.

In its Chinese theatrical run, The Battle at Lake Changjin made $899.4 million. This ensured it was the biggest Chinese film of all time, a record it would hold onto until Ne Zha 2’s tremendous theatrical run in early 2025. With a worldwide gross of $909.59 million, this Wu Jing star vehicle was easily the second-biggest movie of 2021 globally, only behind Spider-Man: No Way Home. This war picture and the comedy sensation Hi, Mom made 2021 a pivotal year for the Chinese box office. It also guaranteed that all future 2020s war movies would struggle to escape The Battle at Lake Changjin’s box office shadow.

The Battle at Lake Changjin Dominates All Other War Movies from the 2020s

While war movies were an annual fixture of the mid-to-late-2010s box office landscape (in the wake of Lone Survivor and American Sniper becoming massive box office hits), such films have been more scarce in the 2020s. A pair of Alex Garland films, Civil War and Warfare, plus The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Devotion, are the most notable straightforward 2020s war movies from the American and European film industry. Unsurprisingly, most of them haven’t come close to doing 13 Hours numbers, let alone Lake Changjin figures.

These 2020s war movies are much smaller in scope than Saving Private Ryan and 1917, while they also tend to feature darker tones. Such aesthetics better reflect the grim realities of war, but they don’t propel people to see these titles in blockbuster numbers. That’s partially why The Battle at Lake Changjin is far and away the war movie box office champion of the 2020s to date. It’s a film that delivers the massive spectacle and rousing spirit that many of the biggest war movies of yesteryear embodied. Plus, the unique hunger from Chinese moviegoers for homegrown blockbusters couldn’t have hurt its box office run.

In the U.S, The Battle at Lake Changjin barely got a theatrical release thanks to it playing in 20 theaters at most in this territory. However, now that it’s available on a major U.S. streamer, domestic moviegoers can uncover what’s easily the biggest war movie of the 2020s so far. Watching The Battle at Lake Changjin offers American moviegoers a chance to explore an entire thriving and lucrative cinematic scene hiding in plain sight. Perhaps it’s time to explore and dissect these Chinese blockbusters beyond just their box office achievements.

The Battle at Lake Changjin is now streaming on Prime Video.