--- title: "Asia’s Golden Decade: The Movies & TV That Redefined Global Entertainment (2016–2026)" description: "From Parasite and Ne Zha 2 to Squid Game and Perfect Crown — the Chinese box-office titans and K-drama streaming hits that defined Asian entertainment over the last ten years, with Celluloid Scores and reviews." url: "https://celluloidscore.com/news/asia-golden-decade-2016-2026/" category: "Guide" author: "Kaiser Khan" date_published: "2026-07-22" date_modified: "2026-07-24" source: "Celluloid" --- # Asia’s Golden Decade: The Movies & TV That Redefined Global Entertainment (2016–2026) From Parasite and Ne Zha 2 to Squid Game and Perfect Crown — the Chinese box-office titans and K-drama streaming hits that defined Asian entertainment over the last ten years, with Celluloid Scores and reviews. **The last decade turned Asian entertainment from a regional story into a global default.** Chinese cinema minted domestic box-office records; Magnolia- and Golden Rooster–decorated prestige titles joined the export wave; South Korean television rewrote streaming; Japanese anime broke worldwide ceilings; Tollywood and Bollywood scaled globally; and Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Pakistan produced dramas, horror, and blockbusters that traveled. Celluloid’s interactive hub at [/best/asia-2016-2026/](/best/asia-2016-2026/) filters every defining title with scores and full reviews. Map the award ecosystems in [Asia’s national film and TV awards guide](/news/asia-national-film-tv-awards-guide/). ## What are the biggest Asian movies of 2016–2026? **Start with [Parasite](/movies/parasite-2019/) (South Korea, 2019)** — Bong Joon-ho’s class thriller became the first non-English Best Picture Oscar winner and proved a Korean film could own the global conversation. Then follow China’s animation and war/sci-fi juggernauts: [Ne Zha](/movies/ne-zha-2019/) and record-shattering [Ne Zha 2](/movies/ne-zha-2-2025/) (15.4+ billion CNY), [The Battle at Lake Changjin](/movies/the-battle-at-lake-changjin-2021/) as a live-action cultural event, [Demon Slayer: Mugen Train](/movies/demon-slayer-mugen-train-2020/) as the highest-grossing Japanese film worldwide, and [The Wandering Earth](/movies/the-wandering-earth-2019/) plus [The Wandering Earth 2](/movies/the-wandering-earth-2-2023/) as China’s CGI space-epic proof of concept. ## Which Asian TV shows defined the decade? **Korea still leads the conversation** — [Squid Game](/shows/squid-game/), [Crash Landing on You](/shows/crash-landing-on-you/), [Goblin](/shows/goblin-2016/), [Hospital Playlist](/shows/hospital-playlist/), Baeksang Best Drama [When Life Gives You Tangerines](/shows/when-life-gives-you-tangerines/), Netflix’s 2026 school-violence hit [Teach You a Lesson](/shows/teach-you-a-lesson/) (*Get Schooled*), and broadcast phenomenon [Perfect Crown](/shows/perfect-crown/). **China’s Magnolia prestige tier:** [Blossoms Shanghai](/shows/blossoms-shanghai/), [The Long Season](/shows/the-long-season/), [Minning Town](/shows/minning-town/), [The Knockout](/shows/the-knockout/). **India’s streaming boom:** [Sacred Games](/shows/sacred-games/), [Mirzapur](/shows/mirzapur/), [The Family Man](/shows/the-family-man/). **Southeast Asia:** Indonesia’s [Cigarette Girl](/shows/cigarette-girl/), [Layangan Putus](/shows/layangan-putus/), and [Nightmares and Daydreams](/shows/joko-anwars-nightmares-and-daydreams/); Thailand’s [Girl from Nowhere](/shows/girl-from-nowhere/), [2gether](/shows/2gether-the-series/), mafia BL landmark [KinnPorsche](/shows/kinnporsche/), and 2025 curse-folklore BL [Khemjira](/shows/khemjira/); Malaysia’s [Project: High Council](/shows/project-high-council/), [Kamar Kamariah](/shows/kamar-kamariah/), and [Nur](/shows/nur-2018/); Taiwan’s [Someday or One Day](/shows/someday-or-one-day/) and [Light the Night](/shows/light-the-night/); the Philippines’ [Trese](/shows/trese/). **Pakistan’s drama powerhouse:** [Parizaad](/shows/parizaad/), [Mere Paas Tum Ho](/shows/mere-paas-tum-ho/), [Suno Chanda](/shows/suno-chanda/) — with earlier landmarks [Humsafar](/shows/humsafar/) and [Zindagi Gulzar Hai](/shows/zindagi-gulzar-hai/) on the [Pakistan](/country/pakistan/) page. ## What about Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, and beyond? **Indonesia became a horror and prestige-drama powerhouse** — [KKN di Desa Penari](/movies/kkn-di-desa-penari-2022/), [Satan’s Slaves](/movies/satans-slaves-2017/), [Impetigore](/movies/impetigore-2019/), [Marlina](/movies/marlina-the-murderer-2017/), [Autobiography](/movies/autobiography-2022/). **Thailand** delivered [Bad Genius](/movies/bad-genius-2017/), [How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies](/movies/how-to-make-millions-before-grandma-dies-2024/), [Hunger](/movies/hunger-2023/), and [The Medium](/movies/the-medium-2021/). **Malaysia** paired box-office titans [Mat Kilau](/movies/mat-kilau-2022/) with FFM winners [Abang Adik](/movies/abang-adik-2023/), [One Two Jaga](/movies/one-two-jaga-2018/), and [Roh](/movies/roh-2019/). **Pakistan’s film resurgence:** [The Legend of Maula Jatt](/movies/the-legend-of-maula-jatt-2022/), Oscar-shortlisted [Joyland](/movies/joyland-2022/), [Cake](/movies/cake-2018/), [Laal Kabootar](/movies/laal-kabootar-2019/), [Kamli](/movies/kamli-2022/). **China’s Golden Rooster / social-issue cinema:** [Dying to Survive](/movies/dying-to-survive-2018/), [Better Days](/movies/better-days-2019/). **Taiwan** contributed [Incantation](/movies/incantation-2022/) and [Marry My Dead Body](/movies/marry-my-dead-body-2023/). **Philippines:** [Hello, Love, Goodbye](/movies/hello-love-goodbye-2019/) and [Rewind](/movies/rewind-2023/). **Vietnam:** [Mai](/movies/mai-2024/). **India’s theatrical titans:** [RRR](/movies/rrr-2022/), [Dangal](/movies/dangal-2016/), [Baahubali 2](/movies/baahubali-2-2017/). ## Where should a newcomer start? **Film:** [Parasite](/movies/parasite-2019/) for critical consensus, [RRR](/movies/rrr-2022/) for spectacle, [Better Days](/movies/better-days-2019/) for Chinese prestige drama, [Joyland](/movies/joyland-2022/) for Pakistani arthouse breakthrough. **TV:** [Squid Game](/shows/squid-game/) for impact, [Blossoms Shanghai](/shows/blossoms-shanghai/) for Magnolia-tier Chinese prestige, [Parizaad](/shows/parizaad/) for Pakistani character drama, [Project: High Council](/shows/project-high-council/) for Malaysian social realism. Filter by country on [/best/asia-2016-2026/](/best/asia-2016-2026/) — including [China](/country/china/), [Indonesia](/country/indonesia/), [Thailand](/country/thailand/), [Malaysia](/country/malaysia/), [Pakistan](/country/pakistan/), [Taiwan](/country/taiwan/), [Philippines](/country/philippines/), [Vietnam](/country/vietnam/), and [India](/country/india/). ## Related reading - [Asia’s national film and TV awards](/news/asia-national-film-tv-awards-guide/) - [Magnolia Awards (Shanghai TV Festival) guide](/news/magnolia-awards-shanghai-tv-festival-guide/) - [Best movies & TV of 2026 so far](/best/2026/) - [Beyond Hollywood: world cinema to stream](/news/best-world-cinema-2026/) - [Asia’s biggest film festivals](/news/asias-biggest-film-festivals-guide/) - [Browse by country](/country/) --- Canonical HTML: https://celluloidscore.com/news/asia-golden-decade-2016-2026/ Last modified: 2026-07-24