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Only 20 foreign movies get a China release every year. Many studios have taken to making partnerships with Chinese companies to be able to call their movie a co-production and not be subject to that limit. Any Chinese production company is partially operated by the state, and that significantly complicates things. Even co-productions are often pulled from theaters if they do better than a local only product. It is extremely complicated business but with a huge audience market that makes it worthwhile. I don't know the Red Dawn story, but it could have been as simple as one trusted US based "expert" consultant saying you should change that for future opportunities. I can't imagine they ever thought they'd get a release there, so it was likely only about future opportunities, and it was only because it would be seen in pirated form as most US movies are seen there. That is a long way from being an open market.
Russia on the other hand is a frequent early target because american movies do really well there, and it is good news to start off with a great opening. Each country is different which is why it costs alot more to distribute internationally than domestically. The order of openings is complex, like never open in Germany before other European countries because they like a really long thorough trailer that gives the whole story away. Can't let that get on the internet before other markets where people don't like to know the whole story before seeing the movie.
The best returns on a movie by percentage are still domestic and that won't change for a while longer, but the overseas markets are crucial to movies with 100m plus budgets. The financing for movies is now global even for most indies so the market will follow the money. You really can stop calling out "Hollywood" now. "They" really don't exist anymore.
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