China’s 2D Theaters Can’t Show ‘Avatar’

COMMENTS (9)

• What’s the big deal? Surely there are still a few plots of land in Tibet they can grab, no? But more importantly, what does it mean when mind-numbing mainstream schlock can cause civil unrest? I know they are militant closet-capitalist imperialists, but I thought they at least had taste. Or, maybe the 2D isn’t making enough money and they are just using this political excuse to avoid pissing off James Cameron?

  Comment by buggered — Tuesday January 19, 2010 @ 11:56am PST  Reply to this post

  • Actually, buggered, Avatar is already the highest grossing movie ever in China.

    Oh yeah, and Avatar is not ‘mindless schlock,’ although it is mainstream. Avatar happens to be a very powerful movie.

    Comment by Jonathan — Tuesday January 19, 2010 @ 9:50pm PST  Reply to this post

• No offense to Beijing (not that I care about offending that government’s feelings), but shouldn’t they have considered that plot’s inevitable political complications for the domestic audience when they gave the OK to screen it?

  If you can’t depend on a dictatorship’s censorship board, who can you count on?

  Comment by RRA — Tuesday January 19, 2010 @ 1:14pm PST  Reply to this post

• “Apparently, Avatar’s treatment of the Na’vi too closely parallels displacement of Chinese by predatory property developers.”

  oh? what, those ^&%$#*!@’s in the Chinese gov’t think the rest of the world didn’t already know about that?

  they have the nerve to claim a “guilty conscience” now?

  Comment by carg0 — Tuesday January 19, 2010 @ 1:40pm PST  Reply to this post

• “Or, maybe the 2D isn’t making enough money and they are just using this political excuse to avoid pissing off James Cameron?”

  Cameron is like Scrooge McDuck. He’s swimming in his $1 billion right now, Beijing may leave a message after the KA-CHING!

  Comment by RRA — Tuesday January 19, 2010 @ 10:03pm PST  Reply to this post

• You do not get it.

  Is not about Tibet. It is about the “new” inner citys, the new railroads, the new highways. To get things done, the construction companies employ eviction teams without mercy. You can live their your hole life. You can own the place. If they want it, they take it.

  Secondly, the chinese authority do not like an devil (alien) movie to take away the money. They don’t want their movies to lose out to the american thing. You still do not get it? Here there is a nice movie, that really hit the nerve of the smurfs, ehm, the working class chinese, and they like to spend their money there. Then the government say, enough. To much money already to the enemy.

  Comment by Tim — Wednesday January 20, 2010 @ 12:13am PST  Reply to this post

• Facts:
  1. Chinese cinema isn’t a free market
  2. China limits the number of foreign films permitted to be shown to about 20 a year
  3. It also regulates the amount of time each of thee films can be shown.
  4. The typical run of foreign films is 8-12 days
  5. This is mainly to protect the local industry

  By any measure, ‘Avatar’ has had a run much longer than it should have. So it isn’t surprising that it is being pulled back – every Yen that is spent on an American film is a Yen less for the local industry.

  Yes – the Chinese government does all sorts of terrible things.

  But they are also a massive bureaucracy, and most of the decisions they make are based on boring, mundane and incredibly bureaucratic reasons.

  But that wouldn’t make a good story – so let’s pretend it has something to do with Tibet…

  Comment by Mac — Wednesday January 20, 2010 @ 2:46am PST  Reply to this post

• Just to be “fair and balance,” the 3D and Imax version make up 90 percent of our box-office income, according to a theater in Beijing. The post uses the word “handful” for 3D screens, but it’s over 800, more than half of 2D screens.

  Comment by Anthony H — Wednesday January 20, 2010 @ 4:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• I moved from LA to Beijing last year. There’s a lot of stuff that annoys me, but I have to add to the “fair and balance” comment. I tried to go watch it in 3D (and there’s “a lot” of 3D screens), but they’re all booked at least a day in advance (unless you want to sit separately from your friends and all in the front row). I ended up watching it in 2D. I was one of 10 people in the 2D screen.

  So I have to agree with the report that 90% of the box office is coming from 3D anyways. I haven’t heard any comments at my workplace (full of Chinese-natives) about the internal political unrest. But they talk about Avatar and watching it in 3D.

  I guess it’s one of the issues of living in Beijing. You get the government here. Apparently the government will be scanning text messages (not new) and if you have “unhealthy” texts, your texting services will be suspended.

  Comment by Steve in Beijing — Wednesday January 20, 2010 @ 5:26pm PST  Reply to this post