2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China 344
SimonTheSoundMan notes that Avatar is being pulled from screens in China for being too successful, and too provocative in its anti-authoritarian message. (The 3-D and IMAX versions will remain.) "The communist nation's state-run movie distributor China Film Group is unexpectedly yanking the James Cameron-directed blockbuster Avatar from 1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius starring Chow-Yun Fat. ... According to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the move was made at the urging of propaganda officials who are concerned that Avatar is taking too much market share from Chinese films and drawing unwanted attention to the sensitive issue of forced evictions."
Error (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This seems stupid. (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think anyone was suggesting that Avatar symbolized hatred for any nation. Rather the discussion dealt with Avatars simplistic criticism of technology and embrace of the unrealistic noble savage.
Although China is a lot closer to how humans are depicted in Avatar than America is I don't think their problem is with the core message of the movie. Rather, the Chinese government and indeed many Chinese citizens have problems with entertainment where individuals rise up against the establishment. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal if it hadn't been for this movie's popularity in China.
Re:This seems stupid. (Score:5, Informative)
The summary is wrong. The article states that there are two quotas at work for all movies: how long they are shown in theaters, and how many foreign movies are allowed to be shown over the course of a year. Avatar stayed on screen for the normal time-period in 2D theaters, and is allowed to exceed the normal runtime in 3D theaters. In other words, the Hong Kong daily made some assumptions about why Avatar didn't exceed the normal runtime for foreign movies. The assumptions might be correct, but are unsupported by anything uttered by officials so far.
Re:Error (Score:5, Informative)
Wasn't the link I supplied. Error on /., not the submitter.
Re:Forced Evictions... (Score:4, Informative)
As an aside, this policy may sound harsh, but I had a professor who lived in China 25 years ago, and the movie theater was basically a sheet hung up outside with a projection shown on it. And it was so impressive that the people were willing to sit outside in freezing cold weather to watch it (my professor was not willing to). I'm not trying to defend the Chinese government or anything, but if I were a citizen of China, I would definitely say that things had gotten better, even with only 20 foreign movies allowed in, and would probably be willing to give my government the benefit of a doubt.
Re:WTF??? (Score:3, Informative)
So? Stallone is what, 64 this year? And yet he managed to slice and dice (as well as shoot, of course) through a whole bunch of people while looking absolutely badass in Rambo. Not to mention The Expendables, which looks even more awesome [imdb.com], if that is even physically possible.
As long as he has some nice shades, a pair of Berettas, and a cool coat, I have high hopes indeed for Chow Yun Fat, the patron saint of guns and kicking ass. Toothpick is optional, but John Woo is highly recommended.
Re:Sure the MPAA wasn't worried about piracy? (Score:3, Informative)
It's relatively trivial to replay the capture, [...] synchronize the two streams
That "synchronize" bit might seem simple in theory, but frame-accurate playback-sync of two streams on consumer-priced equipment (that stays in sync for a whole movie) seems a bit too complicated for the average consumer of pirated entertainment... (And having even a single projector probably isn't nearly as common in PRC as in slashdotters domiciles...)
Speaking of Science Fiction Stories.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Speaking of Science Fiction Stories.... (Score:3, Informative)
No, it's not suspected that gum disease can lead to heart attack. It's suspected that people with genetic dispositions toward excessive inflamatory response tend to be more suceptible to both disorders.
Re:They've gone too far this time. (Score:3, Informative)
Seriously, read westlake's post - Chow Yun-Fat is pretty incredible... if you've only seen him in "The Replacements" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", check out his films with John Woo, especially Hard Boiled. He's one of the baddest bad-asses in film history.