Bob Violence

See for yourself. 659,673 admissions isn't bad for an import; the last one with a bigger OW was Les Mis (922,431 admissions). But to give you an idea of the gap between local films and imports, the first-place movie this weekend (The New World) had 849,378 admissions on its second weekend, and the second-place film (Miracle in Cell No. 7) managed 777,970 even though it's been out for a month.

I mean relatively. Both 007 and JR have been judged underperformers in China, so if DH5 avoids that it would lend some support to the "Chinese audiences want more explosions" theory. If it underperforms too then it would suggest Chinese audiences are getting tired of Hollywood action movies in general (though I would still wait before making a final judgment on that). The problem is establishing what would qualify as "underperforming" for DH5, though I agree The Bourne Legacy seems like a good comparison. Can't really use DH4, since the market was so much smaller and it was screwed by being released on the same day as The Bourne Ultimatum.(Though releasing Oz just four days after DH5 looks like a screwjob with plausible deniability -- early reports said DH5 and Oz would be released on the same day, so now the Film Bureau can point to this and say "see, it's not the same day, we're not sabotaging your releases after all!" Four days is obviously better than no gap at all, but there's still going to be cannibalization.)

Looking forward to DH5 -- not so much to watch it (since by almost all accounts it sucks) but because I'm seeing it as the first real test of the "Chinese audiences are off Hollywood action movies" theory. Skyfall and Jack Reacher aren't really conventional spectacle-type action movies, so if DH5 does notably better than those two, it would support the idea that Chinese audiences will still go for action movies if they're big and loud enough. Of course DH5 will still have to compete and split IMAX screenings with Oz.

I don't want to think about what a Chinese version would be like. There's at least one action scene that would probably have to be cut out altogether. And frankly their window is rapidly shrinking -- unless it comes out in March (which is looking pretty crowded already) there will probably be perfect HD copies floating around by the time it opens. I know Sony wanted a Chinese release, but I wouldn't be surprised if it skips China altogether.

If they're really going to block a new Brad Pitt movie because of one he made in 1997, it would be a massive backslide--Troy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith both got mainland releases, and so did Happy Feet Two if you count that as a "Brad Pitt movie." (Most of the movies Pitt has made over the last few years aren't the sort of movies that get Chinese releases anyway.) Jean-Jacques Annaud directed Seven Years in Tibet and has not only had movies released in China since then, but also served as jury president at the Shanghai Film Festival and will begin shooting a Sino-French production (Wolf Totem) in April. Martin Scorsese's ban for Kundun has evidently been lifted as well, since Hugo got a belated mainland release last year.Maybe the new leadership is so sensitive about Tibet that they're re-imposing old bans--in which case Wolf Totem is in big trouble--but my favorite theory is that Pitt's Weibo was deleted not because of a ban but because they don't want people discussing the fact there was ever a ban in the first place. Given the Chinese censors' obvious ignorance of the Streisand effect, that sounds plausible enough to me.

It's based on the traditional calendar and is supposed to coincide with the beginning of spring (the official mainland name is "Spring Festival"). The Western New Year is a holiday too, just not as long or significant.

It would've been pointless to give it a revenue-sharing slot, but if I'm not mistaken 2012 3D was a buyout -- though that was a Sony title and not a Paramount one. In any case, the implication of the article is that Top Gun died in censorship, irrespective of any distribution problems it faced. I guess U.S. jingoism needs a sci-fi wrapping to be acceptable (Transformers, anyone?).

Tickets for the Radio City shows were either $25 or $21 (not sure what the difference was). I have no idea what the regular shows cost at the El Capitan, but they hosted a benefit premiere with tickets ranging from $150 to $100,000 (!!!). I wouldn't think that would be counted among the normal grosses, but I don't know the ins and outs of what counts and what doesn't.

News to me, I'd never heard that it was even being considered for a Chinese release. No idea how it would've done and it's all moot now -- though the conversion is said to be very good, so it might've avoided the toxic WOM that 2012 3D got. Reckon I'll check it out during its limited (six-day) run in the U.S.

Interesting revelation tucked into this NYT piece on Hollywood's relationship with the censors: SARFT apparently didn't care much for Top Gun 3D.

I'm pretty sure I called that a few dozen pages back. Not that it took any special psychic abilities. I'm pissed because a January 8th release in China means it'll probably be gone from every theater in the country by the time I get back in mid-February (that was why I asked about extended runs for domestic films). I'm actually hoping for another delay, but that's probably not gonna happen...

How common is it for domestic films to get an extended run?

Purely anecdotal, but I'm feeling absolutely no heat behind Guillotines or Last Tycoon. Some people I've talked to don't even know they exist (they know about CZ12 though). CZ12 will take the audience that wants spectacle and LIT will take everyone else. The others will get crumbs. I suppose Last Tycoon could have some appeal for older audiences with some nostalgic affinity for The Bund, but older audiences aren't the ones packing the theaters. Looks like The Grandmasters might've dodged a bullet by getting pushed into 2013.

There were over a dozen companies involved with Cosmopolis and none of them are American. It's a Canadian-French-Portuguese-Italian co-production (whew!).

Skyfall vs. Jack Reacher, if I were in SARFT that would be a no-brainer.

The Hobbit could still be put against something else. firedeep had three February possibilities on the list he posted a couple of weeks back: Cloud Atlas (which has to come out sometime, since there was some Chinese production involvement), A Good Day to Die Hard (which could come out in mid-February to coincide with the international release), and Django Unchained (the Chinese media is now reporting that Sony wants a mainland release--it'll be interesting to see how that pans out). I think The Hobbit would do OK against any of these movies, but it'd still take a hit.

Hulk got a mainland release in October 2003. According to this, it only made about 8m yuan and placed outside the yearly top 20. But then I don't know how reliable these numbers are (they're certainly not very specific). Kind of interesting to note that Hulk falls right between Daredevil and X2 on the import chart.

BOM are evidently using CFG's original figure, which was later revised upward: http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/pis-asian-slice-bigger-by-half

The Artist is getting a mainland release next month, continuing China's tradition of releasing Best Picture winners long after everyone has stopped caring.

I dunno if it's too early to ask this, but will the 48fps version of The Hobbit be shown in China?

That's how Wong Kar-wai works, though. It's always down to the wire with him. Maybe the problem here is that he isn't used to skipping the festival premiere and going straight to wide release. With Cannes it's no problem to finish shooting a week or two before the festival and deliver a print the day before the screening. You can't do that with a big tentpole release and maybe he didn't fully appreciate that.Edit: Just saw the official denial, they're saying it'll be out "this year" but nothing about December 18th. Ugh, I'm gonna miss this, I just know it.

That makes sense. Wong is supposed to be jury president at February's Berlin festival, so I'm a little worried they might do a January release in China and then a out-of-competition international premiere in Berlin. But post-Cannes would probably be better since they could release it in China during the summer import blackout.

Damn, I actually scheduled my flight back to the U.S. on December 21st on the off chance it might actually come out on the 18th. Here's hoping it's a long delay -- if it comes out in January, it probably won't be showing anywhere by the time I get back.

You mean in China? The only other Twilight that got a theatrical run there was the first one, which made 11.5m yuan back in 2009. So BD1 wins there, it's not even close. If you mean worldwide, then that's another yes, but BD1 was already the highest grosser (though just barely) before it opened in China.

That was another problem with part two -- all told, you've sat through 3+ hours to arrive at a tease for yet another part that may or may not be out within a few years. Of course all franchises leave things hanging, but the good ones (like the recent Bond movies) still wrap up with some sort of climax. The ending for Taichi Hero is a long fight with a minor character you have no investment in, which results in the actual villain getting his offscreen comeuppance from another minor character you have no investment in. It's completely unsatisfying and left me with nothing but bad will, which is a pretty lousy way to build anticipation for the next sequel.