China Box Office Thread | Oppenheimer-August 30

[ImNotRacistAtAll]

It’s important to remember that conceding to censorship demands by any foreign nation compromises creative integrity at best and cripples freedom of speech at worst.

 

Studios should make their movies without fucking China in mind. Follow their creatives vision and story. If it fits or not the CCP it doesn't matter. Just send the movie and let them decide

[Issac Newton]

First of all, I don't get your point, how "The Batman" is flopping in Mainland China. It still adding money, including an extension to its run.

 

Secondly, Sonic 2 has passed review, just doesn't have a date. Last film was released on September 2020 (US Date was February 2020) Likewise, I expect this to arrive sometime in Late August or September.

 

For now, I have Understand that problem isn't coming from Disney but with people with that mindset as so far I haven't seen Warner Bros or Universal Films facing any problem. Warner Bros "Fantastic Beasts 3" is now the biggest Imported Title of The Year that too in a CoVid-19 period with some 40% Cinemas being closed. While Universal's "Bad Guys" is the biggest animated (Imported) Title of the Year which actually started with ¥2.4M OD now it's standing at ¥103M.

 

Please stop calling running titles are flopping when you can't see cinemas being not fully operational.

[ImNotRacistAtAll]

1 minute ago, Issac Newton said:

First of all, I don't get your point, how "The Batman" is flopping in Mainland China. It still adding money, including an extension to its run.

 

Secondly, Sonic 2 has passed review, just doesn't have a date. Last film was released on September 2020 (US Date was February 2020) Likewise, I expect this to arrive sometime in Late August or September.

 

For now, I have Understand that problem isn't coming from Disney but with people with that mindset as so far I haven't seen Warner Bros or Universal Films facing any problem. Warner Bros "Fantastic Beasts 3" is now the biggest Imported Title of The Year that too in a CoVid-19 period with some 40% Cinemas being closed. While Universal's "Bad Guys" is the biggest animated (Imported) Title of the Year which actually started with ¥2.4M OD now it's standing at ¥103M.

 

Please stop calling running titles are flopping when you can't see cinemas being not fully operational.

Did I say flopping? I don't think so. 

 

I said movies are barely making any money there which is a fact because of the ongoing situation in China. 

 

And the fact that movies are making all this money basically without China, tells me everything I need to know. 

 

 

[lor15]

18 minutes ago, ImNotRacistAtAll said:

It’s important to remember that conceding to censorship demands by any foreign nation compromises creative integrity at best and cripples freedom of speech at worst.

 

Studios should make their movies without China in mind. Follow their creatives vision and story. If it fits or not the CCP it doesn't matter. Just send the movie and let them decide

Finally someone said that!! Lots of people fighted for freedom of speech and now we can’t get back because one dictator wants it 

[porginchina]

25 minutes ago, ImNotRacistAtAll said:

Racist? Yall dumb as hell. Throwing around racist like it's a shield. 

If you refer to China as "this shit hole of a country," then yes, you're being racist/Trumpian. It's possible to discuss the political/economic situation in China without resorting to broad generalization that flattens the complexities of the country into a vague smear of derision. Not everyone in China is a member of the CCP; not everyone in the CCP is in favor of all of the government's current policies (a number of my friends are CCP members).

 

16 minutes ago, ImNotRacistAtAll said:

It’s important to remember that conceding to censorship demands by any foreign nation compromises creative integrity at best and cripples freedom of speech at worst.

Common practice for Hollywood productions that are budgeted at a level that require global grosses. Chinese censorship tends to get most of the headlines, but China's far from alone. Singapore can be quite strict with their censorship requirements, along with Russia (when that country was a factor); the Middle East as well. I'll agree that being overly sensitive to censorship demands is not great from an artistic health perspective, but claiming that China is the sole driver of censorship is entirely misleading.

 

29 minutes ago, ImNotRacistAtAll said:

This is probably the only thing republicans and democrats agree on. Except shills

This particular forum boasts an international readership, not American-only. And a number of users on this forum have deep knowledge of China, whether from prolonged study or from actually being Chinese.

 

TL; DR— I tend to agree that there are serious issues with the Chinese film market that are worth discussing and criticizing. But that discussion is impossible to achieve with any degree or nuance or sophistication if we resort to lowest common denominator Sinophobia.

[Issac Newton]

I heard new "Shin Ultraman" (I am talking about Japanese movies here) has been strucked in review for two months. If it's true, then "Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween" &"One Piece: Red" has less chance of passing review. Interesting thing, is that "Belle" and "Drive My Car" does not have any distributor yet for release. On the backlog stands "Sword Art Online: Progressive The Movie — The Aria Of Starless Night" &"Sing Me A Bit Of Harmony" &a piles of Live-action films with uncertain future.

 

Looking at the censorship of recent episode of "Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc", I believe "Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time" in to arrive sometime in next 3 years.

 

The most relevant thing is that "Jujutsu Kaisen" seem to be forgiven with "Taiwan" Topic. Likely to see if MediaLink will see a Chinese Release in near future or not. Whatever, I don't understand the point of sending "Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street", 2002 Japanese Film to review (?)

 

So, noteworthy future release of 2022 Mainland China (for Japanese Films) are : "Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween", "One Piece: Red", "Shin Ultraman", "Belle", "Drive My Car", &finally "Suzume's Locking-Up".

Edited May 12, 2022 by Issac Newton

[porginchina]

Another point with foreign movies and China— I would argue that there's actual value in culturally engaging with the Chinese people. Not every Hollywood movie can or should be designed with China in mind, but the political distance between the US and China is reaching alarming levels and the lack of understanding people in both countries have towards each other is, quite honestly, horrifying. I tend to support measures that can work to reduce that distance and reduce the possibility of full-on conflict in the coming years. And if Hollywood blockbusters can earn good will among the Chinese people, well, I support that effort.

[Issac Newton]

37 minutes ago, lor15 said:

Finally someone said that!! Lots of people fighted for freedom of speech and now we can’t get back because one dictator wants it 

Yeah, you are very right. Can you explain why "Jujutsu Kaisen Movie 0" got PG-13 in US while it declared "suitable for all ages" in Japan while "Demon Slayer Mugen Train" got "R-18" rating in US. I thought they support "freedom of speech" Isn't both of the above titles are anime, how does 2D- motion characters get "R-18" or "PG-13" ratings?

[SchumacherFTW]

14 minutes ago, Issac Newton said:

Yeah, you are very right. Can you explain why "Jujutsu Kaisen Movie 0" got PG-13 in US while it declared "suitable for all ages" in Japan while "Demon Slayer Mugen Train" got "R-18" rating in US. I thought they support "freedom of speech" Isn't both of the above titles are anime, how does 2D- motion characters get "R-18" or "PG-13" ratings?

They both got 15 ratings here in the UK for bloody violence, different countries have different standards on what's appropriate at different ages

[Leviathan]

39 minutes ago, porginchina said:

Another point with foreign movies and China— I would argue that there's actual value in culturally engaging with the Chinese people. Not every Hollywood movie can or should be designed with China in mind, but the political distance between the US and China is reaching alarming levels and the lack of understanding people in both countries have towards each other is, quite honestly, horrifying. I tend to support measures that can work to reduce that distance and reduce the possibility of full-on conflict in the coming years. And if Hollywood blockbusters can earn good will among the Chinese people, well, I support that effort.

 

I think most Western average joes don't truly worry about the US/Western vs. China. They are more frightened about Putin/Russia than anything else thanks to how the Western media is pushing Putin's image now. It's the Sinosphere countries that have an extremely tense relationship with China (mostly because of the U-shaped nine-dash line conflict in the South China Sea) and they hate the fact that Hollywood is catering to China, and everyone with half the brain knows that Hollywood will likely side with China when they are forced to choose since their market is very tempting.

[JustLurking]

3 hours ago, honeycookiez said:

 

From a certain point of view, yes, we understand why he had to sweet talk to the shareholders, There are a lot of ways to positively address the situation without @ss pulling it and dragging China along to save face while the other competitors and companies are still getting along very well with China. On Weibo, people are saying "then we should just ban all Disney films" (which means including Avatar). Thank Chapek for another massive F-up unprecedented "power move".

I don't get how he "dragged China along"; he was probably asked a question about China and simply pointed out that despite their recent struggles to get releases, their films are still doing well; they're still "on top", so to speak. This feels like outrage out of nothing to me, there is no "power move" whatsoever in that speech, there isn't even "a move"!

 

2 hours ago, porginchina said:

I was hoping for some awareness that Disney's struggles with China are becoming more and more unique to Disney; while I wouldn't expect Chapek to directly say that his current administration is incompetent, some awareness of the need to cultivate relationships in the country and respect Chinese citizens beyond coveting their money would be nice. Ultimately, Chapek's response is overly simplistic and fails to answer the questions asked by shareholders in any meaningful way.

 

While no American company needs to operate within China, Disney has made significant investments towards building their presence in the Chinese market, most notably with Shanghai Disneyland. If you're committed to China, then take China seriously and treat the market with some basic respect. Also, if you're committed to maximizing your shareholder's return on investment, then take China seriously and treat the market with some basic respect.

I mean, sure, it doesn't answer the question on what Disney plans on doing to mend relationships with the chinese market - but what exactly can they say over that? At the end of the day, you submit your movies and if they pass, they play, and if they don't, c'est la vie. I get that we're in a box office forum and we'd all like to see bigger numbers, and I'm honestly sorry for the chinese users here who'd like to see the movies and are being denied the possibility time and time again, but it seems to me like big movies and the MCU are being targeted specifically, Disney or no Disney...I mean, NWH was asked to remove the statue of liberty to play, what would Sony say about that if they were asked?

 

I read all about the Strange controversy here, and I understood the basic points of what went wrong without saying anything because things got pretty heated, and sure, I can even agree it was a slip-up, but it just doesn't seem like a big deal the "massive outrage" would make it seem to me. At the end of the day, it's in the background, and if you're just looking at the film without trying to find stuff wrong with the footage, you wouldn't even notice it was overlooked. If they wanted to release it, it would've been ridicolously easy for censors to take it out. But as can be seen in the amount of users who didn't think the film would get released anyway, it was most likely the intention just wasn't there to begin with.

 

Like, yes, the batman and fantastic beasts got through, but those aren't really big movies in the market. Jurassic World almost feels like a mistake in that it somehow got through, and it almost makes me wonder if it'll follow the path of other movies that looked like they passed the bar, but then just fell into this sort of dateless limbo and ended up not releasing.

 

So I sort of run to a point where the question is simply - what does this thread want Disney to do? They already said they are still submitting and trying to get their movies approved, so they very clearly did not say nor do think they "don't need" China. But it seems clear to me they also don't want to kiss up to the CCP to get their products approved, and as sad as it is from a box office perspective (and even from the perspective of a chinese fan of theirs, I assume, since you guys are the ones getting shafted at the end of the day), I don't see that stance as "unacceptable". I don't really care to have more embarassing videos like John Cena "correcting" himself on fear of a movie not being released, you know? If they release them, they release them, and if they don't, they don't.

[JustLurking]

48 minutes ago, Issac Newton said:

Yeah, you are very right. Can you explain why "Jujutsu Kaisen Movie 0" got PG-13 in US while it declared "suitable for all ages" in Japan while "Demon Slayer Mugen Train" got "R-18" rating in US. I thought they support "freedom of speech" Isn't both of the above titles are anime, how does 2D- motion characters get "R-18" or "PG-13" ratings?

Also I'm not sure what point this is even supposed to be, first of all, a rating of the film has nothing to do with freedom of speech (???), and second, Mugen Train was rated PG-12 even in Japan itself whereas JJK wasn't, and the reason is fairly obvious, it's because it depicts suicide.

 

Lastly, rated R doesn't even stop kids from watching the film, it just means they have to be accompanied. So like, I really don't understand where you were even going with this.

[john2000]

I dont understand whats the problem here, i dont like chapek but he is right imo here.Disney movies for the most part dont need china ,would it be better if they had it? of course but its not like they need it.At the same time i dont understand why these comments supposly "dragged" china.There is nothing offending in the last mcu movies or disney movies in general,the party just decided not to release them, thats the truth.At the same time lets be honest here  this goverment is way too sensitive to basically everything,i mean if the rumors are true of course venom and shang chi didnt release bc of old comments made by actors.Thats beyond stupid, in my country even though our goverment is shit, they wouldnt ban a movie bc the actor said something thats "offensive".Anyways thats my opinion of course , i am just suprised seeing some comments here.

[THUNDER BIRD]

2 hours ago, JustLurking said:

I don't get how he "dragged China along"; he was probably asked a question about China and simply pointed out that despite their recent struggles to get releases, their films are still doing well; they're still "on top", so to speak. This feels like outrage out of nothing to me, there is no "power move" whatsoever in that speech, there isn't even "a move"!

 

I mean, sure, it doesn't answer the question on what Disney plans on doing to mend relationships with the chinese market - but what exactly can they say over that? At the end of the day, you submit your movies and if they pass, they play, and if they don't, c'est la vie. I get that we're in a box office forum and we'd all like to see bigger numbers, and I'm honestly sorry for the chinese users here who'd like to see the movies and are being denied the possibility time and time again, but it seems to me like big movies and the MCU are being targeted specifically, Disney or no Disney...I mean, NWH was asked to remove the statue of liberty to play, what would Sony say about that if they were asked?

 

I read all about the Strange controversy here, and I understood the basic points of what went wrong without saying anything because things got pretty heated, and sure, I can even agree it was a slip-up, but it just doesn't seem like a big deal the "massive outrage" would make it seem to me. At the end of the day, it's in the background, and if you're just looking at the film without trying to find stuff wrong with the footage, you wouldn't even notice it was overlooked. If they wanted to release it, it would've been ridicolously easy for censors to take it out. But as can be seen in the amount of users who didn't think the film would get released anyway, it was most likely the intention just wasn't there to begin with.

 

Like, yes, the batman and fantastic beasts got through, but those aren't really big movies in the market. Jurassic World almost feels like a mistake in that it somehow got through, and it almost makes me wonder if it'll follow the path of other movies that looked like they passed the bar, but then just fell into this sort of dateless limbo and ended up not releasing.

 

So I sort of run to a point where the question is simply - what does this thread want Disney to do? They already said they are still submitting and trying to get their movies approved, so they very clearly did not say nor do think they "don't need" China. But it seems clear to me they also don't want to kiss up to the CCP to get their products approved, and as sad as it is from a box office perspective (and even from the perspective of a chinese fan of theirs, I assume, since you guys are the ones getting shafted at the end of the day), I don't see that stance as "unacceptable". I don't really care to have more embarassing videos like John Cena "correcting" himself on fear of a movie not being released, you know? If they release them, they release them, and if they don't, they don't.

In a wierd way i won't mind Jurassic World Dominion to be in a limbo as long as this lockdown situation is not sorted out.

 

Only thing that matters is that it gets approved and eventually gets a date when things are better, cause it surely isn't doing much if it release anytime soon.

 

Also China giving date a month or two late will force Universal to increase it's theatrical window, so win win.

[ZeeSoh]

Moderation: You guys need to relax. We keep having these ridiculous debates again and again and it leads no where. People keep freaking out over innocuous comments and insignificant things in movies and then other people get all political. 
 

Keep discussions in this thread related to China’s box office ONLY. 

NO political or Covid talk allowed in this thread unless it is in relation to the Chinese box office. 

 

[TomCruiseTop]

Do we have a predicted date when China will be the dominant box office territory? 2025? At that stage I believe that 'domestic' becomes a redundancy. 

[ImNotRacistAtAll]

1 minute ago, JamesCameronScholar said:

Do we have a predicted date when China will be the dominant box office territory? 2025? At that stage I believe that 'domestic' becomes a redundancy. 

Domestic will never become redundancy because it's the most important and the one people care about the most. 

[dudalb]

On 5/2/2022 at 10:43 AM, Noiret Jak said:

a chance that FB3 performs much higher?

China will not save FB3. It would have to have done much,much better then it did to do that.

[dudalb]

4 hours ago, ZeeSoh said:

Moderation: You guys need to relax. We keep having these ridiculous debates again and again and it leads no where. People keep freaking out over innocuous comments and insignificant things in movies and then other people get all political. 
 

Keep discussions in this thread related to China’s box office ONLY. 

NO political or Covid talk allowed in this thread unless it is in relation to the Chinese box office. 

 

I see your point, but when the government has total control over what movies are seen and what are not seen, some politics are going to creep in.

[The GOAT]

Seems like they're only putting the Yuppies in a Blender