Studios have long been eager to get a slice of the profitable Chinese market, so much so that they have modified their films to meet China's harsh censorship. Below, Big Wet will introduce ten Hollywood movies that have been changed to cater to the tastes and tastes of Chinese audiences.
10. Iron Man 3
A year before the Marvel movie was released, a major Chinese dairy company recalled a shipment of mercury-contaminated formula. A similar incident occurred in 2008 that killed six babies and sickened more than 300,000 babies. After the recall, Chinese parents began pouring into Hong Kong to buy baby food out of concern about the quality of domestic milk powder. Under pressure from Chinese parents, Hong Kong has introduced a policy of restricting the purchase of two cans of infant formula.
So what does this have to do with Iron Man? In the Chinese version of "Iron Man 3", there are four more additional shots. Chinese moviegoers have a question in their minds: "What does Iron Man rely on to restore his energy?" The answer given by three prominent Chinese actors is "grain of grain" — a milk drink familiar to Chinese mainland. In the additional shot, a Chinese doctor preparing for surgery is seen drinking "grain and grain".
The New York Times believes that deliberately adding such shots to alleviate public concerns about the quality of domestic milk powder is an unscrupulous and thoughtless act. But for whatever reason, Weibo users in China have also slammed the move. They accused "grain of grain" and other Chinese products squeezed into the additional four-minute footage as blunt implants.
9. Pixels And World War Z
In order to enter the vast market of China, the filmmakers took extra care and carefully handled the fragments of the film that mentioned China. To avoid offending the Chinese government (which is sensitive to the image of the country on the screen), even the most innocuous parts of China are subject to strict self-censorship by film studios whenever China is involved.
In 2015, for example, Sony executives cut two shots from Pixel Wars: one was that the Great Wall had been damaged, and the other was a potential hack in China. Interestingly, the film was partly invested by the China Film Group, the state-owned agency that determines which foreign films can be released in China. In other words, it is precisely because "Pixel Wars" is guaranteed to be released in China that Sony Distribution attaches so much importance to the film script.
Similarly, the popular zombie movie "Zombie World Wars" in The Popular Zombie World War in Order to get the coveted Chinese release rights, universal Studios also made certain changes to the script to meet the taste of Chinese. In the final editing, a dialogue about "the zombie scourge originated in China" was removed. But the filmmakers of that film didn't have to be too upset, because no matter what changes were made, even if Zombie World Wars cut that dialogue, the film still didn't pass Chinese censorship and couldn't be released on the mainland.
8. Django Unchained
During Quentin Tarantino's career as a director, his relationship with the Chinese film market has been strained. Django rescued is the first of his works to be officially released in a Chinese theater. Unlike the United States, China does not have a rating system for movies that limits the age of viewing. Strictly speaking, this means that people of different ages can watch any movie. Given Tarantino's cinematic style preference for the aesthetic of violence, it was entirely unexpected that Django Rescued could be released in China.
However, it is only in this film that Tarantino agrees to eliminate the violent display by reducing the special effects of blood splashing and deepening the color of blood. After that, although the film was heavily publicized for several weeks, it was forced to go offline on the day of the release due to the "technical problems" claimed by the Chinese film industry officially.
A month later, "Django Rescued" was finally released after the Chinese reviewer deleted a small number of scenes. The fact that the bloody ending was basically cut was the key to the film's eventual release permission. Ultimately, to Mr. Tarantino's misfortune, his homage to the classic Westerns did not gain much interest from Chinese audiences. Django Rescued also failed in China.
"Django Rescued" did not succeed because it was not welcomed by The Chinese critics, and Tarantino had encountered similar situations before. In 2012, the director of the kung fu film The Man with the Iron Fists promoted the film through Tarantino's fame (Tarantino was the executive producer of Iron Fist).
From the very beginning, the film script passed the official Chinese review. (In order to ensure that it could pass the audit, the producers did not choose an actor who was not officially accepted by China, Chen Guanxi.) However, despite the cooperation of the filmmakers, "Iron Fist" was ultimately unable to be released in China for some reasons that will never be explained.
7. Robocop and The Hungry Games
In 2012, the number of foreign films screened in Chinese cinemas increased from 20 to 34, and the new 14 films were stipulated to be played only in IMAX or 3-D theaters. In the years that followed, Hollywood studios scrambled to launch films for the Chinese market that switched from 2-D to 3-D.
Sony's management said they reluctantly retained some shots that Chinese audiences deemed crucial to the plot's development to ensure that Robocop, which was remade in 2014, would be successfully released. One of the shots features the Mechanical X-Men's exposed, mutilated body parts as they remove their armor.
These are difficult for Chinese audiences to accept. In an email that has been made public, Sony's management noted that they had risked spending too much on the shots they insisted on keeping. As a result, Sony decided to release robocop 3-D special editions only in China.
Similarly, The Hungry Games: Mockingjay-Part I, released in China, is a 3-D version specially made for China. When the Finale of the Hunger Games series was released, Lionsgate released only a 2-D version in the United States, while a 3-D version was released in China and other overseas theaters. This decision further confirms the claim that the 3-D boom has gone away in the United States and that Hollywood-produced 3-D films are only aimed at an international audience.
6. Looper
One way to get rid of China's "34 films" rule is to make co-productions. This means that a Chinese company can unite a film and put it directly into production. Ensuring the status of co-productions not only ensures that a film can be released in China, but also during the period of great production suspension of Chinese film screening (domestic film protection month).
Released in 2012, 40 percent of its $60 million budget was sponsored by DMG, a Chinese media company. But taking the road of "co-production" is not perfect. Filming moved from Paris to Shanghai, and DMG went from a media company to a financier. In addition, an outstanding Chinese actress played an important role in the film, which made the film deeply Chinese.
After a few weeks of vigorous promotion, however, this did not apply to Western films, and "Circular Messenger" has not yet been officially awarded the status of "co-production". Zhang Pimin (then deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) appeared to be trying to combat the film's ambitions, criticizing in a statement that the film was only superficially altered to get the allocation quota. Zhang Pimin also pointed out that these films have had a certain impact on the box office of Chinese films.
A week before the release of "The Ring Messenger," Chinese authorities announced that the film had been awarded as an "assisted co-production." Although it is a bit puzzling, only then, editing more content, can it finally be released in China.
5. The Karate Kid
The film "The Ring Messenger" shows that a film labeled "co-production" does not necessarily guarantee that it will achieve high box office in Chinese theaters. The movie "Kung Fu Dream", released in 2010, also taught us a profound lesson.
In collaboration with china film groups, the film was released in China under the name Kung Fu Dream. After all, Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art, while karate comes from neighboring Japan. The film was shot entirely in China, and "Kung Fu Dream" was shot using a script approved by the Chinese people, but it still had no choice but to bump into China's online censorship. After the film was released, because one of the Chinese in the play was the main villain of the film, the initial publicity request for "Kung Fu Dream" in China was rejected. As a result, the release of the film was postponed and the 12-minute content of the original film was cut.
More specifically, what is clipped out of the Chinese version of the film is that Chinese children have insulted American heroes without provocation. Instead, the Chinese version simply shows some of Jaden Smith's fight shots to show that the character is aggressive. A shot of a kung fu teacher as the main villain was also cut.
An American film critic based in China commented that the film changed in nature, from the boring story of a loser defeating his persecuted enemy to the mental journey of an angry American who discovers himself and finds peace through traditional Chinese martial arts.
4. "Tekken" (Southpaw)
If there's one movie that can prove the growing relationship between China and Hollywood, it's the 2015 sports show "Iron Fist." It was the first American film to be made entirely funded by a Chinese company.
The film was produced by two companies, The Wanda Group, a Chinese business magnate, who contributed $25 million, and The Weinstein Company, an American film production company, which produced and invested $3,500 for marketing.
Wanda Group did not only play the role of a funder, it was involved in almost the entire production process of the film. David Glasser, president of Weinstein, said, "Wanda's delegation has been on set and involved in the entire process, including filming, post-production and marketing. Glasser also said that Wanda Group actually wanted to learn how Hollywood film production companies make movies.
The production experience of "Iron Fist" looks like a rehearsal for Wanda Group's ambitions to prove that it is far from limited to being able to fund Hollywood films. The partnership between Chinese and American companies set a legend of $3.5 million at the Hollywood box office in early 2016.
3. Maleficent
Seemingly straightforward promotion of foreign films in China always presents unforeseen complications, and Disney's "Sleeping Curse" is no exception.
During the promotion of "Sleeping Curse" in Shanghai, the media interviewed the lead actor Angelina Jolie and asked who her favorite Chinese director was, and Julie replied that she liked Ang Lee's work, adding that because Ang Lee was born in Taiwan, she was not sure if he was Chinese. Julie's words caused an uproar among Chinese netizens, who accused her of implying that Taiwan and China are two separate countries. There are even some extreme commentators calling her a "fanatical Taiwan independence supporter."
Fearing that the incident would adversely affect the film's box office in China, Disney planned a special PR campaign for Julie and her famous husband and children to share birthday cakes with the Shanghainese crowd. Pitt even taught dim sum making classes on the spot, and the extra publicity helped "Sleeping Curse" achieve a good $22 million box office result.
2. "21 and Over"
"21-year-old Party" landed in major theater lines in 2013, and the film tells the comedy story of three good friends on campus, and they live a drunken life after a night of drunkenness. Young people's hedonistic activity is not seen as a normal act of relaxation in China, and in fact, it will not have a chance to be released in China without the reprocessing of sensitive information in movies.
In the American version of "21-year-old Party", there is a Chinese character "Zhang", who advocates individuality and resists the pressure brought about by family expectations. However, the Chinese version adds such a scene, zhang leaves the university he attended in China, becomes depraved due to the influence of Western ideas, and does not change his past and return to his authenticity until he finally returns to China. Needless to say, these two versions spread ideas that are completely opposed.
1. Transformers 4: Age of Extinction
As an official co-production film, "Desperate Rebirth" was completed by China's national radio station CCTV and the American company Jiaflix, which specializes in cooperation between Hollywood production companies and Chinese investment companies.
Since CCTV is part of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, "Desperate Rebirth" represents the values of the Chinese government to some extent. Scenes in this sci-fi epic show the Harsh but benevolent Chinese Government, while U.S. government officials appear to be indecisive and corrupt. In one scene, U.S. officials point a gun at a hero's daughter in order to get information.
Like all Michael Bay films, the plot of Desperate Rebirth is full of explosions and commercial implants. For example, there is such a bizarre scene in the movie, where jack Reynor's character drinks Red Bull in Texas. The list of other anachronistic Chinese products that appear in the film is numerous.
These implanted ads are also in a lot of situations because of distribution problems. For example, chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Company, which manages China's popular attractions, filed a lawsuit against the production company of "Desperate Rebirth" because there is no sign of the tourist attraction in the film. But in the end, "Desperate Rebirth" became one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Chinese cinema, and those headaches of legal disputes were nothing.
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