Avatar' pulled from 1,628 Chinese movie screens

[demoleft]

Source: la times/the news tribune

The communist nation's state-run movie distributor, China Film Group, unexpectedly began pulling the blockbuster science-fiction picture from 1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius.

Paul Hanneman, co-president of international distribution for 20th Century Fox, the movie's distributor, confirmed the move, which the studio learned about Monday evening.

According to the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the switch 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.

Millions of Chinese have been uprooted to make way for high-rise buildings and government infrastructure projects in the fast-growing country. In "Avatar," human colonists try to demolish the village of an alien race to obtain a precious energy source buried under it.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/apheadlines/outdoors/story/1034148.html

---

it was planned to stay til feb 28. but on jan 23 a film about the life of confucius will be released, and observers noticed how avatar' success can cast a shadow on the chinese production.

""Nearly 900 3-D screens in China have generated $49 million of its $76 million in ticket sales there so far, according to Fox. It's already the most successful movie of all time in the country, the studio said." (same source)

[saigon68]

1. Mind control of the Sheep

In a Fascist country.

[KansDem]

23. One that CorpAmerica fell all over itself to get into to set up factories...

...in order to outsourcing US jobs.

But then, CorpAmerica is mind control of the sheep in a fascist (corporatist) country...

[saigon68]

34. Well put

These fuckers would reward someone who jumped in a pond and fucked fish if there was a $ in it for the filming the video rights.

[fasttense]

2. A little less money for Rupert Murdoch. n/t

[Suji to Seoul]

3. *yawn* Not worth dropping 85 kuai to see that POS

Would rather use that money and buy a week's worth of food at the local open air market.

[gtar100]

6. Is that all you really care about in this story? Your personal taste?

This story is about a government determining what the people can or cannot watch. That is, in my opinion, a tragic state of affairs in China. Yet the US business community continues to use the people for cheap labor and China itself for cheap resources. The lack of values, ethics and principles is really the problem. That they feel it necessary to shut down a movie that is pro-environmental, whether one personally likes the movie or not, is the issue here. Just another reason we all should rethink our buying practices since we have little else to fight back with.

[Suji to Seoul]

10. Sorry. . .I live here. No opinions.

People here don't really care. If it's pulled, we all go to the local underground DVD store and buy it.

You are clueless about China, so therefore this article means nothing to me, since it's already on DVD here.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. I find your insight interesting.

I am hearing you say that people simply work around censorship, easily.
Did I get that correct?

I know that often people tend to not distinguish between what a government does
and what its people are like.
I would find your viewpoint worth hearing.

[PJPhreak]

19. "I would find your viewpoint worth hearing."

To quote the poster above,I also would like to hear more from you.

I'm sure DU Members living in China are a Very Rare thing here,Your perspective would be very welcome. (at least for me)

[Hekate]

21. I'm wondering if said DUer is a Chinese national himself, with permission to post here

:shrug:

So yes, might be an interesting perspective.

Hekate

[Suji to Seoul]

37. Response: No, I am an American on a z work visa with Foreign Expert status

I am going on a visa run to Hong Kong on Sunday for a new one.

People here proxy the websites they do not have access to behind the Great Firewall of China.

Certain names are not allowed to be accessed, but being in China, I feel uncomfortable to discuss which names. When I am visiting my parents in the summer, I will mention those.

We have alot of freedoms here in China. The two taboo topics are religion and politics. I do not like to discuss those in public anyway, so it's no skin of my nose.

People usually abhor the censorship that occurs here, but as stated, there are many ways around it. Banning something in China usually means it goes underground and cannot be sold in stores. . .but it usually sold underground, and can be downloaded.

South Korea (where I lived earlier) has web censorship due to Lee Myung Bak's desire to make South Korea "a Republic unto the Lord." Porn is censored, which is what I find funny. Koreans can buy a hooker on Hooker Hill in Itaewon, but cannot watch it on their computers.

China, inside, is not the big, bad country claimed. Wen Jaobao, the primer, is lionized for his work with the rural areas and the minorities. Here, minority ethic groups pretty much have superior rights than the super majority Han.

What I find weird is on my Mozilla, DU does not work, but when I access AOL as my ISP (using China Telecom), DU works with no problems.

If anyone is interested about life in China (no, I will not discuss politics, because you do not shit in another man's home), I live in Shijiazhuang in Hebei province and will move to either Kunming (Yunnan province), Nanning (Guangxi province) or Haikou (Hainan Island) in August. You are more than welcome to send me a PM.

[MellowDem]

40. So you won't discuss politics...

while in China? Looks like it's harder to get around that censorship than it seems.

[DrCory]

64. On the topics of religion and politics...

I found many people, my junior high aged students especially, to be remarkably candid about their opinions.

[Suji to Seoul]

39. you are 100% correct.

[proteus_lives]

25. How gracious of the Chinese government to allow you to post here.

[superconnected]

26. So you're going to buy a stolen copy. Got it. I hear China has massive stolen intellectual

property there. It's put a lot of us companies out of business - like Huffy bikes, when Huffy opened a factory there and the Chinese stole the plans and produced the same bike and sold it back to America under the cost of Huffy. I suppose huffy got what they deserved, but all those companies that stayed in the US that had their intellectual property stolen certainly didn't, and the maker of this movie doesn't deserve it. Anyway, so you're a thief...

[Suji to Seoul]

38. When in Rome. . .

Legit DVDs are expensive and state controlled.

[Patchuli]

51. What about artists' rights?

It's not just about your money saved. It's called ethics. I can easily burn cds for others who like what I like but I won't do it. Your view is very narrow.

BTW, your lousy dvd would never do justice to the beauty of Avatar. It's one for an IMAX experience.

[Fumesucker]

67. The point of the OP is that there isn't going to *be* an "IMAX experience"..

Apparently in a day or so..

[christx30]

70. Well, if the Chinese government

won't let them see it legally, they will see it illegally. Want to blame someone, blame the leadership. I'm sure they would rather see the movie on the big screen. But that's not an option.

[Prometheus Bound]

44. Losses from software piracy in the US are double those of China in dollar terms.

Hard to criticize others.

[superconnected]

49. What a dumb post. It's not okay whereever you are doing it.

And btw, can you provide a link. I'm not believing you.

[Prometheus Bound]

50. Look it up. Takes 10 seconds.

Unless you're not very bright.

[superconnected]

53. So you can provide me the link, if only takes 10 seconds.

But then, I doubt you can. Because you're dead wrong.

Here's a nice one - software piracy in the US is lowest in the world, and in China is at 80%.
http://www.techsecuritychina.com/2009/05/14/8765-bsa-software-piracy-rate-down-to-80-in-china/

Now where's your link? You'd have one, if you were right let alone "very bright".


Here's another link:

It says software piracy in the US is 3.5 billion for the software and music industry combined.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_469735.html


And, here's one for China - 34 billion for software piracy _alone_ in 2006.

http://www.ibtimes.com.hk/articles/20060523/software-piracy-said-down-in-china-russia_all.htm

[Prometheus Bound]

57. Perhaps you should read your own link. US 6.9 billion. China 3.9 billion

You say $34 billion for China. Your article says $3.9 billion.

Well done!

By contrast, the United States had the lowest piracy rate in the world last year at 21 percent. However, that amounted to $6.9 billion in losses to software manufacturers, the highest of any country because the U.S. market for computer software is so large.

The lost sales in China totaled $3.9 billion, putting it in second place in dollar losses followed by France with losses put at $3.2 billion and a 47 percent piracy rate.

http://www.ibtimes.com.hk/articles/20060523/software-piracy-said-down-in-china-russia_all.htm

[superconnected]

61. So THAT article was quoted wrong.

2009 article:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/05/12/global-software-piracy-gets-worse-but-china-improves/

Software piracy is 10's of times worse than in the US. The dollar amount was less because China had less pc's but now they've offset world improvement in fighting piracy because of their pc growth. No dollar amount stated. Still looking for one.

But hey, it should only take you 10 seconds, where's the current numbers?

[Prometheus Bound]

62. So your own link proves you're wrong and you say it was quoted wrong

Despite the U.S. coming in with the lowest piracy rate, dollar losses in America were the highest at $6.6 billion given the size of the market. U.S. losses were nearly double those suffered by China, which had the second highest amount of dollar losses.
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/Software_Piracy_Losses_Hit_33_Billion_Study_Shows/

Piracy Study (p.8-9)
China 3.8B
US 6.5B
http://www.bsa.org/country/Research%20and%20Statistics/~/media/5536D2D93FA746E69CBC12ECBCE0F319.ashx


The report found that software manufacturers lost $9.1 billion to piracy in the U.S. -- the highest dollar figure of any country, despite the U.S. having the lowest software piracy rate in the world, at 20 percent.
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/67049.html

the BSA claims the US had the highest dollar losses at $9.1 billion due to its being the biggest software market.
http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2009/05/bsa-dont-miss-point-of-piracy-report-by-focusing-on.ars

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gtar100]

56. Still missed the point.

And your crack about being clueless about China is just dismissive. No problem for me. But my assertion still stands - this isn't about your or my personal taste in movies.

[damntexdem]

32. I finally saw it. Loved it.

I'm not bothered by the 'white guy goes native' aspects -- that's appropriate for rethinking about what a white-guy hegemony has done to others around the world.

[Lorien]

52. Don't waste your breath. I posted a story about the ugly untold history of

Native Americans that an editorial tied to "Avatar" and the issues that it raised a few days ago, and the VAST majority of the comments were just like the one you just responded to...or "It was OK. Great eye candy, but not much plot..."Only ONE person commented on the horrific details of little known history in the article-and that was only to criticize the number of humans executed as inaccurate. Mention "Avatar" and people turn on their lizard brains and tune out all else. It's freaking bizarre.

[LanternWaste]

11. Seems to me you had the choice...

Seems to me you had the choice of using your kuai to either a) see that POS in the theater or b) use it for something else-- something the Chinese citizens were denied in this particular case.

However, I imagine many people would rather play the role of the trendy cynic and simply devolve the discussion down to a banal level of what movies we may or may not enjoy.

ed: sp

[heliarc]

24. "Seems to me"

.... that the overwhelming distribution power of the Hollywood Studio system forces more interesting films out of the theaters all of the time keeping choice from the consumer every single time. The movies I want to see on the big screen are almost always available for small windows of opportunity and in theaters with lower quality sound systems and projection equipment. And I live in LA... we are supposedly awash in great film opportunities... we do better than some cities, but art houses suffer when the Studios dominate the theatre system.

If you want to raise Avatar up to the status of some freedom of choice trailblazer... you might as well applaud Starbucks and McDonalds for littering the world with their overhyped, and under nourished garbage.

[Suji to Seoul]

35. The locals had the same choice. Most chose not to see the movie

I fail to see how China is wrong. Con Fu Tzu is very important here (there is a big statue of him at my zhong xue by the gate).

I fail to see the criticism.

[wickerwoman]

60. Realistically though, nobody was "denied" a chance to see Avatar.

Nobody in China sees movies in theaters. I lived there for five years, have many Chinese friends and never once knew any of them to see a movie in a theater. The one time I went it was empty. Matinees cost 85 yuan which is more than the majority of Chinese people make in a week. First-run American movies in China are priced waaaay beyond what's affordable to locals. Adjusted for cost of living, it's like charging $200 to see a movie once and then being mystified that most people would rather buy bootlegs.

Everyone I knew bought the 8 yuan DVDs or rented them for 2 yuan or downloaded a copy from the twenty bazillion Chinese websites dedicated to this purpose. And I'm sure billions of copies of Avatar are circulating around China despite the best efforts of the censors. It's ridiculous that they're taking this action instead of letting the market decide, but in practical terms anyone who wants to see this movie in China can. And that's a good thing for pretty much everyone since I think it has a valuable message for a lot of Chinese people.

[Therellas]

4. strange

but then again i have no reference, maybe they pulled Larry the cable guy as well.

[drm604]

5. What's so strange?

It seems pretty clear to me. The Chinese dictatorship was made uncomfortable by the political message, so they pulled the film. This is exactly the type of behavior I'd expect from a repressive dictatorship. They can't stand anything that appears to criticize their policies.

[AngryAmish]

7. I think this may have more to do with competition than story

But the story makes this easier to pull.

[AlphaCentauri]

16. Agree, the movie story can be interpreted in different ways

the movie is about foreigners invaders who force the evictions and not the local government, actually the local government join the deserter to fight against the foreigner.

So if the chinese government wanted to make propaganda out of it they easily could. All they have to say how the corporations go after natural resources around the world prompting to remove people from their land and resources.

[Art_from_Ark]

72. Chinese corporations are also going after natural resources

around the world which may be prompting the removal of local inhabitants (in Indochina, parts of Africa, possibly elsewhere).

[sui generis]

8. What you don't believe the propoganda officials?

How dare you question authority! Uncultured western pig!

Overreaching authority is its own bubble. I note that they left it up just long enough for the profit curve to begin to abate. . . .

[AnneD]

9. God forbid people make the connection....

to Tibet!

[AlphaCentauri]

17. wait until the movie is play in Afghanistan and Iraq

they could see a connection there too

[Vehl]

41. well said! :)) .nt

[Lorien]

54. Truly. The ugly truth is that this kind of crap is still going on all over the globe

in the Amazon, on Indian reservations, in the Middle East. Like the insipid dialog from the film trailer says" the strong prey upon the weak and nobody does a thing." Hopefully a whole new generation will wake up to this fact and CHANGE the sorry state of affairs.

[NeeDeep]

12. People might realize Corporation=Goverment

They might realize their "tree" has been knocked down and that they're just wards of a self serving state.

[Drum]

13. Maybe not needed on screens,

if the usual bootleg versions are already in circulation?

[Javaman]

14. Meh, some distributor for that region is going to be really really pissed.

Millionaires losing money, may heart breaks for them. :sarcasm:

[w4rma]

15. Chinese propagandists. (nt)

[uncle ray]

20. I'm fucking outraged,

when are WE in the states going to be able to see this Confucius documentary?

[Hekate]

22. +1 !

LOL

[ectoendomezo]

27. +1 More

Its insane..

I have often wondered..WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF:

Hollywood..were to CEASE..for say..a Year and a Half..to make ANY MOVIE...in which the Evil Corporate Monsters..DON'T GET AWAY WITH IT!

Allow me to Elaborate Briefly.

I am CONVINCED..that a significant portion of our..EXTREME LAZINESS with regards to the REALITY of Corporate Evil..is BECAUSE..our SUBCONSCIOUS MINDS...are FULL..to overflowing..with STORIES...in which they are PUNISHED..but of course..this is NOT..even CLOSE..to the "REALITY"!

I mean..this China thing..is a CASE STUDY in the REALITY of this hypothesis..That to a great degree..MUCH more than most realize..

......THE MOVIES AND TELEVISION ARE 'PROVIDING' PEOPLE WITH THE IDEA..OR SUBLIMINAL SUGGESTION..THAT "JUSTICE" WILL PREVAIL!

From Michael Clayton..to China Syndrome..from AVATAR..to..well...TAKE yer PICK...in fact..when one peruses the stacks of modern movies..the "Evil Corporate Slime and Secret Government Agencies Getting Their Comeuppance In The End" is..basically...I would say.."HALF" of what is available as a grad 'A' production..as in the Big Money.

So..in one MIND...there is "Justice"..SOMEWHERE..we are INUNDATED by this idea..even the TORTURE and WAR have done this.."Rendition"..Oh..garsh..'The Nice CIA man..goes and helps the poor victim escape..YEAH..RIGHT!

Seriously..look at it..it is actually pretty weird when you take notice of the shere VOLUME of this kind of 'Plot'!

And yet..AND YET? In REALITY..the Pure Diabolically Evil Mountain Top Removal CEO is NOT IMPALED on his own equipment by Steven Segal after 90 minutes of Atrocious Behaviour...

They excuse this with many claims..'Awareness' being the BIG ONE!..But..the LINE..betwixt 'Awareness' and 'Propaganda' is kinda...THIN in my opinion..

For EVERY "True Story"..aka 'Erin Brokovich'..there are 200 versions of 'Rendition'..

So..the Chinese..who are..truly..a CORPORATE FASCIST SECURITY STATE..that has gone..'Beyond Orwell' into something more closely resembling HELL...well..THEY get it! Oddly..but they do not have to "HIDE" the fact..that they ARE.."Propagandizing" their Citizenry...so..it becomes this..SURREAL EPISODE.

But see..in the MOVIE VERSION..the Chinese Autocrat responsible for this decision..would.."GET HIS" in the end..you know? But of course..that's never going to be..the 'REALITY'!..Now IS IT?

China..a sad..sad...sad...and grim look..at the future of mankind if we don't get a few things figured out..and..like..TODAY!

Beware the .50 per post Chi-nat propaganda Posters in cubical behind the "Golden Firewall" doing what they can to de-legitimize ANY..and ALL Questions regarding 'China: The New Look Of Fascism'

China...One Big Labor Camp!

"Arbiet NICHT Mach Frei"

[gtar100]

55. ++ Post Kick. Very good observation

If I have it right, Hollywood feeds us a sense of justice; our mortal minds that cannot distinguish fantasy from reality believes that justice is being served; but in reality, nothing is being done to these human leeches who run the corporations of the world. The evil bastards who are the most willing to hurt others to get what they want are thriving while those of good conscience are smothered with ridicule. In reality, the ones who rise up in status within corporations are the ones who are willing to fire other people. Oh they like good workers - most of them are - but the special ones destined for executive management and bigger pay checks are the ones who are willing to let people go around Christmas. That's reality.

Yep, there's a shining star out there somewhere that is the home of a people that grew to love and appreciate nature, their planet, themselves, and the intricate web of life that sustains them. But that sure ain't here.

[Quantess]

58. LOL! This must be a parody of a liberal.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

28. "Flying Fists of Furious Wisdom"? It's been done.

But not yet in 3D IMAX. That'll be awesome!

[Blue_Tires]

47. +1000

[JVS]

29. WOOOOOT! Confucius!!!!

[alp227]

30. American film pulled for taking too much market share from Chinese films...

Meanwhile, China owes an explanation for robbing American jobs and our huge trade deficit with them.

Still, this sucks. The American government would never intervene if foreign films swallowed the market share a bunch from domestic ones, given the ongoing trend of outsourcing this decade.

[totodeinhere]

31. It seems that the teabaggers in this country have company in China. n/t

[fascisthunter]

33. pretty pathetic fear they are exhibiting

how could anyone be against a movie like this, hmmmmmmmmmm?

[jmowreader]

36. On January 26 Avatar will be back on the 1628 screens

Something tells me a $3.22 million movie about Confucius isn't going to pull in the crowds like a $500 million movie about whatever in hell Avatar's supposed to be about this week.

[demoleft]

43. update, jan 20: "China denies pushing Avatar off cinema screens"

Beijing - China on Wednesday denied ordering a reduction in screenings of the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar after claims that the government planned to end showings of one version of the film for commercial or even political reasons. The end of screenings for the two-dimensional version of Avatar from this weekend was a "normal" response to the market, the semi-official China News Service quoted a top film industry official as saying.

source: earthtimes.org, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304775,china-denies-pushing-avatar-off-cinema-screens.html

[AlphaCentauri]

46. I wish there was a mandate in the US to show 1 documentary every 2 weeks

in all movie theaters

[Xenotime]

45. It seems if they know what is good for thier people, who are we to question?

[christx30]

59. Who are we to question it?

Well, we are people that are free to speak our minds. Just because the government decides something, that doesn't make it right. Maybe there are people that want to see the movie. It should be up to them, and not some bureaucrat telling them that they can't.
If Bush wanted to ban Fahrenheit 9/11 because it was "what was good for the people", would that stand? Let the people decide what they want to watch. And if there is a government acting like bullies, like China regularly does, not only should we speak out against it, I think we are obligated to do so.
In other words, to hell with the Chinese government.

[Xenotime]

63. Sorry if I'm too progressive for you.

I was only trying to make a point that for a country that is more prosperous than the US, who are we to say?!? Seems they are doing a great job and kicking they hell out of us.

Maybe if we didn't have so many fantasy movies and more about true, progressive idealists, then perhaps we too can be great again.

I'm just saying.

[christx30]

65. Maybe if we

have the government controlling every aspect of our lives we could be doing better too. What to eat, where to live, whom to marry, what kind of car to drive, what kind of music to listen to.
If we are just good little automatons with no thoughts of freedom or individuality, we'd be doing great!
:sarcasm:

[AlphaCentauri]

66. We don't have too much power on deciding what we want

we decide on what options corporations and the government give us.

[christx30]

68. we still have

more options than the chinese do. I am glad to read that they defy the censors and just get whatever they want, even if they have to do it illegally. I just wish they didn't have to do that.

[AlphaCentauri]

69. I have never been in China

so I can't judge something that I have not seen, but we have censorship, I don't know any commercial or government media that promotes socialism or communism, if there weren't censor those types of media outlets would exist.

[Blue_Tires]

48. the movie sales were eating too much into the bootleg revenues...

[Doctor_J]

71. Here in the US, the corporations, not the government, do the censoring

what's the difference?

[Blandocyte]

73. The Chinese have good taste. That movie is shit

the white man saving the natives and all that. Fuck that.