The censors of the Chinese political regime refuse (again and again) to open the doors of the national market to American productions of the superhero family. In recent years, a series of political frictions that have arisen between the United States and China have gradually obstructed the channel for the release of major blockbusters in this territory, both for Warner Bros. (DC Movies) and for disney (marvel studios). The local regime has got into the habit of using this method of official boycott of foreign cinema as a means of sanction relatively frequently, when a situation of diplomatic tension arises.
Black Adam and Black Panther 2 deprived of release
In the case of the presidency of donald trump, the opening of a customs competition had set fire to the powder – the former Republican president insisting on increasing taxes on products made in China. Then, Joe Biden had for his part pointed the finger at the case of Uyghur slaves sent to labor camps for the production of cotton, and refused to invite the president Xi Jinping during a large forum organized on the theme of democracy. On a case-by-case basis, projects such as Shang Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings Where The Eternals had been censored on the spot, sometimes on the influence of small nationalist groups refusing to leave the subject of Chinese Asian identity in Hollywood in fiction, sometimes to sanction the comments of Chloe Zhao on the democratic reality of the country and the lies of the government. The two works had been deprived of release in the process.
the HollywoodReporter publishes a chronicle (abnormally long to summarize a very simple situation) about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and of black adam. The site puts forward the idea that a timid scene suggesting the existence of an LGBT couple could have participated in blocking the entrance to the film of Ryan Coogler in the country – with Chinese authorities notoriously opposed to the depiction of homosexuality or gender identities escaping heteronormative norms in cinema. A very slim design, considering the extremely minimal screen time that Coogler devotes to this subject, but which will also have earned Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to be banned in Kuwait. There again, nothing very surprising: the openly homophobic policy of the local regime had already prevented cinemas in the country from hosting The Eternals Where Doctor Strange: in the Multiverse of Madness for similar reasons. Since marvel studios now refuses to cut scenes of this kind despite the pressure of the censors, the territories of the Persian Gulf (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) seem definitively lost for the group disney.
According to HollywoodReporter, Warner Bros. apparently refused to obtain the green light from the Chinese authorities concerning black adam. The studio faces a particularly large shortfall in this case – the films of Dwayne Johnson have often been able to count on the support of the Chinese public, with, for example, a cumulative equivalent of 98 million dollars gleaned on the spot for Skyscraperand $201 million on the movie Hobbs & Shaw. The ban on black adam does not seem to have any real meaning, apart from the desire to kick the country out of the slightest American production evoking the imagery of a costumed hero, and the regime does not usually justify or explain its choices.
However, the specialist press outlet takes the risk of publishing an explanation: it would seem that, just two years ago, Pierce Brosnanperformer of Doctor Fate in the movie of Jaume Collet-Serrawould have posted a photo of his family and him in the company of the Dalai Lama. A photo more than nineteen years old, accompanied by a simple comment from the British actor who wished a happy birthday to the political and spiritual leader of the occupied state of Tibet. If this reason seems to you eccentric, or implausible, it is not useless to point out for all practical purposes that, at the time of the exit of Fast & Furious 9the actor John Cena had been forced to apologize to the Chinese regime for having raised, head in the air, the idea that the island of Taiwan was going to be the first country to screen the film in its cinemas. The diet of Xi Jinping refusing to recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, cena was forced to correct himself – and even (would you believe it?) apologized in Mandarin.
In summary, American superhero films should no longer be allowed any release in China in the immediate future. A situation not necessarily favorable to the on-site cinema market, insofar as ticket sales fell by 35% between 2021 and 2022 in the territory. Enough to weaken the local operating circuit, and deprive the public of very popular franchises. As a reminder, the first Black Panther raised $105 million in China, and Avengers: Endgame a colossal set of 629 million dollars. In better shape since the gradual decline of the pandemic, marvel studios gradually regaining the financial health of the years before COVID-19 and dips in attendance, but the film black adam for its part, there is a good risk of passing for a half-hearted failure by cutting itself off from this part of the public. Have.
