![]() When Gru’s plans go awry, the minions-amid Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco’s Chinatown-save him through the help of Master Chow’s kung fu teachings. He hires minions Kevin, Stuart, Otto, Bob, and Dave as his boisterous, banana-loving, overall-wearing assistants. The new Minions film charts protagonist Felonius Gru’s childhood journey to becoming a supervillain. Its 2019 film Abominables showed the main character Yi, a Shanghai teenager, with a map on her bedroom wall depicting the “nine-dash line” that China uses to mark its claims in the South China Sea. DreamWorks Animation “bent over backwards to be flattering to China,” Rosen says. The Hollywood studios that have succeeded in currying favor depict China in a positive light. ![]() “It’s clear that punishing Marvel,” Stanley Rosen, professor of Chinese politics and film at the University of Southern California, told Fortune. But it’s highly likely that comments critical of China by Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu, the star of Shang-Chi, and Chloé Zhao, the Beijing-born director of Eternals, angered the Chinese government and cost Marvel tens of millions-if not more-in revenue, experts say. Chinese authorities didn’t provide official reasons for banning movies like Shang-Chi and Eternals. Marvel Studios, which produces blockbuster superhero films, has fallen far out of Beijing’s favor. The Chinese government has now extended its censorship battle even to Hollywood stars and directors. China also rejected Spider-Man: No Way Home because Sony Pictures declined to cut scenes that included New York’s Statue of Liberty. Beijing so far hasn’t approved Lightyear, which Disney attributes to its refusal to wipe certain scenes the film shows a female space ranger sharing a kiss with her female partner. Last year, 39% of imported films came from the U.S.-down from 46% in 2020 and 47% in 2019, according to Chinese film blog Theatrical Film Database.Ĭhinese authorities frequently ban movies and scrub scenes that include same-sex storylines or scenes deemed unpatriotic. The China Film Administration (CFA), the government body that oversees film approvals for Chinese audiences, is now rejecting more American titles. the CCPĮvery year, China allows only 34 foreign films to be shown in its theaters. try to win the hearts and minds of Chinese moviegoers. China’s approval of Minions: The Rise of Gru doesn’t signal a breakthrough for Hollywood films in the country, but instead underscores Beijing’s strategy to promote its own social values and burnish its homegrown film industry as it and the U.S. But Hollywood’s struggle against Chinese censors has intensified in recent years because of worsening U.S.-China ties and Beijing’s efforts to remake China’s entertainment industry to serve “social harmony” and “common prosperity” and to purge the “fake, ugly and evil values” of celebrity culture and worship. Hollywood studios have long been itching to grab their slice of the Chinese moviegoing market, the world’s second largest after North America in terms of box office revenue. Come and meet the minions on the big screen!” On Monday, Universal Pictures, distributor of the Minions film, posted on Chinese blogging platform Weibo: “Long time no see, troublemakers! Minions 2 will be released on Aug. The second Minions title will join a short list of Hollywood films that Beijing has allowed in recent years. But in less than two weeks, Chinese filmgoers will be able to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru in cinemas.
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