Well actually, no, it has not been banned, but that is how the western media seem to be reporting this news. It appears that the 2D version is being withdrawn, but the 3D version is still going strong. Now riddle me this : if the Chinese were really concerned about the movie’s impact on the Chinese population, why would the only “ban” the 2D version? I haven’t seen it but I am 99% sure the 3D version has the same plotline as the 2D version.
I’m personally not concerned in the least if they are withdrawing the 2D version to make way for some Chinese blockbusters in time for the imminent Chinese New Year festive season. It soulds like common sense to me. But of course, the western press wants its readers to think China is a very restricted country and people have no freedoms whatsoever. And I suppose “Avatar 2D withdrawn due to lack of interest, as everyone prefers to go for the 3D version” doesn’t make for exciting news headlines. Ironic really because it’s the western population that is getting distorted information rather than independent and impartial news. On this occasion anyway.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Mixed feelings on this.
Are 3D movies readily available in many Chinese cities? I imagine in Shanghai it’s a non-factor, but for a lot of Chinese cities this may be effectively banning the movie.
To be honest, I personally don’t know enough about the availability of the movie in 3D in China. But, based on your previous post indicating incredibly strong demand for the movie, this to me is an odd move.
When I first viewed the movie I didn’t even think to link it symbolically to anything going on in China, but rather drew a lot of alliteration with the plight of Native American Indians and also to the US involvement in the Iraq war. Then I started reading what Han Han had to say about the whole “forced relocation” allusions and began thinking about it more. Never even hit me that when Sully is standing in front of the tank that Cameron may have been trying to reach a very wide audience indeed.
Then again, I can’t imagine this movie being all that special in 2D and totally see your argument. If 2D sales are way down for the flick, as I suspect they are, then I think your assertation is spot on. The west does tend to grab a story like this and distort it, I just wish I knew more about 3D availability in China to decide who is really at fault here.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:30 am
@hip hop, almost every screen can play 3D movies, though the technology various – the cheapest way (and worst)is anaglyph, all you need is to ware cheap plastic glasses with red and cyan filters.
The 3D fuss in Shanghai is the IMAX 3D – people believe that it is the best way to enjoy Avatar (me too, haha). Only one commercial IMAX theater in Shanghai (that’s why I still don’t get the tickets, sob).
January 20th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
oh one more thing, theaters got both 2D and 3D copies, not sure what the ratio is tho.
January 20th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Danwei has a good article on it, and provides some of the info discussed above:
“China boasts about a dozen IMAX screens, another 800 3D screens and an estimated 4,500 regular screens. It’s unclear how many 2D screens Avatar was playing on.
Tickets for the 2D version cost 30 to 40 yuan ($4.40 to $6), while 3D tickets are pricier at 60 to 80 yuan ($9 to $12). An IMAX ticket, at 130 to 150 yuan ($19 to $22), is a very expensive treat for movie-goers in China.”
http://www.danwei.org/film/sarft_responds_to_avatar_rumor.php (needs proxy)
January 20th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
As CP had pointed out, I was going to posit that it had something to do with the cost of the 3D ticket vs. the cost of a 2D ticket. The govt doesn’t get criticized for banning the film and it reaches a significantly less number of the population.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Ok, this story really intrigued me so I have been looking into it and reading how western news outlets have portrayed it.
The linked article is indeed irresponsible and misleading, however, that is a Blog and not an official news story. I have found that this is not the way the 2D ban is being portrayed by mainstream western media.
The major publications I have looked at, (i.e. NY Times) have all clearly indicated that it is only the 2D version being pulled and none of these have speculated that it is because the government is worried about “political unrest”. The speculation has all been that Avatar 2D is being pulled to make way for Confucious. In the responsible and respected news outlets there are no “Avatar Banned” headlines and no accusations that China is trying to avoid unrest because of the movie. Some of the articles do mention the forced relocation symbolism that many of the Chinese identify with, but it is not given as the reason for the 2D ban.
I was prepared to fire off a bunch of nasty ‘letters to the editor’ if that Blog had been a circulated AP or Reuters story, but its simply an irresponsible Movie Blog and this is not how the story is being presented over here.
Here is the NY Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/19/arts/entertainment-us-avatar-china.html
Chicago Sun Times
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/1998817,avatar-china-banned-2d-011910.article
@jeffwho, agreed, IMAX is the only way to go.
@CP, thanks, was looking for those stats!
January 20th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
@Jeffwho The Avatar 3-D system is made using polarized light, not ryan/blue – it’s a new 3-D system
January 20th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
To be fair, most movies are not banned in China because of the content, but rather there is a tight limit on how many foreign movies can be shown in China in one year. People suspect there’s also a limit on how much money they can make in one year.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
WoAi – I went to Shanghai Daily to read about this story and instead discovered that there has just been another 6.1 earthquake in Haiti. The situation there is so awful, those poor people. It really is like kicking a man when he is down.
As for Avatar, I personally believe that those that would watch the movie in 2D would buy it for 5 kuai, so pulling it will not make much difference. From everything I have read it should really be seen in 3D or IMAX,so on this occasion buying the pirate dvd is not much different. I do enjoy how slanted this story has been portrayed. It is interesting to see how different the news is reported – for good and bad. I am not saying either China or the West is better – just different.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:22 am
Avatar should be banned.
Like kicking out Google to allow Baidu to dominate, we must ban Avatar so that Confucius can get our full attention. Furthermore, the message in Avatar is totally evil. It encourage the local residents to resist external interest to take the land and develop it. That’s against the principle this country is built on – let a small number of people grow rich, filthy rich.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:54 am
I may be wrong, but Ive read that the chinese government allows 20 foreign movies a year, but as Avatar is in 3D, it wouldn’t count as a ‘regular’ movie… I cant find my sources anymore, anyway it was in french. As China has developped its 3D theaters, it’s a good way to make easy money despite the ban of the 2dversion. For example, in Nanjing, the price is 100rmb for 3D. I repeat, these informations may not be true, it seems that french medias decided these days to say more b#llsh!t about China than China itself.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:15 am
Columnist Huang Hung penned a commentary in the official English-language China Daily, saying the film had struck a chord with Chinese viewers.
“All the forced removal of old neighborhoods in China makes us the only earthlings today who can really feel the pain of the Na’vi,” she wrote.
That doesn’t really sound like “western hype” to me.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:41 am
I have to say that of late I am becoming more and more synical about these things. Things being blocked or banned or removed from public view. It almost feels like they are calling out for critisism! I haven’t seen avatar so can comment on whether the plot is likely to cause some Chinese people to ‘think too much’ but I certainly feel the gov are cracking down on more things….. I mean what the hell was the gay pagent thing about? If you can’t deal with it then don’t let them organise the fucking thing in the first place! Field day for the western media!
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:37 am
If cinema owners were withdrawing the 2D avatar “due to lack of interest” or “to make way for some Chinese blockbusters”, you’d have a good point. But they’re not. If they were, there would be no reason for this order. Whether it’s about the content or whether it’s about promoting local companies who can’t compete fairly, it’s still a mark of a totalitarian government.
January 24th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I flicked on to a Chinese TV movie show earlier, and the presenter was standing in front of a poster for a forthcoming Chinese movie. She was obscuring some of the film’s name, but it appeared to be something like “Bodyguards And Ass Sins”. I’m frankly disgusted that a film like Avatar is being removed from the cinemas in favour of this sort of smut.
January 24th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
I dunno, it sounds like they’re finally ‘loosening’ up to new movies.
January 24th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Gosh too many comments to address, but CP, yes, commercial reasons would dictate that it remain in theatres for a few more months but the Chinese blockbusters have the support of the authorities which allow it to enter theatres via the back door. I think Rich knows what I’m talking about!
January 25th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
I think I read about this on the BBC website and they were really going for the whole “Evil China bans freedom of expression” angle.
When all you’ve got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Avatar UNbanned?
It looks as if (at least in some regions), the citizens have won:
What a week. After the enormous uproar the news of pulling 2D screens off theaters in China has created, the latest report says the decision has been **partially** reverted.
For the cities which DON\’T HAVE 3D SCREENS, they are allowed to show the 2D version of Avatar again this weekend and beyond. For theaters who have already sent the 2D copy back, the distributors are re-mailing them out, and they should receive it by Sunday.
There are also forum posts saying that even some cities with 3D screens are getting the 2D ones again, but to what degree is unclear, and it could be restricted to a few individual cases. Still, looks like it will be mostly up to the theaters\’ own discretion for deciding which films to show, a practice taken for granted in many other countries.
For once, people\’s wish won out, and it\’s one big embarrassment for China Film Group and the authority of Chinese film industry.
The core reason for the change of heart? Apparently the attention surrounding the initial news has created such negative buzz on Confucius (many on Internet forums were calling for boycotting the film) that it was off to a dismal start on Friday. The rumor has that the figure could be less than 10m yuan ($1.5m), downright terrible for a release of this scale and a film that was supposed to be one of the pillars for the Chinese New Year holiday season. There is only so much the authority could do to facilitate the ticket sales of a film, and the situation with Confucius appears beyond saving that the only choice is to bring Avatar 2D back into theaters.
So in the end, the original decision backfired completely. Avatar got more free publicity, and Confucius was unnecessarily hurt in the process. Hopefully lesson learned for those who need to learn, and this episode will be fully behind us.
Posted by Yun Xia at 12:42 PM
http://www.boxofficefollower.net/2010/01/avatar-2d-is-back-in-china.html
January 26th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
@Swiss – Thanks for that, exactly my point when writing this post. I’m not saying China has a lot to learn but not every single thing is related to suppression of human rights and denial of freedom.
@Sheila – Thanks for the added insight. Again, if the government really was set on banning the movie, a bit of backlash on the Internet would not change their minds. It hasn’t helped get Facebook or YouTube unblocked.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
In this case, however, it does seem as if the netizen backlash was directly responsible; no other consideration is mentioned, to date.
I mean, netizens were threatening to boycott Confucius by the thousands (if not hundreds of thousands)…that’s a pretty big deal.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
@Sheila – Yes, sorry that’s a good point and increasingly public backlashes are getting some responses, but of course, only up to a point and there are certainly some areas where there’s never going to be any flexibility shown on the government’s side. In a way it’s funny, people were saying if you don’t let me see Avatar I will refuse to see Confucius, even though I’d probably quite like to watch it!
January 26th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Yep, and now people are so happy (I think this is from Danwei), that they’re saying, “Thank you thank you thank you – I will certainly see Confucius now!!”
I think you’re right, they definitely wanted to see it (altho opening numbers are a bit low yet – hopefully they’ll pick up).
Just a bit more commentary on Avatar – this is from Xiaoyun:
“Yeah, the lack of access will be the biggest issue. The phenomenon already creates the so-called Avatar-taxi business, where people are going cross-cities just to see the film. The business will become bigger with this news.
The news is also creating a serious backlash against Confucius among Avatar fans, and some are boycotting seeing the film in theater just because of it even though they were interested before. People are already tired of the market being arbitrarily emptied to create an artificial number like it was the case for The Founding of a Republic, a very mediocre film itself.”
http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=55434&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=150
January 26th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Here’s another interesting new development: a mountain in China used in the film has been rechristened Hallelujah Mountain by local tourism chiefs eager to cash in on the film. Interestingly, the article (in Britain’s Daily Telegraph) doesn’t really pick up on the sudden disappearance of the film from Chinese screens.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/7078150/Avatar-China-changes-name-of-peak-to-Hallelujah-Mountain.html
January 27th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Wow – thanks for this link!! This story just gets more and more fascinating. I loved Song’s enthusiasm in the interview, “Zhangjiajie is the world’s natural heritage. The gorgeous beauty of it doesn’t only belong to the Chinese people, it also belongs to the whole world.”
January 27th, 2010 at 2:39 am
It’s not like there’s a conspiracy in the western media, the China film group have clearly stated that one of the reasons the film was censored in 2d cinemas was because they felt it might inspire rebellion in the many Chinese people who have been displaced by developers. In regards to not banning the 3d version, the difference doesn’t lie in plot but in the viewers. 3d cinemas are located in the cities and the tickets are more expensive therefore the viewers are far less likely to be those who fall in to the risk group mentioned by the china film group.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:09 am
Agree – it was Chinese sources who first compared Na’vi and Chinese neighbourhood demolitions, at least as far as I can find…
January 31st, 2010 at 4:18 am
Very interesting take. I would image that they movies would be same. But why should anyone take what the movie is talking about and compare it with the real world. After all, its a fictitious movie.