New Protectionist Chinese Movie Laws

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**reds8n**

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/11/08/new-protectionist-chinese-movie-laws-impact-blockbusters-like-doctor-strange-even/

Doctor Strange just had a stellar opening weekend at the box office, in large part due to a $44.3 million opening in China, more than half the film’s U.S. total, brining its total global gross to more than $325 million. China, the second largest film market in the world behind the U.S., has been of increasingly attractive for Hollywood studios looking to capitalize on its revenue potential, and being locked out of that market could make a significant impact on a film already struggling to make back its budget. With that in mind, the introduction of protectionist new film regulation in China today could have interesting ramifications for Hollywood.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new regulations, which must still undergo a review process after being passed by the legislature, include a provision that “overseas organizations or individuals that have been involved in activities that damage the dignity, honor and interests of the country and harm social stability, shall not be worked with” and state that Chinese theaters must make sure that domestic films are give 2/3 of all available screening time, adding to an already existing quota restricting international films in China to just 34 per year. Another rule insists that Chinese movies, which may apply to movies worked in on collaboration with foreign partners, must “serve the people and socialism,” which is good news for filmmakers looking for Chinese backing to make a Bernie Sanders biopic, but perhaps a little bit concerning for everyone else.

China’s potential as a source of box office revenue is only likely to grow, and Hollywood studios’ desire to nab as large as possible a chunk of that revenue isn’t going away anytime soon. Logic would dictate that we’ll probably see more adjustments to movie plots and productions to keep them in line with acceptable Chinese standards. As an example, Doctor Strange kicked up a lot of hubbub earlier this year when its screenwriter revealed that The Ancient One’s origin was changed to avoid dealing with Tibet, a sensitive subject for the Chinese government, which ultimately led to casting Tilda Swinton in the role to sidestep the issue. Those comments were later walked back, but it’s hard to believe it wasn’t really a factor. With these new regulations, we could be seeing more of that sort of thing in the near future.

Other interesting aspects of the new laws are increased anti-piracy legislation, which should please the fascists at the MPAA, and the establishment of a ethics committee to monitor China’s movie stars, along with laws requiring movie professionals be “excellent in both moral integrity and film art, maintain self-discipline and build a positive public image,” which sounds pretty ominous.

The laws go into effect on March 1, 2017, and there should be more information on how they’ll work and what impact they might have before then.

The anti-piracy stuff is interesting.... not sure how enforceable they'll actually turn out to be but time will tell.

Perhaps the studios that have partnered with non Chinese studios/similar are keen to ensure they get their full share of revenues.

" Another rule insists that Chinese movies, which may apply to movies worked in on collaboration with foreign partners, must “serve the people and socialism,”"

Michael Bay will have to make more of the explosions red...?

**Compel**

Huh.... I would have thought Dr Strange wouldn't have been allowed in China because of the whole magic / demons / astral spirits thing.

Makes me wonder why Suicide Squad was banned and Strange was allowed, where despite the age reading difference, they both covered the same supernatural type stuff.

**Spetulhu**

Compel wrote:
Makes me wonder why Suicide Squad was banned and Strange was allowed, where despite the age reading difference, they both covered the same supernatural type stuff.

Dr Strange used the supernatural to save the world (for the people!) so I guess that qualified him for "serving the people and socialism". And he didn't mess with Chinese history despite playing with time travel, which is also good. Basically a harmless film where Chinese authorities are concerned.

**hotsauceman1**

I mean, Movies have been pandering to china for awhile
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.
So with Doctor Strange. The Ancient one used to be Tibetan.

**feeder**

Compel wrote:
Huh.... I would have thought Dr Strange wouldn't have been allowed in China because of the whole magic / demons / astral spirits thing.

Makes me wonder why Suicide Squad was banned and Strange was allowed, where despite the age reading difference, they both covered the same supernatural type stuff.

Margot Robbie's incredible bum.

**welshhoppo**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, Movies have been pandering to china for awhile
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.
So with Doctor Strange. The Ancient one used to be Tibetan.

Used to being the word.

I distinctly remember someone pointing out that she was Celtic in the movie.

**Prestor Jon**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, Movies have been pandering to china for awhile
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.
So with Doctor Strange. The Ancient one used to be Tibetan.

The problem for movie studios isn't the need to cater to China with content the problem is getting access to China's market. Overseas ticket sales have become a vital revenue stream for movie studios because they need to recoup the loss of DVD sales. Now that people can buy movies digitally and watch them on the internet the market for DVD, and therefore DVD sales, has shrunk massively. That creates a big hole where DVD sales revenue used to be and movie studios either need to fill it with revenue from somewhere else or make fewer/cheaper movies. If China only allows 34 movies into Chinese movie theaters a year and requires those movies to have certain pro Chinese content and those films can only be on screens 1/3 of the total screen time then that reduces the amount of revenue studios can make from China, the biggest overseas market there is.

**the Signless**

The only really new thing in these laws is the 2/3 domestic rule. Imported fills were already pretty heavily vetted for their content leading to some bizarre examples of movie editing (like when they removed a Chinese alien from Men in Black and a really weird milk advertisement scene inserted into the middle of Iron Man 3). Any movie that places China or Communism as a "bad guy" had almost no chance of getting approved. I am wondering if it will really be 2/3 domestic movies, or if this is a ploy to try and push Hollywood to employ more Chinese companies. They could make it so that a film is "domestic" if the film studio hires a Chinese entertainment company to work with them. They know that most blockbusters would agree so that they don't lose the growing Chinese market.

If not then that means that I will have to deal with more junk like "Where did dad go?".

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.

That was Hong Kong. You could briefly see my house in the scene where they dropped all the boats back into the bay.

**Relapse**

welshhoppo wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, Movies have been pandering to china for awhile
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.
So with Doctor Strange. The Ancient one used to be Tibetan.

Used to being the word.

I distinctly remember someone pointing out that she was Celtic in the movie.

k

She? The ancient one is no longer Tibetan and male?

**jouso**

Relapse wrote:
welshhoppo wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, Movies have been pandering to china for awhile
Trans4mers did that with the final battle being in Shanghai I think.
So with Doctor Strange. The Ancient one used to be Tibetan.

Used to being the word.

I distinctly remember someone pointing out that she was Celtic in the movie.
k

She? The ancient one is no longer Tibetan and male?

And Mordo is black and a good guy (up until the post-credit scenes, at least)