ROTTEN TOMATOES: China Imposes Three-Month Ban on American Films

China Imposes Three-Month Ban on American Films

Sorry, China. No In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale for you!

by Jeff Giles | December 06, 2007

Remember last summer, when we were all complaining about Chinese theaters getting the world premiere of Spider-Man 3?

Well, the odds of something similar happening again -- in the recent future, anyway -- are looking pretty slim; as Variety reports, the Chinese government has banned the release of any American films for at least three months, and possibly until next May.

Nobody's giving any official comments yet -- in fact, a China Film spokesman is quoted as saying "There's no such thing" and "We've never heard anything about this" -- but the reasons for the ban are apparently primarily political. Recent diplomatic squabbles between the United States and China (over the sale of American arms to Taiwan, Congressional honors for the Dalai Lama, and a U.S.-led WTO action against Chinese piracy) have cooled relations between the countries, and conventional wisdom suggests this is the growing superpower's way of flexing its economic muscle.

The ban isn't entirely without precedent. Chinese authorities regularly impose blackouts on American films in an effort to reserve at least 50% of the box office for domestic pictures, and this year has already seen three of them. Still, Variety calls this the "least weighty explanation," pointing out that high grosses for summer blockbusters such as Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and Spider-Man 3 has already tilted the balance for 2007 irreparably in favor of international releases.

Source: Variety

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(1-20 of 33 posts) | Reply

The Tony Show writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:03 AM

*yawn*

Slow news day, eh? Perhaps they can settle the writer's strike by offering them 50% of the first 3 months of Box Office in China.

(Reply to this)

xboxmaster writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:34 AM

get a life man.

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:34 AM

haha, i'm waiting for the "rise in pirated movies" report to come out soon then.

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:42 AM

In reply to this comment (#1332445)
Slow news day? Considering Hollywood's modern reliance on foreign box office sales, not to mention the distinct possibility that this could happen on top of the continuing writer's strike, this might just be a huge deal.

(Reply to this)

Nathan T. writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:13 AM

Such protectionism is utterly counter-productive. Anyone else remember how France used to mandate that every third song played by a radio station be "domestic". How draconian and pointless.

(Reply to this)

POPCORNLUMPY writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:16 AM

What!!!! ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!

i new it!!! i just new it!!

Let them do this,we dont care, aslong as we can still do dragon ball z without getting sued, then where fine, where just fine!

(Reply to this)

agniyo writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:18 AM

About one-fifth of the world's population lives in China -- one person in five on Earth. It's a bi-i-i-g country.

(Reply to this)

Bob* writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:58 AM

chinese government is so damn weird

(Reply to this)

A Lapse In Reason writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:01 AM

It's funny that they're banning these movies because in all reality the vast majority dont go to movie theater and watch flms. Most just buy bootleg DVD's it's cheaper and easier plus you can get a lot of films that never would play in a movie theater due to tight goverment regulation.

(Reply to this)

mrdarklight writes:
on Dec 06 2007 11:53 AM

Commies are famously paranoid. This also serves to illuminate how little freedom is actually allowed in China.

(Reply to this)

mrdarklight writes:
on Dec 06 2007 11:54 AM

Commies are famously paranoid. This also serves to illuminate how little freedom is actually allowed in China.

(Reply to this)

SS109 writes:
on Dec 06 2007 12:10 PM

Supid move by China, especially before the Olympics. Like poor Ang Lee, praised by the Chicoms while his films are censored back home.

(Reply to this)

Novastar. writes:
on Dec 06 2007 12:31 PM

I have the feeling that we will hear more weird story's comming from that country,this is just the start.

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arendr writes:
on Dec 06 2007 12:40 PM

Yet we won't ban their lead based toys?

(Reply to this)

Paul_Is_Drunk writes:
on Dec 06 2007 12:43 PM

With Europe joining America in the fray of lambasting China for shady economic practices, yeah... you can expect more of this. Doesn't really matter, as most Chinese don't go to the theater. The actual population that doesn't live in poverty is still incredibly small.

@POPCORNLUMPY

Um, I'm hoping you're just being sarcastic about Dragon Ball Z. If not, I fear for the youth of this country.

(Reply to this)

bacci40 writes:
on Dec 06 2007 12:50 PM

oh ****...all the pirate sites are totally freaking out

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#six writes:
on Dec 06 2007 01:07 PM

i lived in china for two years. lived in qingdao a preaty big city. and most people just buy bootlegs. its muuuch cheaper . and they dont get that many US movies in theaters anyway. just the realy big ones (spiderman, superman, pirates). you just walk down to your local dvd shop. and pay less than a buck for a dvd. preaty much any move you want. came back with about 300 dvds. and thats not counting the ones i didnt bother bringing back.

(Reply to this)

Eat.Before.We.Eat.You writes:
on Dec 06 2007 02:05 PM

In reply to this comment (#1332585)
I usually don't do this, but there are just too many mistakes in your comment, Popcornlumpy:

"What!!!! ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!

i new it!!! i just new it!!

Let them do this,we dont care, aslong as we can still do dragon ball z without getting sued, then where fine, where just fine!"

First of all, the superluous exclamation points and "ahaha"s should be cut down.

Second, when I stands alone, it gets capitalized.

Third, "new" should be "knew" both times.

Fourth, there should be a space in "this,we". The comma should be a period, too.

Fifth, "dont" should have an apostrophe: "don't".

Sixth, there should be a space in "aslong".

Seventh, "dragon ball z" should be capitalized.

Eighth, "where" should be "we're" both times and the comma in there should be a semicolon.

Like I said, I normally don't do this. I hate to seem like a dick; and I realize this is the internet. Come on, though. How did you manage to fit eight mistakes into four short lines?

(Reply to this)

10FootJackGilardi writes:
on Dec 06 2007 02:43 PM

oh no! Maybe we should put a ban on all the lead-infected toys and E. Col-infested food they're sending over here.

(Reply to this)

unclehulka writes:
on Dec 06 2007 02:51 PM

In reply to this comment (#1333249)
i know, a first grader knows knew instead of new. i guess that's what happen when you watch things like Dragon Ball Z.

(Reply to this)

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