Censorship by Chinese authorities is making the country's box office downturn even worse.
The Chinese market is experiencing its biggest box office slump in more than a decade, but Beijing's film regulators are making it very clear that they have other priorities.
Just this week, two high-profile Chinese films were pulled ahead of their planned summer release due to censorship issues. On Monday, July 15, martial arts movie The Hidden Sword announced that it was scrapping its Friday release because of unspecified "market reasons." On Tuesday, it emerged that the buzzed-about buddy comedy The Last Wish, set to ...
The Chinese market is experiencing its biggest box office slump in more than a decade, but Beijing's film regulators are making it very clear that they have other priorities.
Just this week, two high-profile Chinese films were pulled ahead of their planned summer release due to censorship issues. On Monday, July 15, martial arts movie The Hidden Sword announced that it was scrapping its Friday release because of unspecified "market reasons." On Tuesday, it emerged that the buzzed-about buddy comedy The Last Wish, set to ...
- 7/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Censorship by Chinese authorities is making the country's box office downturn even worse.
The Chinese theatrical market is experiencing its biggest slump in more than a decade, but Beijing's film regulators are making it very clear that they have other priorities.
Just this week, two high-profile Chinese films were pulled ahead of their planned summer release due to censorship issues. On Monday, July 15, martial arts movie The Hidden Sword announced that it was scrapping its Friday release because of unspecified "market reasons." On Tuesday, it emerged that the buzzed-about buddy comedy The Last Wish, set to bow ...
The Chinese theatrical market is experiencing its biggest slump in more than a decade, but Beijing's film regulators are making it very clear that they have other priorities.
Just this week, two high-profile Chinese films were pulled ahead of their planned summer release due to censorship issues. On Monday, July 15, martial arts movie The Hidden Sword announced that it was scrapping its Friday release because of unspecified "market reasons." On Tuesday, it emerged that the buzzed-about buddy comedy The Last Wish, set to bow ...
- 7/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Still reeling from the cancellation of the theatrical release of its blockbuster “The Eight Hundred,” production studio Huayi Brothers has been hit with another setback: Its comedy “The Last Wish” has also been quietly pulled from China’s summer lineup. Both films have fallen afoul of China’s increasingly heavy-handed censors.
The unwelcome development comes as Huayi has announced that it expects losses of more than $48 million in the first half of 2019. That will pile onto a reported net loss of RMB1.09 billion (about $160 million) last year, creating a difficult hole for the company to climb out of without a new box-office hit.
Directed by Tian Yusheng, the writer-director of the bankable “The Ex-File” romcom series, “The Last Wish” stars Peng Yuchang (“An Elephant Sitting Still”) and Taiwanese actor Darren Wang in a buddy comedy about a young man with a terminal disease who hopes to lose his virginity before he dies.
The unwelcome development comes as Huayi has announced that it expects losses of more than $48 million in the first half of 2019. That will pile onto a reported net loss of RMB1.09 billion (about $160 million) last year, creating a difficult hole for the company to climb out of without a new box-office hit.
Directed by Tian Yusheng, the writer-director of the bankable “The Ex-File” romcom series, “The Last Wish” stars Peng Yuchang (“An Elephant Sitting Still”) and Taiwanese actor Darren Wang in a buddy comedy about a young man with a terminal disease who hopes to lose his virginity before he dies.
- 7/16/2019
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Long-awaited martial-arts film “The Hidden Sword” announced Monday that its theatrical release this Friday in China has been canceled because of “market reasons,” becoming the latest casualty of a censorship campaign that is damaging the country’s box office.
The film is helmed by writer-director Xu Haofeng (“The Final Master”), who was also the screenwriter for Wong Kar Wai’s “The Grandmaster.” “The Hidden Sword” stars Xu Qing, Zhang Aoyue (“The Final Master”) and Huang Jue. It was completed and approved in 2017 by China’s official censors, who issued it the necessary “dragon seal” of Chinese government approval for theatrical release.
That year, it won the prize for best artistic contribution at the 41st Montreal World Film Festival and was nominated for four prizes at the Taiwan-based Golden Horse Awards, long the most prestigious awards for Chinese-language films. Posters and trailers for the movie were released, but it never ended up hitting Chinese theaters,...
The film is helmed by writer-director Xu Haofeng (“The Final Master”), who was also the screenwriter for Wong Kar Wai’s “The Grandmaster.” “The Hidden Sword” stars Xu Qing, Zhang Aoyue (“The Final Master”) and Huang Jue. It was completed and approved in 2017 by China’s official censors, who issued it the necessary “dragon seal” of Chinese government approval for theatrical release.
That year, it won the prize for best artistic contribution at the 41st Montreal World Film Festival and was nominated for four prizes at the Taiwan-based Golden Horse Awards, long the most prestigious awards for Chinese-language films. Posters and trailers for the movie were released, but it never ended up hitting Chinese theaters,...
- 7/15/2019
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.