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2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China
SimonTheSoundMan notes that Avatar is being pulled from screens in China for being too successful, and too provocative in its anti-authoritarian message. (The 3-D and IMAX versions will remain.) "The communist nation's state-run movie distributor China Film Group is unexpectedly yanking the James Cameron-directed blockbuster Avatar from 1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius starring Chow-Yun Fat. ... According to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the move was made at the urging of propaganda officials who are concerned that Avatar is taking too much market share from Chinese films and drawing unwanted attention to the sensitive issue of forced evictions."
The summary is wrong. The article states that there are two quotas at work for all movies: how long they are shown in theaters, and how many foreign movies are allowed to be shown over the course of a year. Avatar stayed on screen for the normal time-period in 2D theaters, and is allowed to exceed the normal runtime in 3D theaters. In other words, the Hong Kong daily made some assumptions about why Avatar didn't exceed the normal runtime for foreign movies. The assumptions might be correct, but are unsupported by anything uttered by officials so far.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Wasn't the link I supplied. Error on /., not the submitter.
It might not have made it in the country at all. According to the article, only 20 foreign films are allowed in China at all every year. Avatar wasn't released there until 2010 because in 2009 the film quota had already been met.
As an aside, this policy may sound harsh, but I had a professor who lived in China 25 years ago, and the movie theater was basically a sheet hung up outside with a projection shown on it. And it was so impressive that the people were willing to sit outside in freezing cold weather to watch it (my professor was not willing to). I'm not trying to defend the Chinese government or anything, but if I were a citizen of China, I would definitely say that things had gotten better, even with only 20 foreign movies allowed in, and would probably be willing to give my government the benefit of a doubt.
Qxe4
Weston Price also "found" that sugar causes tuberculosis and that root canals cause cancer. Please spare Dr. Price and his homeopathic dentistry crap.