by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 09:01
After a summer in which few Hollywood movies were released to protect the domestic film market, this fall will see the release of a number of Western blockbusters in Chinese cinemas.
While Western film releases on the Chinese market are fickle things that sometimes don’t happen (here’s looking at you, Mad Max: Fury Road), we have a confirmed list of all the Hollywood films to be shown in China for the rest of the year.
However, the biggest news is the name that doesn’t appear. Because all 34 spots on the quota for foreign profit-sharing films have been filled, this means that Star Wars VII – The Force Unleashed will definitely not be released in China in 2015. We’d strongly bet that it will arrive next year, but with the huge delays and bureaucracy that Western films face, who knows when that will happen.
With the way the opening dates of these nine Hollywood films are all within days of each other, Chinese netizens are sarcastically calling November Hollywood’s “protection” month, citing China’s decision this past August to bar the opening of Hollywood movies in order to give domestic films a chance.
Here then are all the Hollywood movies to screen in China for the rest of the year:
Ant-Man (蚁人) – Friday, October 16 (US release – July 16)
The affable Paul Rudd stars in this Marvel movie that although doesn’t feature any robot-punching action like this past spring’sAvengers sequel, still has Paul Rudd starring as a superhero who can shrink and ride ants.
Pan – Thursday, October 22 (US release – October 9)
Hugh Jackman stars as Captain Blackbeard in this iteration of the children’s tale, which will no doubt spawn a sequel called Panned.
Everest (绝命海拔) – Tuesday, November 3 (US release – September 25)
With a Chinese title that translates back into English as “The Extreme Elevation at Which One Dies“, we’re guessing that Chinese audiences don’t mind spoilers. (The poster above is from the Taiwan release)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (移动迷宫2)– Wednesday, November 4 (US release – September 18)
We’re not sure what else to say about this movie except that it’s the second on the list to feature a Korean leading actor, while none contain an actor from China.
The Peanuts Movie (史努比: 花生漫画大电影)– Friday, November 6 (US release – same day)
Good grief, Charlie Brown; we’d think you’d get to be the star of your own movie, but in China The Peanuts Movie is known as “Snoopy: The Peanuts Movie“.
Spectre (007: 幽灵党) – Friday, November 13 (US release – November 6)
We’re excited to watch Daniel Craig close out his tenure as the suave British secret agent by matching wits with Christopher Waltz, but we have to question the logic of releasing a movie in China with the Chinese title “The Party of Ghosts“.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (饥饿游戏3嘲笑鸟(下)) – Friday, November 20 (US release – same day)
¡Viva la revolucion! Jennifer Lawrence closes out The Hunger Games trilogy with this fourth installment.
The Martian (火星救援) – Wednesday, November 25 (US release – October 2)
Western media have long speculated that a plot point of The Martian that tips its hat to the Chinese space agency may endear itself with Chinese audiences. We’ll have to see if it does when it comes out, though we think Chinese audiences may sympathize with more with stranded astronaut Mark Whaley by the way he grows his potatoes.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (海绵宝宝历险记:海绵出水) – Tuesday, December 1 (US release – February 6)
Here’s some food for thought for you: by the time you can watch this in a mainland Chinese theater, children in the USA are already bored of watching this in the back of mini-vans, having had a DVD release date of June 2.
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