Top Gun: Maverick: Sequel loses Chinese investor due to pro-U.S. messaging

[Hamartia Antidote]

Have you seen the shenanigans that go on with these CCP propaganda films and their over-inflated box office numbers? It's like their covid numbers, or their GDP numbers, it's all about face and trying to prove the superiority of China.

As for foreign films not getting China releases, the China box office is less valuable because the theatres only remit 25% of the gross box office takings to the studio. This is about half of what studios make from North american theatres. And foreign films also have their numbers gamed downwards. The practice of theatres selling tickets for local films in place of foreign films and simply replacing the name on the ticket in pen is very common: the customer gets to watch the foreign film but the box office take is attributed to whatever local film the CCP wants to push.

Yes, I remember the stories about theaters telling customers to ignore the local film name printed on their tickets to get into a foreign film.

 

[patero]

Yes, I remember the stories about theaters telling customers to ignore the local film name printed on their tickets to get into a foreign film.

Hollywood studios have woken up to the fact that they are chasing fools gold with the China market. Censoring films to placate an increasingly hostile CCP to access a market where they are getting screwed at the box office is no longer viable.

 

[WotTen]

There's no big secret in buying advertising time...especially in markets that are not the US.

Maybe the US just has quality marketing compared to others. But you can hire a US marketing firm..US film companies have no monopoly on their usage.

Hollywood has built up a whole network across the globe and within each country. Marketing a film involves studios, magazine editors, film critics, talk show circuits, and a host of other channels. It is not as simple as hiring a marketing firm.

Hollywood also has the advantage of having English as a global language and a bevy of actors who have been marketed over the years as movie stars. The only foreign movies that make it big globally are those which get the nod from Hollywood's marketing network.

Even Britain can't compete with Hollywood, nor can Europe, never mind the rest of the world.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hollywood has built up a whole network across the globe and within each country. Marketing a film involves studios, magazine editors, film critics, talk show circuits, and a host of other channels. It is not as simple as hiring a marketing firm.

Hollywood also has the advantage of having English as a global language and a bevy of actors who have been marketed over the years as movie stars. The only foreign movies that make it big globally are those which get the nod from Hollywood's marketing network.

Even Britain can't compete with Hollywood, nor can Europe, never mind the rest of the world.

Certainly there is a language issue. But even so many movies are just dubbed. In Western Europe every movie is dubbed to the local language. So it doesn't matter if the original actors were speaking English or Chinese...it's going to get dubbed to Spanish/French/German/Italian/whatever.

Here's what Top Gun 2 sounds like in Germany

Now you could claim you can just dub a Chinese movie to English and then just follow the rules that the American film companies use...like putting local language subtitles or something.

Of course some US film studios are beyond advanced at dubbing. They have spent decades doing this and know they can make tons of money if they pull it off gracefully. PLUS this may give them a distinct advantage in foreign markets because they have a proven track record of satisfactory dubbing and this will just get their movies automatically greenlighted to the major theater chains instead of being stranded in minor chains reserved for foreign language films.

For instance in the US I don't think you can have a film in a major movie theater that has subtitles. I have never heard of this. It likely has to be in English (likely really good English too) otherwise you get sent to the minor theaters.

Infact I think the original Mad Max had some release issues and had to be dubbed because of it.

Original Australian..with the "wacky redneck Hillbilly voices" which Americans wouldn't take seriously as it sounds like a movie about some "Dukes of Hazzard" okies from the flat state of Kansas running

completely amuk with the helpless local backwards police...which most Americans would be smirking and finding rather hilarious. Meanwhile it is actually about a post nuclear war world.

Re-dubbed..with the "tougher criminal city-type voices" and tougher police voices which would not raise eyebrows with Americans making the post nuclear war scenario more plausible.

 

[KAL-EL]

I still remember the PDF Chinese Brigade saying Hollywood films couldn’t reach a $1B without the Chinese market. That’s been proven wrong twice now.

It's almost like a cultish mentality.

They circle jerk so much that they believe their own PDF Magic, and not what's actually happening in the outside world.

 

[WotTen]

Certainly there is a language issue. But even so many movies are just dubbed. In Western Europe every movie is dubbed to the local language.

It's more than language; it's face recognition. I bet most teenagers in every country would know the big Hollywood stars in addition to their local stars. Most of them wouldn't even know that many of them are Australian or British actors working in Hollywood.

For instance in the US I don't think you can have a film in a major movie theater that has subtitles.

That's the thing. In the US, foreign films are seen as artsy movies for film-school nerds or pretentious people. And, to be fair, most foreign films are boring as hell. . They haven't figured out that people watch movies to be entertained, not brainstorm.

I have seen some Chinese films with good special effects but, without the name-brand actors, they can't get far. The same movies with name-brand Hollywood actors would have done much better. They have tried to do crossover movies, like The Meg with Jason Stratham.

Original Australian..with the "wacky redneck Hillbilly voices" which Americans wouldn't take seriously

Not sure that many Americans can tell the difference between British and Australian accents. British accent still signifies culture and intelligence to most Americans.

What's funny is that the new Thor trailer has Chris Hemsworth speaking in his native Australian accent. I don't know if most Americans would notice. So weird to see a Scandinavian character speaking Australian in an American movie!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

It's more than language; it's face recognition. I bet most teenagers in every country would know the big Hollywood stars in addition to their local stars. Most of them wouldn't even know that many of them are Australian or British actors working in Hollywood.

It certainly doesn't hurt to have a big-name star in your movie to help generate high sales. But the highest grossing movies tend to leverage a popular book story like the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Marvel Comic book movies to hit the top.

I have seen some Chinese films with good special effects but, without the name-brand actors, they can't get far. The same movies with name-brand Hollywood actors would have done much better. They have tried to do crossover movies, like The Meg with Jason Stratham.

Well Matt Damon was in that "Great Wall" movie and it didn't do particularly well considering its big budget..but on the otherhand if he wasn't in the movie it likely would have done far far worse.

Not sure that many Americans can tell the difference between British and Australian accents. British accent still signifies culture and intelligence to most Americans.

What's funny is that the new Thor trailer has Chris Hemsworth speaking in his native Australian accent. I don't know if most Americans would notice. So weird to see a Scandinavian character speaking Australian in an American movie!

I think there are levels of British accents. The Harry Potter/Star Wars level is not considered "out of place". It just comes across to most Americans as someone who has had a "more refined schooling background"...not necessarily meaning they are British...in fact I bet many don't even know they are British. But on the otherhand most people can't listen to Prince Charles/Royales talk for more than a few seconds without doing the "what's up with the strange accent".

There's certainly a difference between how Daniel Radcliff speaks and the guy who plays that cop (not the Mel Gibson one) in Mad Max.

 

[8888888888888]

Look like that Movie will never have a Chinese release.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Look like that Movie will never have a Chinese release.

Doesn't need it

Top Gun: Maverick

www.boxofficemojo.com

DOMESTIC (48.6%) $705,908,229
INTERNATIONAL (51.4%) $747,800,000

WORLDWIDE $1,453,708,229

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[patero]

Doesn't need it

Top Gun: Maverick

www.boxofficemojo.com

DOMESTIC (48.6%) $705,908,229
INTERNATIONAL (51.4%) $747,800,000

WORLDWIDE $1,453,708,229

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Spiderman no way home managed over $1.9 billion with no China release too. It's the new normal now, studios aren't willing now to compromise their artistry to censor films for the CCP for 25% of a box office gross that is often under reported. Add to this the fact that even with a China friendly narrative, western films still struggle to get China releases and these decisions are made at very short notice.

We're going to see films eventually where real world geopolitics bleed into film making, and China is represented as the belligerent and aggresive dictatorship that it actually is, rather than the benign and benevolent 'saviour' that films often portray them as.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Spiderman no way home managed over $1.9 billion with no China release too. It's the new normal now, studios aren't willing now to compromise their artistry to censor films for the CCP for 25% of a box office gross that is often under reported. Add to this the fact that even with a China friendly narrative, western films still struggle to get China releases and these decisions are made at very short notice.

We're going to see films eventually where real world geopolitics bleed into film making, and China is represented as the belligerent and aggresive dictatorship that it actually is, rather than the benign and benevolent 'saviour' that films often portray them as.

Someday when China makes a movie that appeals to a wider audience instead of their own (ahem Battle Lake Changjin and Wolf Warrior2) their studios may finally break $1 Billion...but for now they haven't learned anything so they won't be seeing that anytime soon.