This is from the “things I did not know” file:
China has become the second-biggest movie market behind the U.S., with sales of $2.7 billion last year….The government allows in only 34 foreign films per year for national distribution. At least 14 of them have to be made in 3-D or for the big-screen Imax format.
Really? A minimum of 14 foreign movies have to be in 3-D or Imax? How about that. And while we’re on the subject, the same story passes along this tidbit:
“2012” movie was a hit in China with a plot that was gold for patriotic Chinese audiences: As the Earth’s core overheats, world leaders build an ark in the mountains of central China to house people and animals that can repopulate the planet. Scenes from the nearly three-hour movie feature a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale so quickly.
It was seen in China as a refreshing change for audiences after decades of unflattering portrayals of the communist nation in Hollywood movies.
Hmmm. It’s true that a US military officer says this. But as I recall, the reason that only China could build the arks is because it has an autocratic government that can brutally depopulate entire villages without enduring any pesky questions from legislators or the media. Does anyone know if this particular bit of exposition survived in the Chinese version of the film? Or did it end up on the cutting room floor?
