![]() ![]() The problem began in 2013 during Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state visit to the U.S. ![]() ![]() Winnie-the-Pooh has been the improbable object of aggressive Chinese censorship action for nearly a decade. When the Oscars were dropped from broadcast in both mainland China and Hong Kong in 2021 for the first time in many years - in response to a Hong Kong protest documentary being nominated in the best short documentary category - local authorities insisted the move was taken because of “commercial reasons.” And when Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, arguably the country’s most esteemed director, had his Cultural Revolution-set period drama One Second yanked from competition at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2019, the producers cited an unspecified “technical problem.” It would require the involvement of an especially potent political taboo, however, to impel Hong Kong authorities to backtrack on a Western film’s approval at the last minute, insiders say - but Blood and Honey just so happens to feature one front and center. In mainland China, which still operates a far stricter film regulation system than the former colony of Hong Kong, the terms “technical” and “commercial” are both regularly deployed in public as euphemisms for censorship problems that the government doesn’t want to openly acknowledge. Meanwhile, local film group Moviematic, an organizer of one of the screenings, said on Instagram that the film was pulled for “technical reasons.” Around the same time, a spokesperson from OFNAA suggested the cancellation was a “commercial decision” made solely by the cinema chains.Ĭhina experts and the international press wasted little time in connecting the dots though. “We are not sure what happened,” Fong says. The executive insists that the various cinemas chains involved in the planned release reached out to his team on Monday to say that the movie was being scrapped, but they provided “no detail.” Blood and Honey did receive Hong Kong’s highest rating, Category III, which requires all viewers to be over the age of 18, but there was “no editing required,” according to Fong. In a follow-up interview, Ray Fong, VII Pillars’ general manager, tells The Hollywood Reporter that the film had been fully approved for release by Hong Kong’s Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA), the government body that handles the territory’s film regulation. But two days prior to the opening, the company put out a short statement over its social media channels saying that the release had been cancelled, offering apologies to fans for the “disappointment and inconvenience.” in February, the film was set for release in 32 cinemas in Hong Kong and Macau on March 23 courtesy of local indie distributor VII Pillars Entertainment. Having already made $5.5 million following launches in more than 40 markets - including North America, Mexico and the U.K. But it wasn’t the gore (in one scene Pooh drives over a girl’s head) that landed the film in hot water in Hong Kong. Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie to Perform at King Charles III Coronation Concertįrom prolific Brit horror banner Jagged Edge Productions, known for its gleefully exploitative and childhood-ruining shlock (it’s currently working on a slasher version of Bambi), Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey - made for just $50,000 - sees a feral Pooh and Piglet go on a bloody rampage after Christopher Robin leaves them behind for college. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |