fredag 7. mai 2021

Chinese cinemas are showing old propaganda movies. Is Hollywood going to lose out?

Beijing has ordered China's cinemas to use the box office this year to spread propaganda celebrating the Communist Party. The country's movie fans aren't having it — and worry the new mandate is crowding out some of the Hollywood films they are clamoring for.

Chinese moviegoers revolted last month after major ticketing sites around the country quietly stopped promoting showings for ​new re-releases of the three "The Lord of the Rings" movies, the popular and critically acclaimed Western adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy book series. The disappearance of the films — which had been remastered in time for the first movie's 20th anniversary — from theater schedules in early April took many in China by surprise. Warner Bros., which did not respond to questions about why that happened, had been advertising their return to Chinese movie theaters for weeks. (CNN and Warner Bros. are both part of WarnerMedia.)