On occasion, the Chinese market has helped U.S. movies that have bombed in their home country, with Duncan Jones’ much-ridiculed Warcraft making more than half its money in China, where it was released as World of Magic Beasts. Instead it comes out of the fact that only a limited amount of foreign movies are allowed to be released in each calendar year.
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“Ghostbusters” and “The Secret Life of Pets” are facing off at this weekend’s box office, and it looks like the first battle between the two comedies will be won by Paul Feig’s highly anticipated reboot.
Releases including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Crimson Peak – both of which feature ghostly elements – were banned by the Chinese censorship board whose policy to disallow films that “promote cult or superstition” won out.
American horror films also have historic difficulties securing a Chinese release.
“China’s government is essentially atheist, and maintains strict control over what media can be consumed by its citizens”, Jenny Cho, author of the book “Chinese in Hollywood” said in an interview.
Deadline said the studio was not planning to submit the Ghostbusters reboot to China’s cultural authorities until the coming week. The reboot, however, has been reworked as “超能敢死队”, meaning “Super Power Dare Die Team”.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures are likely to have removed the word “ghost” from the movie’s Chinese title in order to avoid a potential censorship issue. “The original Bill Murray-starring 1984 classic, which never screened theatrically in China, was translated as ‘捉鬼敢死队, ‘ five characters literally meaning ‘Ghost Catcher Dare Die Team, ‘” THR notes.
The movie cost a not insubstantial $144 million to make (£108 million), and while box office analysts are expecting the Paul Feig-helmed film to open to as much as $50 million on its opening weekend in the USA, it would have benefitted hugely from the Chinese market.
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The sequel, 1989’s Ghostbusters II, grossed just over $US200 million.
