Another ghostly movie is being prevented from release in China, but Chinese authorities say it’s not for the reason you think.
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On occasion, the Chinese market has helped United States 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.
With the majority of online trolls who petitioned against the all-femaleGhostbusters reboot now probably deeply angry with the film’s largely positive reception, they may be happy to hear the film is being denied a release in a certain country.
It appears an unconvincing explanation as prior movies weren’t seen because they were forbidden over supernatural content.
Made on a production budget of $144 million and set to play on 3,950 screens, “Ghostbusters” does have some work ahead to justify the price tag and could benefit from a boost in additional worldwide ticket sales. The listing for this new Ghostbusters didn’t even use the word “ghost” in the title over there (Super Power Dare Die Team isn’t quite as pithy as Ghostbusters), in an attempt to evade that problem, but it looks like that didn’t matter in the end. The censorship board also denied release of 2006’s “Pirate of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” because it contained depictions of ghouls and ghosts.
Business Insider contacted Sony for comment but did not get an immediate response.
Another Chinese movie business source told the Reporter: “It’s been confirmed that Ghostbusters won’t be coming to China, because they think it’s not really that attractive to Chinese audiences”.
As of late, major studios have obsessively been trying to give their films as much appeal as possible in China, which is predicted to become the largest film market in the world next year.
Are your surprised the Ghostbusters franchise isn’t that well known in China?
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Global box office numbers can be huge, but the one market that can have the biggest impact is China.
