Avatar Replaced By Confucius; Who Benefits?

The 2-D version of Avatar was pulled from most cinemas on Jan. 22 drawing attention of movie Avatar’s fans. On Jan. 19, cinemas in Ningbo, Jiangsu province were informed that the 2-D version of Avatar should be taken off and be replaced by the local blockbuster film: Confucius, starring Chow Yun-fat and Zhou Xun. The announcement sparked much discussion on the motivation behind such a move.

When interviewed by a reporter from Lifeningbo, Miss Zhang from Wanda Theater pointed out the reason for Avatar being off was to give way to Confucius, which began screening on Jan. 22, and as far as she knew, it was unprecedented that a movie of this success be replaced so abruptly by another one. Miss Sheng from Shidai Theater added the replacement notice also instructs theaters to stop all promotions of Avatar.

The unexpected announcement was a blow to Wanda Theater. The 2-D version of Avatar accounted for one third of box office sales for Avatar in that theater group. For Shidai Theater, which owns only one 3-D cinema hall, the situation would not be worse; 2-D Avatar accounted for 60 percent of their revenue on Avatar. In order to minimize the loss, the cinemas had to add more 3-D cinema halls to screen Avatar.

Was this a move to protect domestic movies? People doubted it’s that simple.

An industry insider revealed that China Film Group Corporation (CFGC) was behind the scene of this decision. CFGC is the largest and most influential state-run film enterprise in China. It is also the only company which can import foreign films in China and a major exporter of Chinese films (according to Wikipedia). CFGC invested in Confucius and owned the power to decide when the foreign movies to be screened. Although the incident looks like a nationalistic move, it is all about profit.

Meanwhile anger was aroused online. A netizen said he understood the move of protecting domestic movies, but the way that Avatar was pulled from the theater was distasteful and disregarded consumer interest. It was just like spitting at Avatar and slapping the face of consumers. Fortunately, there was no 3-D Confucius, otherwise Avatar would not have survived.

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Report’s summarized from Chinanews

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