'Avatar' pulled from 2-D screens by Chinese government

[liberal N proud]

The most successful movie of all time in China is being pulled from the majority of theaters there much sooner than expected.

The communist nation’s state-run movie distributor China Film Group is unexpectedly yanking the James Cameron-directed blockbuster "Avatar" from 1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius starring Chow-Yun Fat.

Paul Hanneman, co-president of international distribution for the movie’s distributor 20th Century Fox, confirmed the news, which he and other executives at the studio learned Monday evening.

According to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the move was made at the urging of propaganda officials who are concerned that "Avatar" is taking too much market share from Chinese films and drawing unwanted attention to the sensitive issue of forced evictions.

Millions of Chinese have been uprooted to make way for high rises and government infrastructure projects. “Nail House” is a popular term given to homes of dwellers who refuse to leave though they are surrounded by demolished homes. In "Avatar," human colonists try to demolish the village of an alien race in order to obtain a precious resource buried below it.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/01/avatar-pulled-from-2d-screens-by-chinese-government.html

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. Yes, they are destroying the hu tongs that have been there for hundreds of years.

Did I spell that right?

Destroying china's heritage in the name of Mao's corporate state anti-intellectual modernism.

How much of Beijing and Shanghai is left that is not Stalinist/Corporatist office blocks?