Tarantino unplugged after cinemas suspend 'Django'
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
April 12, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE movie "Django Unchained" became "Django Unscreened" yesterday as Quentin Tarantino's violent slave-revenge saga was pulled from Chinese cinemas on its opening day, with the importer blaming a "technical problem."
Yesterday morning, the Huayi Brothers Cinema used its Sina Weibo microblog account to announce that showings of the film had been suspended "for technical reasons."
A statement posted on Mtime.com, a popular movie information and ticket booking website in China, said cinemas nationwide had received a notice from the importer of the film, the China Film Group, to suspend showings.
One cinema-goer wrote on his microblog that the screen had been stopped at the theater he went to in Beijing just minutes after the movie had begun.
He said cinema staff explained that they had just received a call from the State Administration of Radio Film and Television of China to suspend the screening of the film "because of technical problems."
The Internet was ablaze with complaints and speculation with many people guessing that nudity in the movie might have been why it had been shut down.
Guo Ying, a marketing official from Shanghai United Cinema Lines, confirmed the film's sudden suspension, saying they were informed by China Film Group Digital Cinema Line Co Ltd, the film's distributor, yesterday morning.
"The notice doesn't clearly state the reasons (for the suspension), Guo said. "We also do not know when the suspension will be lifted. Tickets will be refunded at the theaters."
Tian Zaixing, general manager of the Beichen Fortune Center movie theater in the southwestern city of Kunming, said he could not recall any other imported film being halted on its opening day. The order from China Film Group came in a phone call at around 10am, he said.
"We were excited about the film yesterday," he said. "We had high expectations for this film's box office." The cited "technical reason" might only be a ruse, said Tian, but he was unable to provide an alternative explanation.
He dismissed speculation that a nude scene was the problem.
"The censors have sharper eyes than we do," Tian said. "Shouldn't they have already spotted it?"
He said the scene was not lewd at all but powerful in making the audience sympathetic toward one character.
The film stars actors well known to Chinese audiences - Leonardo DiCaprio as a plantation owner and Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who trains to become a bounty hunter and demands his wife's freedom.
Photographer Xue Yutao said he was about one minute into the movie at a Beijing theater when a couple of employees walked in and told the audience the screening would be postponed. No reason was given, Xue said.
"It was so sudden. I was very shocked," Xue said. "How could this be possible? Something like this has never happened before."
Xue said he resorted to a pirated copy of the film and did not see anything that could have offended Chinese censors.
But he added: "I would still prefer to see it in the theater."
Industry insiders suggested the film's bloody content might have been a reason behind the stoppage.
Film critic Li Tian said that many of Tarantino's movies featured sex, bloodshed and violence. "However, without a mature film rating system, his movies are not appropriate for public screening though he is a great and talented film maker," he said.
Unlike many other countries, China does not yet have a film rating system.
"Django Unchained" received 13 Oscar nominations, winning best original screenplay and best supporting actor awards.
It made more than US$160 million at the North American box office and has proved successful in many other countries.
The UK's Guardian newspaper called it "horribly funny" and a "dizzy return to form."
The Hollywood Reporter said it would attract a good-sized audience internationally, though distaste for the subject matter and the irreverent take on a tragic subject might make some prospective viewers hesitate.
Yesterday morning, the Huayi Brothers Cinema used its Sina Weibo microblog account to announce that showings of the film had been suspended "for technical reasons."
A statement posted on Mtime.com, a popular movie information and ticket booking website in China, said cinemas nationwide had received a notice from the importer of the film, the China Film Group, to suspend showings.
One cinema-goer wrote on his microblog that the screen had been stopped at the theater he went to in Beijing just minutes after the movie had begun.
He said cinema staff explained that they had just received a call from the State Administration of Radio Film and Television of China to suspend the screening of the film "because of technical problems."
The Internet was ablaze with complaints and speculation with many people guessing that nudity in the movie might have been why it had been shut down.
Guo Ying, a marketing official from Shanghai United Cinema Lines, confirmed the film's sudden suspension, saying they were informed by China Film Group Digital Cinema Line Co Ltd, the film's distributor, yesterday morning.
"The notice doesn't clearly state the reasons (for the suspension), Guo said. "We also do not know when the suspension will be lifted. Tickets will be refunded at the theaters."
Tian Zaixing, general manager of the Beichen Fortune Center movie theater in the southwestern city of Kunming, said he could not recall any other imported film being halted on its opening day. The order from China Film Group came in a phone call at around 10am, he said.
"We were excited about the film yesterday," he said. "We had high expectations for this film's box office." The cited "technical reason" might only be a ruse, said Tian, but he was unable to provide an alternative explanation.
He dismissed speculation that a nude scene was the problem.
"The censors have sharper eyes than we do," Tian said. "Shouldn't they have already spotted it?"
He said the scene was not lewd at all but powerful in making the audience sympathetic toward one character.
The film stars actors well known to Chinese audiences - Leonardo DiCaprio as a plantation owner and Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who trains to become a bounty hunter and demands his wife's freedom.
Photographer Xue Yutao said he was about one minute into the movie at a Beijing theater when a couple of employees walked in and told the audience the screening would be postponed. No reason was given, Xue said.
"It was so sudden. I was very shocked," Xue said. "How could this be possible? Something like this has never happened before."
Xue said he resorted to a pirated copy of the film and did not see anything that could have offended Chinese censors.
But he added: "I would still prefer to see it in the theater."
Industry insiders suggested the film's bloody content might have been a reason behind the stoppage.
Film critic Li Tian said that many of Tarantino's movies featured sex, bloodshed and violence. "However, without a mature film rating system, his movies are not appropriate for public screening though he is a great and talented film maker," he said.
Unlike many other countries, China does not yet have a film rating system.
"Django Unchained" received 13 Oscar nominations, winning best original screenplay and best supporting actor awards.
It made more than US$160 million at the North American box office and has proved successful in many other countries.
The UK's Guardian newspaper called it "horribly funny" and a "dizzy return to form."
The Hollywood Reporter said it would attract a good-sized audience internationally, though distaste for the subject matter and the irreverent take on a tragic subject might make some prospective viewers hesitate.
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