I Am Legend Not Being Played in China. Why?

Question

In December 2007, China banned the release of American films in the country,[35] which is believed to have delayed the release of I Am Legend. Will Smith spoke to the chairman of China Film Group about securing a release date, later explaining, "We struggled very, very hard to try to get it to work out, but there are only a certain amount of foreign films that are allowed in."

Why aren't certain American movies allowed to be played in China? I thought it was world-wide.

Answer 1

This excerpt is from variety.com:

Reasons for the drastic action are threefold and appear to be a mixture of major politics and industry issues.

First, the ban is another example of the growing rift between China and the U.S. as the former becomes an economic, military and political powerhouse. China recently expressed its displeasure over the U.S. sale of weapons to Taiwan and objected to Congress honoring the Dalai Lama.

That resulted in a diplomatic spat, with the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier barred from visiting Hong Kong for Thanksgiving and U.S. minesweepers denied shelter in a storm. U.S. responded by sailing the warship through the Taiwan Strait.

"Movies are being targeted first because they are so visible," one source told Daily Variety. "But there may be actions in other areas too."More than one option(Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
(Co) Daily Variety

Second, the film ban is seen in some quarters as retaliation against the Motion Picture Assn.'s studio members for persuading the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to take action against China through the World Trade Organization over intellectual property protection and market access (Daily Variety, April, 11).

While the IP and piracy case came as little surprise, China was outraged that film import quotas, blackout periods (when only local films show) and other restrictions might be picked over by the WTO.

The U.S. filed the initial action in April, but the two sides failed to find a compromise and the cases were escalated to full disputes in September (Daily Variety, Sept. 26).

A third reason for the ban is that such blackouts are one of China's regular exercises in massaging figures so that local films have at least half the box office.

This looks to be the least weighty explanation as the target is based on the calendar year, and 50% market share is going to be hard to achieve in 2007. Hollywood pics had an exceptionally boffo summer, led by "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" and "Spider-Man 3." Chinese perf for "Transformers" was the film's third- biggest internationally; pic ranks second on the all-time list in China behind "Titanic."

Answer 2

Personally, I don't care for Will Smith and perhaps the Chinese has seen him act before, too.

It's called censorship of the people to keep control. Can't have radical ideas floating around in China or next thing you know, they'll want shorter work hours, freedom of speech and Sunday's off.

The censorship of films is one way to maintain the grip that they have on the people's minds in that country.

Answer 3

China is a very tough country to crack and part may be the US itself, or perhaps the zombie nature of the film

Answer 4

it was an awesome movie but maybe because of it being filmed in downtown new york

Answer 5

because China is a human rights violation filled communist dictatorship nation.

Answer 6

Maybe they don't want it in there theaters because noone would see it..

Answer 7

those chinese fools it was a great movie!

Answer 8

communist country