The Projector | In China, what people think and what they say can be two different things, as these film figures show
- Three Chinese films released over the National Day holiday scored high on Douban but that does not mean they were loved by all
- Despite a tightening of the already strict film censorship in the mainland, you can still find alternative fare, if you know where to look
Over dinner in Shanghai last week, I asked my Chinese film industry colleagues whether they had seen the three patriotic blockbusters that dominated mainland cineplexes over the National Day holidays. Most hadn’t.
Among those who had, the The Climbers , an homage to Chinese mountaineers trying to scale Mount Everest in the 1960s and 70s, was the least popular, behind the Sully-like airborne drama The Captain and the ode to the nation that is My People, My Country . However, my fellow diners’ sentiments appear to be unrepresentative of the masses.
At the time of writing, the three films – all released in the mainland on September 30 – were still doing well at the Chinese box office. My People, My Country, a seven-part anthology, and The Captain, by Hong Kong director Andrew Lau Wai-keung, have so far generated takings of 2.7 billion yuan (HK$3 billion) and 2.5 billion yuan, respectively. The Climbers, helmed by another Hong Kong filmmaker, Daniel Lee Yan-kong, has grossed just over 1 billion yuan.
On film portal Douban, the Chinese equivalent of IMDb, My People, My Country boasted a respectable score of eight, The Captain averaged seven and The Climbersearned a 6.5.
To put that into perspective, Chinese animation Nezha –this summer’s breakout hit, which took in nearly 5 billion yuan – scored 8.5. Even the mediocre DreamWorks animation Abominable , which opened in China on October 1, got a 7.5.
