Replacement poster for sci-fi film Arrival lands quietly after outrage in Hong Kong over original
But change from Hong Kong skyline to that of Shanghai did not end the bombardment of negative comments about initial geographic mistake
Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures has quietly removed a controversial movie poster of upcoming science fiction film Arrival, which showed Shanghai’s iconic Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower in the middle of Hong Kong.
Prominently superimposed in the foreground of the image was the landmark Shanghai tower, causing a storm of anger on social media with the hashtag #hongkongisnotchina.
The poster was posted on the official Facebook page of the film, which stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, on August 16 and was immediately subject to thousands of negative comments and angry emojis, with netizens pointing out the obvious geographical mistake.
On Thursday, Civic Party lawmaker and HK First co-founder Claudia Mo Man-ching said it seemed that people overseas “did not understand or tend to underestimate anti-mainland sentiment in Hong Kong”.
The apparent triggering of anti-mainland sentiment saw the incident draw international attention as media outlets around the world picked up the story.
While attempts to get comment from US distributors, Paramount Pictures and international distributor Sony Pictures have failed, action was taken to change the image. The poster was quietly taken down from the Facebook page yesterday and replaced with one of the spacecraft hovering over Huangpu River in Shanghai.