China Lifts Ban on Three U.S. Films

Last year we reported that China would be banning all Hollywood produced films and even some films coming out of its more Western leaning city of Hong Kong until at least March of 2008. Well, March is just around the corner and adding to our article this week about “The Golden Compass” being let into Chinese theaters comes word of at least two more films being allowed through China’s tight-knit censorship.

State-run distributor the China Film Group will release “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and “10,000 B.C.” in March, ending a three-month total blackout on new Hollywood product.

China normally allows just 20 foreign films on a revenue-share basis a year into its country for viewing by the Chinese people. However, for the last six months no film from Hollywood and only two major Hong Kong films were seen within its borders. Those two allowed from Hong Kong production were Jet Li’s “The Warlords” (Tau ming chong) and “Assembly” (Ji jie hao).

This apparant lifting of the ban is a good sign of renewed relationships between Hollywood and China’s motion picture industry. Revenue lost over the six months hurt both China and Hollywood, especially since the ban took place at the same time the writer’s strike was going on in the United States. Ultimately, however, the greatest loss came to China’s pocket-book because Hollywood films have the biggest draw for Chinese audiences than any other movie product.

Beijing continues to deny the accusation that the ban was imposed to prove a point. They cite their approval of Will Smith’s movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which was given limited release at the height of the ban in January 2008 and “The Water Horse,” which was widely released this month as proof that no point was trying to be made other than the continued displeasure the Chinese government holds with U.S. trade policy. An argument could be made however, that the U.S. is China’s number one trading partner (and vice versa), and if a point were really to be made, China and the U.S. could both be made to suffer economically if the hostile attitude between the two continues to unfold.