OK, so a movie I have no interest in had a character make some sort of lame joke/pun about Chinese people, and as a result…
Monster Hunter: World Review Bombed On Steam As Backlash To Movie Grows In China
The “backlash” here involves the movie simply being pulled from distribution in Chinese theaters. This is bad news for the movie, since China is probably the only place it’s going to get a wide theatrical release. It’s supposed to open around Christmas here in the US, but let’s face it, it’ll make about a buck and a half.
So how is this good news for Hollywood? Simple: it’s a valuable object lesson. Do not rely on China. In fact… delete China from your plans altogether. If you can get your flick released there… sure, great. But there has been altogether too much kowtowing to the Chinese government to get a foot in the door of the Chinese market. Now is yet another really good opportunity to Hollywood to finally figure out that China is bad for business, long term.
Here, watch this. It’s a fan film set in the Warhammer 40K universe. I’ve watched it several times and I have no friggen’ clue what’s going on. But I do know it’s impressive as hell to look at… and it was apparently made by *one* *guy.* Sure, it’s short, less than 15 minutes, with almost no dialog and a plot that confuzzles the bejeebers out of me… but IT WAS MADE BY ONE GUY.
Take note, Hollywood. If one guy over a span of a few years can make 15 minutes worth of fully rendered, entirely artificial worlds, then twenty guys can make a full movie in a year. Imagine what you could do with that capability. You could have a movie showing India defeating China in a war for territory. You could show Taiwan triumphant, the Communist flag falling to the ground in Beijing. You could have westerns with heroic cowboys. You could have war movies where the US forces are actually portrayed as the good guys. You could make an actually *good* Star Trek TV series and an actually *good* Star Wars movie trilogy. You wouldn’t even need to be in Hollywood or even California; you could make the movie somewhere *good.* All this would be possible if you simply sought out enthusiastic talent… and told the ChiComs to get bent.