China is full of crazy rich people.
There are over 800 billionaires
and more than a million millionaires.
But China’s crazy rich aren’t too crazy
about the movie Crazy rich Asians.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
After the critical and commercial success of Crazy Rich Asians,
it came as a bit of a surprise when it flopped bigtime in China.
Well, except for the fact that people had already predicted
that it probably wouldn’t do well.
In fact, Chinese movie goers related
more to Venom than Crazy Rich Asians.
Crazy Rich Asians was translated in Chinese
as An Unexpected Gold-Digging Romance.
Now I’m not saying she’s a gold digger...
because the movie really didn’t make a lot of money.
It only brought in 1.2 million dollars in tickets
during its opening weekend.
And Chinese movie review sites,
the reviews were not so good.
This one says:
“I was told that in the United States,
people are going crazy over the ‘All Asian Cast’,
but that’s nothing special in China.”
Another user writes:
“It’s like selling American style Chinese food in China.”
Others said it, “reinforced the stereotype
that Chinese people now are rich,
and all they do is buy, buy, buy.”
Which seems weird because in the West,
it was received as a triumph of representation,
as well as just a good film.
So what happened?
Some say American rom-coms
just don’t do well in China.
The last studio-backed romantic comedy
to get into Chinese theaters
was Bridget Jones's Baby.
It didn’t even crack a million dollars.
And like many babies in China,
it simply disappeared.
Others blame Chinese censors.
There’s always a big delay between a release in the West
and the state-approved release in China,
since Communist censors have to give any movie
a seal of approval before it’s shown.
In Crazy Rich Asians’ case,
that gap was three and a half months.
“That long vetting period led many industry observers
(and some studio executives) to conclude that
local censors were uneasy with the film’s
ostentatious displays of wealth,
as well as its correlation of Asian with ‘crazy.’”
So not the racial triumph it was viewed as in the West.
That could be because,
“Chinese audiences still regard the movie...
as American and distinctly foreign.”
Of course, the lag in release could also have meant
many people had already watched bootleg copies,
but, that didn’t stop them from watching Venom in theaters.
For years, Hollywood has been chasing Chinese money.
They’ve been trying to produce movies
that will be a success in the gigantic Chinese market.
So, many Hollywood movies gloss over anything bad in China.
Take Transformers: Age of Extinction.
One of the co-producers was Communist Party mouthpiece CCTV.
So it’s no wonder that in a movie
the Communist Party had a direct hand in,
when aliens attack Hong Kong,
they know who to call for help.
“We’ve got to call the central government for help!”
So will the flop of Crazy Rich Asians
change things for Hollywood in China?
Not necessarily.
But it does show that the Chinese market isn’t required
for a movie to be successful and hugely profitable.
And relying on the Chinese market isn’t sustainable
for Hollywood over the long term,
as the Chinese government tries to boost its own domestic films.
So I’m sure Hollywood will learn the correct lesson
from Crazy Rich Asians’ failure in China
and stop relying so much on that market.
Just kidding.
They’re going to stop making movies with Asian actors,
and make more campy action movies with Tom Hardy.
So what do you think about Crazy Rich Asians’ flop?
Leave your comments below.
And before you go,
now is the time when I answer a question
from a fan who supports China Uncensored
on the crowd funding website patreon.
Largezo asks,
“Is there a group the CCP has not persecuted?”
Uhhh, that’s a really good question.
They’ve persecuted landlords, capitalists, intellectuals,
artists, students, workers, Christians, Buddhists,
Muslims, rightists, leftists, men, women, children,
the elderly, and, actually now that I think about it,
members of the Communist Party as well.
Which just goes to show you that in a Communist system,
everyone is equal...ly at risk of being persecuted.
The Communist Party has even persecuted small birds.
I’m not kidding.
If you want to hear about that one, let me know.
Right now, I can’t think of any group
the CCP hasn’t persecuted,
but if someone can name a group,
leave it the comments below!
And remember,
if you want to have your question answered on the show,
sign up to support China Uncensored on Patreon.
Go to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored to learn more.
We’ll give you some cool perks as well.
Once again, I’m your host Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.