You know things are bad when Chinese newspapers are mocking how craven Hollywood is when it comes to wooing the Chinese market.
Though to be fair I think the South China Morning Post is actually an excellent newspaper. It's far from the state-run dreck that has been the source of much lolcowery on the internet.
The article discusses firstly the 2012 movie Red Dawn which is a remake of the awesome 80's film where the Soviet Union (with assists from Cuba and Nicaragua) invaded the United States. Here of course the film originally wanted China as the bad guys, but this was rapidly replaced by the North Koreans... provoking this witty quip from the article author.
The article actually explains some interesting bits. The studio back in 2009-10, MGM, was actually owned by a Hedge Fund which apparently didn't give a fuck what movies they made (as long as it had a reasonable return on investment overall I'm assuming) but when MGM faced financial troubles, Sony Pictures stepped up to distribute the film and thus by the time the film was released in 2012, the Chinese were crudely scrubbed out of the film and in a million dollars worth of reshoots, replaced with nefarious North Koreans (the Russians barely show up as well).
Sadly the movie (whose villains were mostly portrayed by Chinese-Americans lol) made barely over $50 million on a $65 million budget. And of course, much like the later Shang Chi, never released in China. Also, random trivia, remember that scene in Hong Kong from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight? Also added to market the film to China but alas, it never played in Chinese theaters either (though was still a success).
Though to be fair I think the South China Morning Post is actually an excellent newspaper. It's far from the state-run dreck that has been the source of much lolcowery on the internet.
The article discusses firstly the 2012 movie Red Dawn which is a remake of the awesome 80's film where the Soviet Union (with assists from Cuba and Nicaragua) invaded the United States. Here of course the film originally wanted China as the bad guys, but this was rapidly replaced by the North Koreans... provoking this witty quip from the article author.
SCMP said:“North Korea,” muses rebel teen Matt Eckert (played by Josh Peck) to his brother Jed (Chris Hemsworth) as they survey the forces invading their hometown of Spokane, Washington, in the 2012 action movie Red Dawn. “That doesn’t make sense.”
He’s right, of course, it doesn’t.
But look closer and you’ll realise we don’t even see Peck saying the line. It’s ADR (automated dialogue replacement), which means it was recorded after the fact to fill in gaps in the plot. And Red Dawn has enough of them to drive an entire fleet of tanks through – North Korean or otherwise.
The article actually explains some interesting bits. The studio back in 2009-10, MGM, was actually owned by a Hedge Fund which apparently didn't give a fuck what movies they made (as long as it had a reasonable return on investment overall I'm assuming) but when MGM faced financial troubles, Sony Pictures stepped up to distribute the film and thus by the time the film was released in 2012, the Chinese were crudely scrubbed out of the film and in a million dollars worth of reshoots, replaced with nefarious North Koreans (the Russians barely show up as well).
Sadly the movie (whose villains were mostly portrayed by Chinese-Americans lol) made barely over $50 million on a $65 million budget. And of course, much like the later Shang Chi, never released in China. Also, random trivia, remember that scene in Hong Kong from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight? Also added to market the film to China but alas, it never played in Chinese theaters either (though was still a success).