RECORDS ARE broken thick and fast these days in China's booming cinema landscape. US director James Cameron though has restored his position at the top of the biggest movie league tables after his sci-fi epic Avatartook nearly 550 million yuan (€56 million) in its first two weeks.
Now, after nearly three weeks in the cinemas, the film is due to give way to a Chinese state-sponsored version of the life of the great philosopher Confucius, and there is widespread speculation that the move is happening for political reasons.
Avatarwill now give way to Confuciuswhich is to premiere in China on January 22nd.
This is fairly standard practice in China, where the government will clear the screens of foreign fare in the run-up to holidays – in this case, Chinese New Year next month – to boost local movies. China restricts the number of revenue-share foreign films each year to about 20 movies.
Avatardeals with people being forced to move from their homes, a big issue in China where land-grabs by unscrupulous developers, aided by corrupt officials, are a national scandal.
Others see an analogy with the Tibetan autonomy movement or the Uighur independence movement in Xinjiang, where the indigenous people complain their culture is being overwhelmed by Han Chinese culture steered from Beijing.
However, countering that argument is the fact that Avatarwill continue to screen in 3-D, which is by far proving the most popular format, accounting for 55 per cent of the movie screens on which it is being shown.
At a visit to a Chinese cinema this week queues formed to buy tickets for the 3-D version of Avatar– in English with subtitles – but none for the two 2-D cinemas showing the movie.
For 11 years, Cameron's Titanicwas the biggest movie in China. It was unseated last year by Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallenwhich was in turn ousted by the disaster epic 2012.
By the end of last year, China had more than 4,700 screens, including nearly 800 3-D screens and 1,800 digital screens.
According to China Film, mainland China now has 22 Imax screens.
Chinese box office takings topped €616 million last year, a rise of more than 40 per cent on the previous year, and a record 450 films were made and screened on the Chinese mainland.