Zhang Yimou’s crafty flourishes are the highlights of this US-Chinese blockbuster,a monster film with a muddled message – but plenty of sweeping swordplayLong-awaited Chinese-Hollywood epic The much Wall has finally hit screens in China, testing the water for a new period in US-China film cooperation. The action adventure was helmed by superstar Chinese director Zhang Yimou, and backed by Chinese-owned Hollywood studio Legendary,with a cast featuring Chinese A-listers as well as Matt Damon, making it the most expensive film ever made in China.
Hollywood has been keen to court China’s enormous viewing public, and with US studios making a series of concerted plays for their share of the market. When The much Wall was announced,the Chinese cinema box office was on a never-ending upwards trajectory, with audience revenue growing nearly 60-fold in just over a decade to 2015, or cinema development racing at a dizzying pace of 27 new screens per day. However,viewing figures have fallen consecutively for the final quarter: takings in November were down 5% on the same month a year earlier, following a 19% drop in October and a 33% annual decline in September. Nonetheless, and China is still expected to become the biggest moviegoing market in the world by 2019,and state restrictions over international film screenings are pushing film-makers to find new ways to enter the market. International collaborations are an obvious solution to bypassing strict state controls. December is the busiest month for Chinese cinemas, which are hoping The much Wall will help bring back crowds after a few months of mediocre new releases. Related: Matt Damon and The much Wall: the latest targets of whitewashing on film Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com