6 Foreign Movies in China in December

10 Minutes Read

• It's the season to stay in the warm and watch a foreign movie! Don't miss out on these films showing this month.

• In December, we welcome 6 foreign movies in Chinese threatres. Let's check out which ones are being shown this month, and why got Monster Hunter blocked...

2020.12.04

Friday

  🇦🇺 

 Invisible Man 

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Director: Leigh Whannell
Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer

2020.12.10 

 Thursday

🇯🇵  

 Shinchan: Crash! Scribble Kingdom 

 and almost Four Heroes 

The Scribble Kingdom in the sky which charges it's life energy with scribbling is endangered when the people in the world lessen their scribbling. The military is send in to enforce more scribbling by the people of the earth.

Director: Takahiko Kyogoku
Actors: Yumiko Kobayashi, Tesshô Genda, Tamao Hayashi

2020.12.11

Friday

🇯🇵  

 Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's New Dinosaur 

Nobita accidentally found a fossil dinosaur egg mixed with rocks in the dinosaur fossil exhibition site that he had visited before. He returned it to its original state with the "Time blanket". After hatching, the egg hatches a new species of dinosaur that is not named in the Cosmic Encyclopedia and names them Kyu and Myu Although they want to take care of them secretly, there are dinosaurs in the city still discovered by residents; Nobita and his friends were forced to bring them back to the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago the dinosaurs time. Just the time of Dinosaurs Extinction.

Director:  Kazuaki ImaiActors: Wasabi Mizuta, Megumi Ohara, Yumi Kakazu

🇫🇷  

 City Hunter 

Nicky Larson, the best private investigator in the business, is called for a high-risk mission: to recover the perfume of Cupid, a perfume that would make irresistible the one who uses it.

Director:  Philippe LacheauActors: Philippe Lacheau, Élodie Fontan, Tarek Boudali 

🇷🇺  

 T-34 

In 1944, a courageous group of Russian soldiers managed to escape from German captivity in a half-destroyed legendary T-34 tank. Those were the times of unforgettable bravery, fierce fighting, unbreakable love, and legendary miracles. 

Director:  Aleksey SidorovActors:  Alexander Petrov, Irina Starshenbaum, Viktor Dobronravov 

2020.12.18

Friday

  🇺🇸   

 Wonder Women 1984 

Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman's next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah.

Director: Patty JenkinsActors: Pedro Pascal, Gal Gadot, Connie Nielsen

2020.12.25 

Friday

  🇺🇸   

 Soul 

A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself.

Director:  Pete Docter, Kemp PowersActors:  Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton 

 Monster Hunter 

Monster Hunter was suppose to be another movie released in this month, but a backlash has lead the show disappeared in theatres, read more below.

The fantasy action movie Monster Hunter has been pulled from cinemas in China a day after its release after a backlash over a pun on the word “Chinese” that viewers said was derogatory. The film, produced by Sony and Tencent Pictures and others, was released on Friday and video clips of the offending joke quickly spread on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

In one scene, an Asian soldier, played by Asian-American rapper and actor MC Jin, jokes to a white soldier “what knees are these?” before responding with “Chi-knees”. The Chinese subtitles however changed the hard-to-translate pun to “there is gold underneath my knees” – a reference to a proverb that means men do not kneel or submit easily.

Some internet users saw the vastly different translation as an acknowledgement that the original dialogue was problematic. Others also recalled the racist playground slur “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these”.  “Even though subtitles come with the films sent for approval, censors you need to listen carefully before you pass it. Did you even listen to the dialogue?” Xiaozhu Nanhai, an influencer on Weibo wrote on Saturday.

“Tencent Pictures has problems too. I don’t believe such a big company would not have English speakers. How did the subtitles group come to this translation? Please investigate them.”

On Saturday, images that appeared to show screen captures of messages sent to cinemas were circulating on Weibo. The messages, which the South China Morning Post has not been able to verify, said they must stop showing the film and prepare to offer refunds.

The message said a new version of the film was being produced and that cinemas should play the new version when it was ready. A search for Monster Hunter on the popular Chinese ticketing app Maoyan did not come up with showings in any cinema as of Sunday.

Monster Hunter is based on the fantasy game of the same name, published by Japanese games developer Capcom. The company released a statement on Friday, distancing itself from the producers of the film.

“Because the game series Monster Hunter and the movie Monster Hunter are produced by different companies, after hearing everyone’s feedback to the movie, we have collected many opinions and have relayed them to the relevant companies,” Capcom Asia wrote in the statement.

 How to Buy Movie Tickets on WeChat 

1) Go to WeChat Wallet under “Me” and select “Movie Tickets” (or "Events Tickets"), confirm to link to your account ID to the in-app program.

2) By default, the program shows a list of all ongoing and upcoming movies, with red and blue buttons beside them respectively. Select the second icon at the bottom of the screen 影院 (yǐng yuàn, “Cinema”) if you want to check the list of movie theaters around the city instead.

3) Click on the movie you’d like to see. All the listed movies come with basic information including a synopsis, trailer, and reviews to help you to make the right choice.

4) After picking a movie, choose a specific cinema. The program provides the list of theaters in order of distance from your current location. If you have an preferred cinema in mind, scroll down to find it on the list.

5) Once you’ve decided on a cinema, you’re ready to reserve your tickets by clicking on the red button 购票 (gòu piào “Buy ticket”), selecting the screening time you prefer.

6) Choose your seats. Seats marked in red are already booked, while blank means they’re available.

7) Pay for your order after double checking the ticket information, and tapping the orange button 确认支付(què rèn zhī fù “Confirm to pay”) to finish purchase through WeChat Wallet. Please note that movie tickets can’t be returned or exchanged.

Sources: South China Morning Post, Beijing-kids.com

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hey include: roll eyes (翻白眼), 666, let me have a look (让我看一眼), sigh (叹气), bitterness (苦涩) and crack (裂开). 

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