China‘s censors are now
satisfied with the re-edited version of Tom Cruise‘s new
action movie "Mission: Impossible
III" and it’ll be
released on the Chinese mainland on July 20.
"The producer has cut the parts which are unsuitable
for Chinese audiences," Weng Li, deputy manager of
distribution under the China Film Group Corporation told
Xinhua. "There are not many cuts so those who haven‘t seen
the original version will not be aware of changes," said Li
who refused to say which
scenes, their duration and how
many cuts had actually been made.
Earlier reports said the scenes which required to be
cut included "a car chase and shootings on the streets of
Shanghai" and "laundry hanging from balconies." These
scenes were said to compromise the image of Shanghai.
The changes were made based on recommendations by
censors of the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television (SARFT). It had been reported they were prepared
to ban the movie.
Speculators also suggested the movie offended China‘s
censors because of a portrayal of Shanghai that includes
tattered clothes being hung on bamboo rods and a slow
police response to a trespassing attempt by Cruise‘s
character, secret agent Ethan Hunt.
Cruise‘s filming in Shanghai and the small town of
Xitang is expected to draw big Chinese audiences with
predicted revenues of 100 million
yuan (US$12.5 million).
The only other foreign films to bring in that kind of
money are "King Kong" and "The Da Vinci Code", Weng said.
The Chinese film "The Promise" made almost twice that
amount. The first two installments of Mission Impossible
raked in at the Chinese box office around 40 million yuan
(US$5 million) each.
However, bootleg DVD copies of the new Mission
Impossible film have been on sale in Beijing for
approximately two months. In a store under the Beijing
Modern & Classic Culture Co., Ltd near the China Art
Gallery, a salesgirl said their copies were inferior fakes
which had been shot in a cinema with a hand-held camera.
Yet their price - 8 yuan (US$1) each - is the same as
those of a good-quality movie DVD. "It‘s a new movie so
people are buying it anyway," observed the salesgirl.
A hawker on Xuanwumenwai Street, in the west of the
capital, said he purchased the fake DVDs from south
China‘s Guangdong Province and charged 5 yuan (about
US$0.60) each.
"Based on my experience the pirated DVDs won‘t have
much influence on the movie‘s box office in China due to
their inferior quality," Weng told Xinhua. "In fact the
pirated versions have been advertising the movie for two
months," he added.
The film has grossed over US$130 million in North
America during the ten weeks since its release, the
Associated Press has reported.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)