In spite of apologies being issued and talk of a re-edit to remove the key scene, Chinese film websites and apps have taken the drastic step of deleting the “Monster Hunter” video game to film adaptation from their systems.
This suggests the Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa-led film’s chances of returning to the Chinese big screen remain slim. Chinese cinemas began to voluntarily pull scheduled viewings within a day of the film’s premiere in China on Friday last week – three full weeks ahead of its planned U.S. premiere.
The issue in contention was a ten-second exchange interpreted by patriotic viewers as “insulting to China” and within hours theaters across the country had been ordered to cancel any future screenings and to refund tickets.
The plan was apparently to initially to create a censored version with the controversial line removed overnight and redistribute it to cinemas. Those plans appear to have taken a step back as the blowback against the film has continued with some social media and comments boards tied to the film having deleted and/or blocked comments on the movie.
In fact the currently underway Hainan International Film Festival refunded tickets for Sunday screenings of 2019’s “Poissonsexe (Fishlove)” due to the eco-friendly romantic comedy’s title in Chinese boasts two of the same characters as the Chinese title for “Monster Hunter”. The festival then censored the unrelated film because of the similarities of their titles.
“Monster Hunter” grossed just $4.8 million on its first day of release in China before it was pulled – director Paul W.S. Anderson’s last film in that country, 2017’s “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” made $160 million. Both Anderson and actor MC Jin have publicly apologised for the controversy surrounding the title.
A U.S. release date of the film is being moved up a week to Friday, December 18th.
Source: Deadline
