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| Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, slashed, sees weak Chinese opening | Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, slashed, sees weak Chinese opening |
| (4 months later) | |
| Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained finally opened in China more than a month after a high-profile ban, but immediately found itself languishing behind other more commercially driven films. | Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained finally opened in China more than a month after a high-profile ban, but immediately found itself languishing behind other more commercially driven films. |
| The new cut of Tarantino's blood-soaked spaghetti western homage has had a number of vital scenes excised. Django and his wife, Broomhilda, are no longer seen naked while they undergo torture, Christoph Waltz's Dr King Schultz does not flash back to a horrific scene in which a slave is mauled by dogs and, crucially, the shootout at the film's denouement has been radically altered. | The new cut of Tarantino's blood-soaked spaghetti western homage has had a number of vital scenes excised. Django and his wife, Broomhilda, are no longer seen naked while they undergo torture, Christoph Waltz's Dr King Schultz does not flash back to a horrific scene in which a slave is mauled by dogs and, crucially, the shootout at the film's denouement has been radically altered. |
| Django Unchained was reportedly stopped just a minute into a morning screening at the Sanlitun Megabox theatre in Beijing on 11 April, the day it was due to be released across the country. Authorities then issued a blanket ban halting screenings and ordering cinemas to refund filmgoers. | Django Unchained was reportedly stopped just a minute into a morning screening at the Sanlitun Megabox theatre in Beijing on 11 April, the day it was due to be released across the country. Authorities then issued a blanket ban halting screenings and ordering cinemas to refund filmgoers. |
| Despite promises that the film would return, many Tarantino fans in China appear to have turned to pirate DVD copies. Django Unchained's new release date pitched the film against a number of blockbuster releases, including Iron Man 3, the Tom Cruise science fiction film Oblivion and the local rites-of-passage drama So Young, as well as the animated tale The Croods. In the end, Tarantino's film opened behind all of them with a meagre 3.7m yuan (£393,000) after securing just 10.3% of Chinese cinemas. It had originally been due to open in 17% of screens. | Despite promises that the film would return, many Tarantino fans in China appear to have turned to pirate DVD copies. Django Unchained's new release date pitched the film against a number of blockbuster releases, including Iron Man 3, the Tom Cruise science fiction film Oblivion and the local rites-of-passage drama So Young, as well as the animated tale The Croods. In the end, Tarantino's film opened behind all of them with a meagre 3.7m yuan (£393,000) after securing just 10.3% of Chinese cinemas. It had originally been due to open in 17% of screens. |
| Chinese bloggers have criticised authorities for "castrating" Django Unchained. Censors' "cutting hands are fiercer than that of a slaveowner, insistent on making Django a eunuch", Agence France Presse reported last month. | Chinese bloggers have criticised authorities for "castrating" Django Unchained. Censors' "cutting hands are fiercer than that of a slaveowner, insistent on making Django a eunuch", Agence France Presse reported last month. |
| Prior to the cuts, Tarantino had edited the film to reduce its violent content and lower the hue and quantity of bloodsplashes. Despite this, Django is the first of the Oscar-winning film-maker's movies to have been screened widely – and legally – in China. | Prior to the cuts, Tarantino had edited the film to reduce its violent content and lower the hue and quantity of bloodsplashes. Despite this, Django is the first of the Oscar-winning film-maker's movies to have been screened widely – and legally – in China. |
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