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Q: is china's censorship of hollywood movies more about limiting competition?
they cut 30-40 mins out of skyfall. i watched skyfall (unedited) the china scene didn't even register on my radar. i have watched films that included other countries and painted them in a bad light. but the china scenes were very neutral. so i could not possibly see why they were edited out. same for mib 3. so this must be to make them unappealing in china. does anyone know if hk movies get the same treatment?
edit: it was the other movie that they chopped 30-40 mins from . i miss heard the report
That's an interesting theory crimochina. I've had similar thoughts about why Facebook, Youtube and the like are blocked as well. Sure there's some "objectionable" content on them (or whatever), but it always seemed suspicious to me that China would then promptly start heavily promoting its alternative services. Even if its a side issue, no doubt "competition" plays a role on deciding these sorts of things.
With skyfall, I'm not sure it was actually 30-40 minutes edited out (maybe it was a translation error, can anyone vouch for this?) but, having seen the unedited one, I have an idea of what scenes might be cut. Maybe 3-4 minutes tops. As for the "why" behind it, it wouldn't surprise me if SARFT is trying to make these films less comprehensible, as a subtle way to promoting domestic films (which are quite often notoriously incomprehensible themselves). Not sure about HK films, sorry.
The WSJ had a similar story reporting rumors from China about the intent was to make the movie less competitive against domestic movies.
I don't think it is more than a couple of minutes that's been cut from Skyfall. http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/chinese-censors-cut-40-minutes-out-of-cloud-atlas-snip-tweak-skyfall-20130124
If not to make the cinema version less appealing, then at least it will help make the pirated DVD's more appealing.
It was Cloud Atlas that had 30-40 minutes edited out. And yes. The delays in censorship do allow Chinese films an unfair advantage.
Foreign films are released in other countries sometimes months before they are in China, because the censors deliberately delay approving the film. In that time, illegal downloads of the uncensored version are freely available online and on DVD. These pirated films mostly originate in China. Therefore, cinema audiences decrease.
To highlight the willfulness of these actions, film companies must submit the scripts for approval before filming commences. In effect, Chinese censors control, to a certain degree, what western audiences end up watching. Without exception, the Chinese censors then disapprove of the finished product, and demand changes, or ban it all together. In the case of The Mummy, they demanded it be changed so that a white man wasn't saving China. Post production, after approving the script pre-production.
Additionally, only 34 foreign films are allowed to be released in China each year, to protect the local film market. Almost 900 Chinese films were released last year. Even with all these restrictions, foreign films still account for more than 50% of the box office. It appears even the Chinese audiences do not find Chinese films appealing.
Foreign film companies are only allowed to keep 25% of the profits. The rest goes to the compulsory Chinese partner.
I just watched the two versions of Cloud Atlas back to back, full version two nights ago and in a local movie theater last night. Wow, what the hell? The usual suspects were ripped out. Gay kissing scene, gone (surprised they even showed them in bed together). Boobs, gone. More boobs + sex scene, completely erased. Halle Berry in a wet T-shirt gone (very sad about this one 
). Additionally, major plot elements were just yanked with random abandon. One example, the mountain climbing scene that was foreshadowed in dude's dream, completely erased. They just somehow magically transported to the top of the mountain.
The movie was presented dubbed in Chinese, without English subtitles, and I caught several places where they changed the original script. I'm curious, who's responsible for the voice-overs in the dubbing? Is that done in Hollywood or here in the Mainland?
Curiously enough, they left in some of the more violent gruesome parts. Totally showed dude splattering on the pavement after he got tossed off the penthouse balcony, plus a couple splattery gunshots to the head in other scenes.....wasn't expecting those scenes to survive.
The movie was a bit difficult to follow as-is, but with everything removed, altered, and harmonized....I'm not sure how anyone could make sense of it. I know my Chinese friend that went with me was utterly confused by the time it was finished. Yay Censorship!
Traveler:
Many of the foreign production companies seem unaware of the changes until after the movie is released in China. The censorship seems to be done in conjunction with the majority share Chinese partner, not the foreign production company.
I think you may be right. Remember the whole Avatar fiasco in China where they delayed showing it for a week so it would not compete with a Chinese movie?
