China Bans 'Sissy Men' from TV and Demands 'Masculine' Role Models

Rebecca Davis editorFollowing a dismal summer, China’s box office over this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday hit its lowest point since 2014.Chinese citizens had to work on Saturday, Sept. 18, but enjoyed a three-day vacation for the holiday from Sept.

Rebecca Davis editorA battalion of producers and stars worked the opening night red carpet of the Beijiing Intl. Film Festival Tuesday for the world premiere of their mammoth Chinese war film “The Battle of Changjin Lake,” which is expected to rank amongst China’s highest grossing films of the year.The nearly three-hour-long historical epic is a grind through the blood, sweat and tears of the real-life People’s Volunteer Army as they fight against all odds to defeat the U.S.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentBeijing-based distributor Hugoeast Media has acquired Chinese distribution rights to Cannes Directors’ Fortnight player ‘The Tale of King Crab,’ the first feature venture into narrative fiction of Italian filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis.Hugoeast Media plans a limited theatrical release in Chinese theaters in the course of 2022.The deal with Hugoeast Media was closed by the international sales arm of France’s Shellac.

Rebecca Davis editorFollowing a string of celebrity scandals, Chinese officials have told young filmmakers entering China’s top film school that their foremost task is to develop the “moral cultivation” necessary to further China’s rise in the world.The Beijing Film Academy, cradle of the country’s top filmmaking talent, last week opened a major new campus in the capital’s northern Huairou district, an hour’s drive outside the urban center.

Rebecca Davis editor“Free Guy” has retained enough charm to stay at second in China in its fourth weekend in theaters, but it slid in just a mere hair ahead of Chinese titles setting themselves up for box office success over the current Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.The 20th Century Studios film starring Ryan Reynolds grossed $4.8 million in the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bringing its China cumulative so far up to $85.1 million, according to data from  consultancy Artisan

Emiliano De Pablos Mexico’s Sin Sitio Cine is joining forces with Brazilian company Desvia Produções and Canada’s Notable Content to co-produce Johnny Ma’s project “Chin-Gone.”A major up and coming Chinese-Canadian helmer, Ma’s directorial debut, “Old Stone,” world-premiered at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival and won the Canadian First Feature Award at the Toronto Film Festival.

Deadline has confirmed that Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Dune will be opening day-and-date with the U.S. in China on Oct. 22 while Daniel Craig’s swan song as James Bond, No Time to Die, will open on Oct. 29.

Rebecca Davis editorAfter months with few significant new Hollywood releases, both “Dune” and ‘No Time to Die’ finalized their China opening dates on Sunday, officially confirming their outing in the world’s largest film market at a time when other major studio titles have been given the cold shoulder.The two films will hit in successive October weekends. “Dune” will land on Oct.

Rebecca Davis editorAs the days stretch on without any word of a China release for “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” there are increasingly slim odds that residents of the world’s largest film market will get to see Marvel’s first Asian superhero on the big screen.Those odds have grown slimmer still after jingoistic social media users unearthed content featuring “Shang-Chi” star Simu Liu that they say “insults China.” In the country’s current political climate, the accusations could

Rebecca Davis editorWhen Taiwanese actor Janine Chang was writing her masters’ thesis in industrial economics in 2010, she likely never imagined that two Chinese characters in it would become a diplomatic flashpoint and threaten to derail her lucrative acting career more than a decade later.This week, however, it has done just that.

Tony Vinciquerra, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, says a decision to release Venom: Let There Be Carnage two weeks early shows the film studio “demonstrating our confidence that people will be going to the movies, if the Delta Variant seems to be receding a bit.” He says that was the clear takeaway from Disney’s strong Labor Day weekend release of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.

Rebecca Davis editor“Free Guy” retained its lead of the China box office for the third weekend in a row, and has now surpassed “Tenet” in local sales.It brought in $12.4 million on a rare weekend with three non-Chinese language titles in the top five, according to Maoyan figures.China’s box office has been dismal all summer and the slump continued this week with, once again, only five films that made over $1 million.

BEIJING -- Chinese social media platform Weibo banned a fan club of popular South Korean K-pop band BTS from posting for 60 days, saying it had raised funds illegally, days after photographs of a customized airplane funded by the fan club were posted online.The fan club account, which had over 1.1 million followers on Weibo, was centered around BTS member Jimin.

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Chinese government’s crackdown on the tech and entertainment sectors has now turned to “sissy idols,” “effeminate men” and all things “overly entertaining.”The measures were sketched out in an eight-point plan on Thursday by the National Radio and Television Administration.

The Chinese government has issued new orders to its broadcasters in its continuing crackdown on culture, business and social mores. This time, it called for a ban on what it termed “effeminate men,” asking instead that “revolutionary culture” be touted.