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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Barr Criticizes Studios Over China Relationships, Singles Out Marvel, Paramount [hollywoodreporter.com]

Attorney general William Barr has fired another salvo at U.S. companies' relationship with China — and is specifically criticizing Hollywood studios' working partnership with Beijing on film releases.

In a Thursday speech aimed at outlining foreign policy toward the country, the world's second largest film market, Barr used entertainment and tech sectors as examples of global "kowtowing" to the Beijing regime, which now has 70,000 movie screens set up by exhibitors.

[...] In his speech, Barr listed evidence of what he described as self-censorship by noting that Paramount Pictures' adaptation of zombie apocalypse novel World War Z made a change to not have its Patient Zero be from China and that Marvel Studios changed the Ancient One character played by Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange from Tibetan to Celtic. (World War Z wasn't released in theaters in China in 2013, while 2016's Doctor Strange grossed $109 million in the country.)

The attorney general stated: "Chinese government censors don't need to say a word, because Hollywood is doing their work for them." The Motion Picture Association, the lobbying organization representing major studios, declined to comment on the speech.

Barr's speech echoes criticism that has long been leveled at studios and companies that work with China despite censorship concerns. Many Hollywood films have had scenes cut or altered in order to be shown in theaters in the country, which had a box office market in 2019 that totaled $9.2 billion while North American ticket sales amounted to $11.4 billion. The country also has a quota on the number of foreign films released annually.

For years, many Hollywood studios inked co-production deals with China-based companies with the goal, in part, to create features that may fare better in theaters in the country and make it past local censors to nab coveted release dates. But protectionism by the government and a crackdown on foreign investment curbed those deals even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks on China Policy at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum [justice.gov].

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