Chinese theaters are preparing for an influx of moviegoers during the country’s “National Day” holiday this weekend, when “patriotic” communist films will flood the screens to observe the anniversary of the founding of communist China.
The most prominent film debuting on Saturday, officially the “National Day,” is Born to Fly, a film about Chinese communist military pilots who test out state-of-the-art fighter jet technology. The “patriotic” military film appears clearly inspired by the global blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, one of the highest-grossing films of all time. China banned it from its theaters for reportedly being too favorable to America. A major Chinese funder, the Tencent media corporation, backed out of the film last year out of concerns that it would show Americans in a positive light and Chinese state media outlets have largely abstained from remarking on the movie’s existence at all, despite arguably being the most significant film release of the year.
In contrast, the Global Times, a Chinese government newspaper, published an article on Monday praising Born to Fly as depicting “young, excellent Chinese pilots put China’s self-produced stealth fighter through its paces and protect the motherland’s territorial air space without fear of difficulties or danger.”
China has dramatically increased its investment in the national film industry, particularly in propaganda movies that it refers to as “patriotic” fare. While the movies tend not to enjoy much success outside of China’s borders, the Communist Party pressures its citizens to watch them, describing watching pro-communist films as a citizen’s “duty” and mandating viewings in schools. China operates a national “social credit system” that grades citizens based on their perceived loyalty to the regime – and bans people with low scores from using public services like transportation – which also pressures citizens to make the time to watch “patriotic” films out of fear that not doing so will lower their social credit scores.
The Born to Fly trailer mirrors the aesthetics of the Top Gun series with inferior, video-game-quality CGI graphics. It offers little in the way of the movie’s plot other than the fact that the pilots will be flying jet models that have yet to be confirmed safe for use. The website Asian Film Fans, in reporting on the trailer, noted that the movie is coming out shortly after Beijing banned the American Top Gun sequel, writing, “when Top Gun gets banned in your country, the next best thing is to make your own version.”
According to the Global Times, Born to Fly has already made 26 million yuan ($3.6 millon) in presales as of Monday. When the movie’s trailer debuted last month, the state newspaper reported that the film promised to feature real-life fighter jet models in use by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
“Audiences will be able to enjoy seeing a variety of China’s most cutting-edge fighter jets, including the J-20, J-16 and J-10C, on the big screen,” according to the Times. “The trailer displays the country’s most advanced stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20, along with the story of how Chinese scientists, engineers and military personnel joined together to make the domestic-made jet fighter a reality.”
The state newspaper described the upcoming holiday as a “golden period” for Chinese film, potentially boosted by Chinese coronavirus travel restrictions that will leave Chinese people with few entertainment options outside of going to the theaters.
Born to Fly is one of seven new options Chinese citizens will have at the theaters, four of which the Global Times described as “patriotic.”
“Data from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan shows that the total pre-sale box office for these movies has surpassed 40 million yuan ($5.5 million) as of Monday, with the film Born to Fly, about Chinese test pilots, topping the list,” it noted. Given the pressure to watch “patriotic” films, the government is expecting the four movies of this genre to top box offices over the weekend.
The state newspaper also recalled the success of prior “patriotic” movies, which – thanks to government pressure to watch them – are among the world’s top-grossing films of all time.
“There have been many successful examples such as Wolf Warrior 2, The Battle of Lake Changjin and Operation Red Sea,” the Global Times asserted.
The Battle of Lake Changjin, a three-hour 2021 film about a squad of Chinese soldiers defeating villainous American troops during the Korean War, became the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time last year after the Chinese government pressured its citizens to watch it. Citizens were encouraged to bring frozen potatoes to the movie and eat them while watching it to experience the hardships that the soldiers on camera had to endure.
Lake Changjin topped the global box office following last year’s Chinese National Day festivities, when it debuted, making $779.13 million in its first week.
“That puts it ahead of current global blockbusters including the latest 007 film, and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, according to IMDb-backed movie data website Box Office Mojo, and makes it the biggest-grossing war film ever, overtaking Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, which took in $526.9 million,” Reuters noted at the time.
Kevin Lee, an actor playing an American general in the film, told Breitbart News last year that the pro-North Korean movie included a message of “peace” and was highly respectful to the American foes vanquished in the plot.
“This isn’t about Chinese beating the Americans. This is about, you know, unfortunately, we’re in a war here, and this is how it is,” Lee said, praising the movie’s “beautiful message.”
Born to Fly will likely not compete with Top Gun: Maverick in global box office revenue. The Tom Cruise-led film became the first movie ever to top box offices on both Memorial Day and Labor Day in America this year and is the fifth most lucrative American movie in history at home. It also set records for most sales of digital copies at home.
The film’s success followed controversy last year created by its prior funding from the Chinese corporation Tencent. Preview images released at the time showed Cruise’s main character wearing a jacket bearing the flags of Japan and the nation of Taiwan, which China falsely considers a province of its own and regularly threatens to invade. Producers initially edited the film to remove the flags as a way to placate the Chinese communist government, but the flags returned following the departure of Tencent’s funding.
Tencent reportedly backed out of the project over concerns that the film was too “pro-America.”
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