China Daily, a state outlet, on Wednesday reported that Hollywood studios are creating special movie posters with traditional Chinese art to appeal to the increasingly lucrative Chinese market. The striking posters resemble the painting that might be found on Chinese pottery or murals.
The posters might be denounced as “cultural appropriation” by the American Left, but China Daily was more appreciative of the effort, taking it as a sign of China’s growing influence on Hollywood:
The film posters are typically drawn in a traditional Chinese style, incorporating Chinese cultural features and highlighting Chinese landscape paintings, cultural heritage, the Lunar Spring Festival, iconic skyscrapers and historic landmarks.
China’s movie box office revenue increased nine percent in 2018 to 60.98 billion yuan ($8.88 billion), according to the State Film Administration.
The top-10 highest grossing films comprise a split of Chinese films and Hollywood blockbusters. Foreign films account for almost half of all movies in the Chinese market, but their earning power is not as strong as it once was.
“The Chinese film industry has gained momentum in recent years, and its box office performance is quite impressive. More and more foreign filmmakers have paid attention to the domestic market, and the combination of Chinese and Western elements in film publicity is a clever idea to attract viewers,” said Zhang Chengguang, a Anhui Normal University professor.
The Chinese posters for the recent Predator flop tease a movie far more interesting than the one Chinese moviegoers will see if they purchase a ticket:
The posters for the final Maze Runner movie were especially clever:
The Chinese posters for Spider-Man: Homecoming help to answer the question of how the web-slinger gets around when he does not have any tall buildings to swing from:
Spider-Man’s nemesis Venom looks great in Chinese ink:
The lovely poster for The Shape of Water would probably have worked for American theaters as well:
While American analysts worry about China’s investments in Hollywood and its growing ability to influence the content of American films, the Russians grumbled last week about the United States using Hollywood films to subvert Russian and Chinese ideology with pro-American propaganda.
This propaganda must be extraordinarily subtle as it is very difficult for Americans to detect. If anyone spots anything pro-American in a major Hollywood theatrical release, please note the film and the runtime of the pro-American comment and notify Russian media immediately.