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'Fate of the Furious' becomes highest-grossing Hollywood movie in Chinese history

Dice//

Banned
Fun and brainless flick.

Kinda makes me sad there's basically no room for other types of movies these days though.
 
In big European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) and in Latin American countries foreign films are dubbed, and you can choose to see them dubbed or with subtitles. I assume it's the same in Asian countries, the US doesn't watch foreign films for other reasons such as them being considered hipsterish IMO. If you live in a small population you are stuck with dubbed blockbusters tho. (Unless rich hipsters live there, in which case you have original version runs)
Edit: foreign language dubs are very fun to watch, I would dig watching F&F in Chinese. (I'm sure its dubbed btw)
Could anyone here give me a rough idea of the number of subbed/dubbed Hollywood films vs. domestic films you might see in a typical European cinema? I realize this will vary by country but I've always wondered what the ratio is like. From an admittedly ignorant American perspective it does seem like a significant number of popular films worldwide originate in Hollywood. But it's hard to gauge as a casual viewer because of how rare it is for a local theater in America to pick up a foreign film.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Fun and brainless flick.

Kinda makes me sad there's basically no room for other types of movies these days though.
Yea, it's fuckin crazy that the FF series budget basically cannibalized that Moonlight films budget and the last three marvel movies halted production of some flick called la la land.

It's the land of giants now.
 

TheOfficeMut

Unconfirmed Member
Fun and brainless flick.

Kinda makes me sad there's basically no room for other types of movies these days though.

Your palette is the problem. There is no shortage of quality films out there that are completely unlike this franchise.
 

Timbuktu

Member
In big European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) and in Latin American countries foreign films are dubbed, and you can choose to see them dubbed or with subtitles. I assume it's the same in Asian countries, the US doesn't watch foreign films for other reasons such as them being considered hipsterish IMO. If you live in a small population you are stuck with dubbed blockbusters tho. (Unless rich hipsters live there, in which case you have original version runs)
Edit: foreign language dubs are very fun to watch, I would dig watching F&F in Chinese. (I'm sure its dubbed btw)

Not sure about China, but I know that in general live-action Hollywood movies are shown with subtitles but not dubbed in Hong Kong. I have seen the Brendan Fraser 'Mummy' movie on TV in China with a mandarin dubbed though, so you may be right. And yes, it is quite amusing, exaggerating the tone a lot.
 
Hollywood films usually need to be spectacles or entertaining animations to do well in China because a lot of the connotations of English films go over the head of the majority of the audience due to cultural and language differences. Also although there are many well educated people in China, there are also a lot who aren't, so films like F8 would appeal to the masses. Plus to a lot of Chinese people, foreign and American means cool and big muscles... which is what F8 is.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
"The future of filmmaking appears to be in the hands of Vin Diesel"

Best sentence I've read all week.

Future of filmmaking is in the hand of him
Z4BJqw.gif
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I'd like to thank the Chinese movie audience for proving that the whole "American audiences are dumb" canard is really just applicable to the vast majority of moviegoing audiences. People like explosions and spectacle.
 

hirokazu

Member
In big European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) and in Latin American countries foreign films are dubbed, and you can choose to see them dubbed or with subtitles. I assume it's the same in Asian countries, the US doesn't watch foreign films for other reasons such as them being considered hipsterish IMO. If you live in a small population you are stuck with dubbed blockbusters tho. (Unless rich hipsters live there, in which case you have original version runs)
Edit: foreign language dubs are very fun to watch, I would dig watching F&F in Chinese. (I'm sure its dubbed btw)
Dubs happen in Japan but most foreign films are shown in their original language with subtitles in China. The main exception is animated films, which will be shown both dubbed and subbed, since they want children to be able to watch.

I'm amazed he still hasn't made a Hollywood film yet. Either Hollywood is selling him straight garbage every time they talk, or he's just not interested in leaving the country.
He's making garbage films in China as it is, he doesn't need Hollywood to help him.
 
top 10 china (2016) - The Mermaid, Zootopia, Warcraft, The Monkey King 2, Captain America: Civil War, From Vegas to Macau 3 (Du cheng feng yun III), Operation MeKong, The Great Wall, Kung Fu Panda 3, The Jungle Book

top 10 us (2016) - Rogue One, Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, The Secret Life of Pets, The Jungle Book, Deadpool, Zootopia, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Sing

It's more or less the same style of cinema, just change the shitty superhero with shitty chinese folklore movie. There's nothing particularly strange about their taste.
 

dgdas9

Member
Could anyone here give me a rough idea of the number of subbed/dubbed Hollywood films vs. domestic films you might see in a typical European cinema? I realize this will vary by country but I've always wondered what the ratio is like. From an admittedly ignorant American perspective it does seem like a significant number of popular films worldwide originate in Hollywood. But it's hard to gauge as a casual viewer because of how rare it is for a local theater in America to pick up a foreign film.

I'll give you an idea of what's it like in Portugal. Almost 100% American Hollywood films. Some niche cinemas play French and sometimes Portuguese or Brazilian Movies, but it truly is a very small niche. Most Domestic films that tried to compete with Hollywood failed miserably.

The only success stories of non-Hollywood films for the last 10 years or so are: a French made movie about Portuguese immigrants, that mostly appealed to seniors; and a series of bad quality remakes of very old Classics riddled with advertisement and promoted by a beer label and the national post office (which, for context, was privatised some years ago to Chinese investors IIRC and now also runs a bank), also appealing to senior citizens.

Also: From other European countries I've visited, it's mostly the same. With the big exception of France that has a large and very domestic-oriented film industry.
 

jdstorm

Banned
Not chinese but just taking a guess.

Star Wars doesnt work in China because they have a rich history of fantasy/martial arts epics. Would you really think a lightsaber fight between Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor was on par with the action choreography of a Jackie Chan film?

The OT movies are even worse when it comes to action choreography and the CGI is 40 years old and doesnt hold up. Take that out and whats left. A generic action adventure series with good music.

Then you have The Force Awakens which is another serviceable somewhat generic film when removed from its nostalgic value.

Compare that to the Fast and Furious films which are a Cinematic procedural soap opera's (Soaps are huge in china judging by what shows up on netflix) about a family of street racing thieves. Combine that with Hip Hop culture (Steph Marbury is huge in China) and you have a liscense to print money.
 

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
And that isn't the case in the US?

After the second Transformers movie hit it big domestically and internationally, domestic box office for the sequels dropped dramatically. The third made $50 million less than 2 domestically and the fourth made $100 million less than 3. The TF movies are only smash hits overseas now; apparently America learned their lesson to some degree.

Will be interesting to see if TLK can pull the franchise out of its domestic nosedive.
 

hirokazu

Member
Star Wars doesnt work in China because they have a rich history of fantasy/martial arts epics. Would you really think a lightsaber fight between Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor was on par with the action choreography of a Jackie Chan film?

The OT movies are even worse when it comes to action choreography and the CGI is 40 years old and doesnt hold up. Take that out and whats left. A generic action adventure series with good music.

Then you have The Force Awakens which is another serviceable somewhat generic film when removed from its nostalgic value.
Pretty Sure Episode VII was the first Star Wars film since the Chinese box office hit it big. The franchise seems to do okay in China, it's just not a mega success like it is in the US.

Also, I'm pretty sure Fast and Furious isn't a mega hit in China because they love soap operas. I don't know what made you think that.
 

RalchAC

Member
Could anyone here give me a rough idea of the number of subbed/dubbed Hollywood films vs. domestic films you might see in a typical European cinema? I realize this will vary by country but I've always wondered what the ratio is like. From an admittedly ignorant American perspective it does seem like a significant number of popular films worldwide originate in Hollywood. But it's hard to gauge as a casual viewer because of how rare it is for a local theater in America to pick up a foreign film.

About Spain.

The domestic market usually focuses on comedies, with a drama here and there and the odd film from a established director. Besides that and some popular European films, the rest is Hollywood stuff. Mostly dubbed. Where I live (medium size city, it has 300-500k inhabitants) you can see the latest blockbuster being shown in 2-3 different screens. Subbed stuff is an option at hours when there isn't as much demand, but otherwise you're out of luck.

It may be a bit different in Madrid or Barcelona, since those cities have 8-10 times the population my city has.
 

Hex

Banned
I think movies-as-pure-spectacle are big there, hence the love for Transformers.

I really think it is this.
They go to enjoy the movie, not to tear it apart and pick apart every little piece.
Here in the US people tear a movie apart before it is even out, maybe go see it, pick it apart and look for flaws while watching it and if they are very lucky get some fun out of it.
 
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