Shanghaiist: Blockbusters are coming, but is China ready to pay?

Wil

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 17:32:23 +0800

Saw it again Sunday. About the same, crowd wise, half-full. But this time no advance sales, as I showed up ten minutes beforehand and had the great seats to choose from. Well worth the second viewing.

phs

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:36:25 +0800

Last night the old lady, a few friends, and I went to see Batman Begins. We saw a late show, 10, in the classiest theatre in town, the Warner Cinema in the Gateway mall in Xu Jia Hui. It was decently attented, with roughly 80 to 100 people. Not bad, until one considers this is the half price Tuesday promotions, in which a 70 rmb ticket is actually 35. At that price a date, with popcorn and cokes, is going to cost 100 rmb. You would not see many people at the movies in the states if one evening out cost you two days pay, and the same is true of theatres here. I expect the DVD merchants will have nothing to worry about for some time...

Dan

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 17:07:36 +0800

I'm pretty sure Wil meant himself and the two other Shanghaiist contributors he talked to. Wil went Friday. Marina went opening night and was stunned by the lack of crowds (she thought she wouldn't be able to get a ticket). I went on Sunday afternoon and there were maybe about 15 others in the theater. Is it good enough to see three times. Probably not. But is it good? Yep.

Micah

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 17:05:48 +0800

I dunno if I'm really all that anxious for China to catch the movie bug like the United States has. If movie theaters drop their prices and people still don't go, I'd be perfectly happy. I'd much rather we saw more public parks opened for people to take walks in, more libraries built for people to check out books and read at, and more board games for families to play together. Speaking of movies coming overseas, though, I just finished reading a NY Times article about the security measures revolving around keeping the new Harry Potter book under wraps until July 16th, and I couldn't help thinking "it's a good thing it's harder to translate a book than to subtitle a movie, or I'm sure it'd be all over Asia by now." :)

Simon

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:58:55 +0800

Why did you see Batman 3 times? Was it that good?