It has been a year and a half since the WTO ruled China's restriction of U.S. books, music and film to be in violation of free-trade laws. Now, at long last, the ruling's implementation this March could possibly see an expansion of the foreign film quota, which is currently set at a flexible 20 per year. The operative word here is 'could.' more ›

Following the spectacular box office revenues of Hollywood's "Avatar" (1.3 billion RMB) and "Alice in Wonderland" (168.6 million RMB in 12 days), it seems that Chinese movie makers are gearing up to take a slice of the lucrative 3D pie. more ›

Good news for those of you who have yet to catch Avatar (and seriously, what is taking you so long?). The popular flick’s final day of screening in 3D format in China’s major cities has once again been deferred from March 14 (which we told you about last week), until March 28th—a full two weeks longer than expected. more ›

• This is the last weekend you can catch Avatar before it's replaced by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in the city's 3D theaters (though it seems like it'll still be on the one IMAX screen in the city until March 26). [CNNGo]
• David Laris is a busy bee these days - which means we're in for a treat. Fans of Fat Olive, look forward to another one. Fans of his more casual Slice, get ready for Pie Hole. Lovers of his fancy outpost Laris, he's now taken over the kitchen at URBN. Oh yeah, and he's opening up a golf coursethemed clubhouse too. Woah. [SmartShanghai]
• Oops, it looks like protesting Liu Xiaobo's sentencing has gotten one person sentenced himself: Mao Hengfeng, a Shanghai resident, has been ordered to serve one and a half years of "re-education through labor" for shouting slogans about human rights outside a courthouse. [New York Times]

The Academy Awards are over and done with - but I'm sure everybody was wondering, what did the Chinese think about it? China Daily movie critic Raymond Zhou did the good deed of tallying their opinions. more ›

Ever watched Avatar and thought to yourself "I would really like to go hang out there?" Well, now you can, sort of: the government of Zhangjiajie, Hunan has renamed one of their iconic mountain peaks "Hallelujah Mountain" after one of the mystical places in the Cameron blockbuster. In fact, you can already find Avatar-themed vacation packages: we wonder if they'll have kitschier memorabilia than those iconic Chinese tour group yellow hats? more ›

Unsurprisingly, it seems like a lot of people are pretty upset over the fact that Avatar 2D was kicked out of theaters to make room for Chow Yun Fat's new Confucius biopic. Even though the State censorship committee is making excuses like "Avatar 2D box office sales are declining" and "we didn't formally do anything to force Avatar off screens" (i.e. there's no proof), it looks like nobody believes them: In fact, some netizens were so angry that they're thinking of boycotting Confucius. Needless to say, that's not very Confucian of them, but since we're pretty annoyed ourselves, we're in support. more ›

Add this to the growing list of reasons we're not down with the old sage, Confucius' Chow Yun-fat starring "patriotic biopic" is coming and the film ministry is using that reason to shove Avatar out of theaters. Apparently, all that talk about analogies between the Na'vi and nailhouses, and perhaps all that whining from the Chinese film community, has caused the Central Publicity Department to determine that the millions theaters are raking in from the James Cameron smash hit just aren't worth it. They'll keep the 3D versions open for now (since there's so little 3D options, its influence will be "limited"), but the 2D version will end its run on January 23. Then anyone who wants to watch the film without the fun special effects can run to their nearest fake DVD store instead. more ›

• Now that Google's revealed its worries about China hacking into people's emails accounts. It seems like everyone's realizing that their email accounts are being hacked or trying to be hacked into by China. Huh. [Ars Technica]
• Chinese directors feel super insecure after Avatar, which has earned $1.1 billion USD so far in China. Well, guys, that's the power of Cameron. [China Daily]
• When it comes to big renewable energy deals, Red China ought to be called Green China, says Todd Woody. [Grist]

Welp, it's official: Peace Cinema has now sold out of Avatar IMAX tickets for the whole of January. So in case you were thinking about lining up, don't. However, your chances of watching the movie aren't quite over yet. Peace will be extending the movie's run into February and promises it will "later communicate policies for February ticket sales." And there's no longer a two-day advance restriction for buying these suckers, so maybe you should think about lining up after all. Hm. (Thanks Anthony!) more ›

So in case you hadn't noticed, there's this super popular movie in town and its name is Avatar. Though we knew Avatar had a great chance of doing well at the box office, even we were a little surprised by exactly how crazy the crowds for it were. more ›

One of the most expensive movies of the decade, James Cameron's 3D extravaganza Avatar, will be coming to Chinese theaters. According to The Independent, Cameron will visit Beijing right before Christmas as he "cranks the publicity machine into overdrive" in an attempt to recover some of the cost of making the film with the burgeoning Chinese audience. more ›