Topic: Red Dawn (2011)

[samuelrichardscott]

MGM are digitally changing the nationality of the bad guys for China :lol:

From Yahoo:

Studio bosses at MGM have ordered changes to be made to their 'Red Dawn' remake due for release later this year – in a bid to maximise on the lucrative Chinese box office, rather than alienate it.

The original 1984 Cold War movie starred Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey as a group of teenagers who escape to a forest to protect themselves when the Soviet Union and Cuba launch an attack on the United States in a futuristic World War III drama. The film became a cult classic, with studio MGM announcing a remake to cash in on a new generation of fans. But with the Cold War over, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a new generation of baddies was required and the film studio looked to China to provide the villains of the piece.

Well, it was China. Despite filming finishing in 2009 and production already complete (starring upcoming 'Thor' actor Chris Hemsworth as the protagonist Jed Eckert), MGM had a quick and dramatic change of heart, realising a film focusing on Chinese invaders is unlikely to go down well... in China.

Instead, the studio took the unusual step to change the dialogue and alter all Chinese references to North Korean in a post-production digital overhaul.

Bosses realised their mistake when considering just how much money is to be made in the Chinese market and the impact offending the communist nation would have on ticket sales. No doubt financers of the film would have an issue at board meetings with their Chinese colleagues too.

The Chinese box office has almost doubled in size in the recent years. According to the Chinese Film Authority, it brought in over £560 million from 600 films in 2009, £42.4m of which came from the Transformers sequel, 'Revenge of the Fallen'. So it isn’t hard to see why MGM would want a piece of that lucrative pie when American films are quickly becoming big business in the Asian market. North Korea, on the other hand, brings in little international ticket sales for American films, and therefore makes a good alternative villain for the film studio. Well there are considerably less people paying to see US films, therefore less people to offend. Problem solved, surely?

As for whether the media storm now surrounding the film remake will translate over to Beijing leaders with news of the digital changes, remains to be seen at the box office.

 

By the way, I can't wait for this. It's been sitting on the shelf for a while but now MGM seem to be sorted moneywise... this better hurry and get released. WOLVERINES!

[kahless]

A remake of this???

I'm guilty to have the original in my shelf:



 

[Jimmy]

To be honest this wasn't a great film to begin with and yes I liked it as a teenager... Kind of an useless remake of a product of another time (even in 1984 it was a dated film, without the cast of this film it would be a product of the fifties...).

But I sure laugh at Hollywood for the choice of ennemies... They can even invade the South Korea
Even if a russian invasion was ridiculous at least they were able to do it.
Somalia, Lybia or Ivory Coast would have been as good as a choice than North Korea