Paul W.S. Anderson‘s video game adaptation Monster Hunter isn’t being released here in the US until December 25, but the film was unleashed over the weekend in several international markets. According to a report from Deadline, it made “about $5.3 million” in China on Thursday/Friday, and a combined $2.65 million in five other markets this weekend.
Deadline breaks down the other five markets, “Each came in No. 1 including Taiwan ($1.5M), Saudi Arabia ($550K), UAE ($305K) and Netherlands ($180K).”
How much did Monster Hunter make in China beyond Friday, you ask? Well, that’s where things get interesting. The Milla Jovovich-starring monster movie was actually pulled from release in China over the weekend amid complaints about a brief dialogue exchange that was deemed racist and offensive; the exchange in question will be removed from the movie.
Variety reports, “Cinemas around the country began to pull the movie from their line-ups when what was intended as a lighthearted moment in the film was taken by local viewers as a gloating insult. Though around a quarter of all film screenings in China were allotted to Monster Hunter on Friday, by Saturday that had fallen to only 0.7%.”
The site’s report continues, “By around midnight the same day, many cinemas received an urgent notice to cancel all upcoming screenings and issue refunds for shows already sold, according to numerous screenshots of such directives posted online.”
They also break down the scene in question: “In the scene, a white male character and an Asian character played by Jin Au-Yeung are driving together at high speed. “What?” says the former. “Look at my knees!” shouts Jin. “What kind of knees are these?” asks his companion. “Chi-nese!” jokes Jin, punning on the word’s last syllable.”
As Deadline reports, Constantin Film has apologized for the offending dialogue, and they have agreed to remove the line of dialogue completely from the movie going forward.
Constantin “sincerely apologizes to Chinese audiences for a line of dialogue contained in an early scene of Monster Hunter.” Their statement today continues, “There was absolutely no intent to discriminate, insult or otherwise offend anyone of Chinese heritage. Constantin Film has listened to the concerns expressed by Chinese audiences and removed the line that has led to this inadvertent misunderstanding.”
At this time, it’s unclear if Monster Hunter will be returning to theaters in China.
source https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3643907/monster-hunter-made-8-million-internationally-weekend-pulled-release-china/
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