TheQuartering [5/13/2021]
You just hate to see it… do you don’t. Good. I hate Disney and I’m over Marvel for now.
Marvel’s Shang-Chi and Eternals movies are having their release dates in China called into question. That doubt stems from a report on China’s Movie Channel CCTV6, which did a feature on the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 slate of films. According to reports from those who saw the report, the CCTV6 discussed ten upcoming MCU projects – but did not mention either Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, or Eternals. That omission is being attributed to possible plans for China to censor both Marvel films from release in the region. CCTV6 is controlled by the Chinese propaganda department, which regulates the films that do/do not get released.
China is a notoriously fickle (if not lucrative) market that the US entertainment industry has been desperately trying to crack in the last decade or so. In fact, the often dichotomous relationship between US companies with moral and/or family-friendly images (like Disney), and the often controversial authoritarian tendencies of the Chinese government, has become an increasingly hot topic of debate. South Park brought the issue to a mainstream stage with its 2019 episode “Band In China”, which went straight at Disney, Marvel, and other studios angling for the Chinese market, amidst all kinds of accusations of human rights violations by the Chinese government.