There’s a change to China’s box office: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 won’t be part of this year. The Lionsgate movie had been expected to release on November 21 in the Middle Kingdom, but that’s now changed. The first part of the trilogy’s finale has been moved off of that date and will not hit screens until 2015. No date has been announced. However, Deadline reported that the first part of the last movie may arrive in Chinese theaters as soon as January.
The reasoning behind the shift is not entirely clear — as with many things in China — but it seems the decision was quite recent. This could have to do with an encroaching Hollywood market share whereas the Chinese are known to be keen to keep local movies at the top of the heap. It’s also been suggested that there may have been a censorship issue stemming from some elements of violence which needed to be tapped down. Although China is notorious for its censorship, it’s worth noting that even in the UK, 2012′s The Hunger Games suffered seven seconds worth of tweaks to secure a 12A rating.
So, this move may in some way actually benefit the film which is pretty much destined to massive numbers elsewhere as it starts to roll out this week. The past month in China has been loaded with Hollywood movies.
