Hollywood studios take note: to crack the lucrative Chinese market, it may help if your films star smurfs instead of zombies. Reformed cartoon supervillains, it should be added, are also a hazard to censorship.
This week, Chinese authorities gave the green light to Sony Pictures's 3D comedy The Smurfs 2 for domestic distribution, while previously rejecting the Brad Pitt zombie thriller World War Z and the animated film Despicable Me 2, in which Steve Carell plays a former villain. The original Smurfs film was a hit with Chinese audiences, earning $40m on its release in 2011.
It remains to be seen if the sequel will equal that haul. While Sony's film appears to have cleared domestic censors, its distribution has yet to be formalised. Variety reports that the Chinese government has previously reversed its decisions without explanation.
Even if The Smurfs 2 is released, its fate is by no means assured. Last April, the state-run China Film Group Corporation ordered Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked western, to be immediately pulled from Chinese cinemas. Earlier this year, the science fiction epic Cloud Atlas was approved for distribution only after a reported 40 minutes of love scenes were cut.
The Smurfs 2 will be released, uncut, in the US and UK on 31 July, and in Australia on 12 September.
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