Latest "Star Wars" film gets quiet opening in China
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - The latest "Star Wars'' epic opened in China with a lot of space but not much force.
Theaters were all but empty for Thursday night's debut of "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith'' - in stark contrast to the excitement and hordes of costumed fans who greeted its opening in the United States and elsewhere.
"Business is pretty normal,'' said a ticket seller at the nearly empty Cathay Theater just off Shanghai's main Hauihai Road shopping artery, where meter- (three-foot- ) high posters advertised "Xishi de Fanji,'' as the film is called in Chinese.
"Thursday nights are usually slow,'' said the woman, who declined to give her name.
China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution when the first "Star Wars'' film was released in May 1977.
Mao Zedong's radical attempt to remake Chinese society had sealed China off from Western popular culture, and few Chinese under 30 can claim any familiarity with the original "Star Wars'' phenomenon.
Now, DVDs are opening the door: Pirated boxed sets of the first five movies can now be bought throughout Shanghai for about 40 yuan (about US$5;euro4).
Contrast that to the price of a movie ticket in this city, which generally starts at about 50 yuan (US$6;euro5) - about a day's wages for urban Chinese.
However, the latest movie hasn't generated nearly the hype in China that it has in the West.
That's partly because China's authoritarian communist government has a policy of promoting homegrown films with patriotic themes, while the entirely state-controlled media usually play down imports.
Young Chinese also generally prefer South Korean and Japanese comic and video game story lines.
They're far more likely to dress up as a character from Japan's "Sailor Moon'' than Darth Vader.
Still, the "Star Wars'' films have their admirers here.
Liao Huainian, 29, was quoted by the Shanghai Star newspaper as saying he caught the "Star Wars'' bug after watching a grainy videotape of the first episode when he was in primary school.
"Everything in the movie, such as the space shuttles, the robots and the light sabers was new to my imagination,'' said Liao, who works in publishing and appeared in a photo alongside the newspaper story dressed as Anakin Skywalker, a character from the films.
"I was hooked by the movie,'' he said. - AP
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