BEIJING
Chinese censors have ordered the 2D version of Avatar pulled from screens across the country, apparently to reduce competition for the homegrown film industry ahead of the nation's biggest holiday season.
The 3D and IMAX versions of James Cameron's global hit will continue their run into February. But Saturday will mark the end of 2D screenings of the science-fiction epic, which also dramatizes the forced eviction of a people -- a politically sensitive subject in China.
China Film Group, the state-run domestic distributor of Avatar, has ordered the movie pulled after receiving instructions from China's censors. Repeated calls to the distributor's spokesman Tuesday went unanswered.
Reportedly, part of the reason is to reduce competition for China's homegrown films, such as a state-backed biopic of Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, starring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat, which opens today.
The Beijing Youth Daily on Tuesday quoted Liu Hui, an assistant manager of UME International Cineplex, confirming the pullout at theaters in the capital. She said it won't affect the cinema's revenues.
"In UME, the 3D and IMAX version make up 90 percent of our box-office income, so it won't affect the majority of viewers. With the pullout of the 2D version, movies like Confucius will gain some room for showing," she said.
Next month is Lunar New Year, the nation's biggest holiday. With a week of vacation or more, many Chinese are expected to flock to the country's theaters. China boasts about a dozen IMAX screens, another 800 3D screens and an estimated 4,500 regular screens. It's unclear how many 2D screens Avatar was playing on.
China remains highly protective of its domestic film industry, allowing only 20 foreign films into the Chinese market each year. Cameron, who visited Beijing in December as part of Avatar's press tour, had called on China to end that restriction, which is also being challenged by the World Trade Organization.
There is also sensitivity to the movie's plot, which revolves around the forced evictions of the alien Na'vi race by humans -- a storyline that some have said draws unflattering comparisons to China's own, often brutal removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.
Columnist Huang Hung penned a commentary in the official English-language China Daily, saying that the film had struck a chord with Chinese viewers. "All the forced removal of old neighborhoods in China makes us the only earthlings today who can really feel the pain of the Na'vi," she wrote.
Avatar is already the biggest box-office success in China, pulling in more than 300 million yuan ($44.1 million) as of Jan 12.
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