Disney is preparing to roll out the new Marvel film Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which releases on September 3 for North America. Now it seems Disney and Marvel are hitting yet another snag with their potentially huge box office in China.
I’m sure they thought that Shang Chi would do well in China, especially since Disney made sure to include some popular Chinese stars. But it may turn out to be another ‘Mulan’ situation.
However, the trailer seems to be getting a very mixed reception on the Marvel Studios YouTube accounts for Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Taiwan shows an approval rating of only 53% but in Hong Kong it’s only 42% and they are getting ratioed pretty hard with the upvotes to downvotes. The links were posted by alanjinqq on Reddit.
When translated the comments are mixed as well with one commenter even saying it’s a Western stereotype:
“Black hair, yellow skin, single eyelids, small eyes, Kung Fu, Ninja, very much in line with the Asians in the eyes of foreigners. hahahahahahaha”
Other comments include:
“I’m downcast after watching”
“What a great trailer! I don’t want to go to the cinema at all after watching it.”
” This casting is in line with Lao Mei’s stereotype of Asians. Hey”
“The background is also true. If you have played the Emerald Empire, you will find this background familiar…It can only be regarded as the oriental fantasy world in the fantasy of Westerners…Even so, it is still embarrassing enough.”
Now someone else defended it by saying:
“It’s not bad, the foreigners in Chinese movies are pretty rigid too.”
According to The Direct the comments tended to be about Tony Leung, who plays Shang-Chi’s father, and how outshines the lead according to Chinese audiences. They don’t feel Simu Liu is their ideal choice:
“Another big topic of interest in the comment section was the presence of actor Tony Leung who plays Wenwu, Shang-Chi’s father, and The Mandarin. There was a ton of chatter about how Leung’s charisma, charm, and good looks overshadowed that of Simu Liu.
Some other top comments are critical of the appearance of Simu Liu’s titular hero, believing that he doesn’t have the ideal face for the titular Chinese superhero.”
Meanwhile the Black Widow trailer has a 99% approval rating with both audiences on their respective YouTube channels.
Perhaps they don’t feel that the movies made to reflect them actually represent them, but they enjoy films from Marvel and Disney that take place in other areas of the world.
Even when studios go out of their way to include Chinese stars they approve of, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Maybe Disney needs to not try so hard to appeal to China specifically and instead make good films overall and they will do well over there.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: The Direct, Reddit
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