imperialscum said:
DrCrowTStarwars said:
Yeah, it's the exact same thing that happens with Hollywood blockbusters. They are made these days to have wide appeal by having simple stories and as little dialog as possible so people in China can follow them, it's why Micheal Bay's "films" have made more money then all other films every made combined.
No offence but this is an ignorant claim.
First, films are either fitted with subtitles or synchronised. So claiming that dialogue/story is simplified so that people who don't speak English can understand it is absurd. And even if this was the case (which is not), why would you suddenly blame Chinese market? Far larger market existed/exists in Europe for decades where for example French, Italian, Spanish audience were/are on average very bad at English.
Secondly, Michael Bay has been making bad films since forever. Recent appearance of Chinese market really had no influence on his filmmaking.
Lastly, majority of people everywhere seem to like current mainstream Hollywood films. And that is the sole reason why they continue to make such films.
Sorry but according to everything I have read from insiders there is a lot of pressure to make the big budget movies as simple and dialog free as possible and the business reason is China. It is the big market right now. All of Bay's recent "films" would have been box office failures if it were not for the Chinese market, it is what is pushing them over the top.
Why do you think so many films these days have last minute rewrites to place at least some of the action in Hong Kong or China, even when the rest of the story takes place in New York, LA, or some fictional city? It's because the Chinese government restricts the number of movies from the US that can be shown in Chinese theaters every year, but if you film part of your movie in China then it will get a release.
Yes there are a lot of people who like the big budget blockbusters of recent years in the US but not enough to cause them to make a profit with budgets around $200 million. Remember that means that the films would have to gross at least $400 million in the US in order to break even and very few of them do that these days, it's China and it's boom market that pushes them over the top and makes them money makers so that is the market that is being catered to at the moment. It is just good business.
Yes there are subtitles and dubs, but just like over hear where dubs and subtitles into English are not always of the best quality, the same is true of dubs and subtitles from English into Chinese where there are two major dialects. The more dubbing or subtitling that has to be done the more it costs, so keeping as little dialog as possible not only adds to the appeal of the movies in other markets but it helps keep costs(which are already out of control)down. Again, it's nothing sinister, it's just good business.
I have nothing against the Chinese(I have an uncle who is Chinese and I like him)I was just pointing out that the reasons a lot of people think movies are trash are the same reason people think a lot of Anime is trash, but it's silly to write off both just because of this. That is all I was saying.