China clears two movies in English
Two English-language movies, including Golden Globe winner “Atonement,” have been cleared to show in China in February, amid recent worries that Beijing has imposed a short-term ban on Hollywood films, a film company official said Friday.
“Atonement,” starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, and the fantasy family movie “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” will be released in Chinese theaters next month, Weng Li, a spokesman for the state-run China Film Group, the country’s exclusive movie importer, said in an interview.
The release of the two movies comes after reports in the Hollywood trade press in December that the Chinese government decided to ban American movies for three months.
Chinese officials have denied the reports, and the Will Smith movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” received a limited, digital-format-only release starting Thursday.
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