Given that four of the seven highest-grossing movies released since the beginning of 2020 made over 99% of their money in China, on top of the fact it proved to be a hugely lucrative market for Fast & Furious 9, Godzilla vs. Kong and No Time to Die, you can understand why every Hollywood blockbuster is pushing for a release in the country.
However, its government and notoriously strict censorship board have very long memories. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals were reportedly denied a theatrical rollout in China after historic comments made by the former’s star Simu Liu and the latter’s director Chloe Zhao resurfaced.
Now, Variety has put forward an interesting reason as to why Venom: Let There Be Carnage hasn’t been awarded a release as yet, even though Marvel adaptations are always guaranteed to pull in big money. Back in 2012 when he was promoting Lawless, star Tom Hardy drew laughs from the gathered press by referencing 1956 Marlon Brando comedy The Teahouse of August Moon.
In multiple interviews around the same time, the actor used the term ‘Chinaman’ when talking about the film, on top of saying that his comments might come back to haunt him when “China rolls on us in fifteen years, and we’ll all have to speak Cantonese”. Either way, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is doing just fine, having brought in close to $470 million worldwide so far.
