Ice Age: Continental Drift.[Photo:douban.com]
With the summer heat coming, there's no better place to be than sitting inside an air conditioned movie theater. Seizing the season of money-making opportunity, cinemas in the nation are preparing a grand film feast, releasing a number of blockbusters and cartoon movies.
Children's films seem to be the emphasis, with school children forming a large demographic. Cartoon films like The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Madacasar 3: Europe's Most Wanted already premiered earlier this month, with more coming along.
Notably, audiences might find something lacking in theaters come July, when few foreign films will be playing in theaters, a move that many assume is being played to protect domestic works.
Children's Day, all summer
This year's cartoons are all in 3D: Brave, SeeFood, Zhuzhuxia Zhi Jiongjiong Weiji and Ice Age: Continental Drift. Premiering Tuesday, Brave, a Hollywood fantasy adventure cartoon, is about Scottish princess Merida's struggle to change her fate and find freedom. Later, she discovers what being "brave" really means by saving her family and kingdom.
A collaboration between Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, known for the Toy Story and Cars series, Brave comes with high expectations. Walt and Pixar's last big hit, Up (2009), a heartwarming film about an old man who lifts his house with thousands of balloons, was well received by both adults and children.
SeeFood, which screened in South Korea, Czech and Russia last year, is scheduled to hit China on June 29. The cartoon did poor in ratings - 4.2 out of 10 on The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), but the film's story is unique: To save eggs stolen by a human, two sharks, Pup and Julius, go into the human world. The film observes human society from their perspective and hits on bigger issues, like the protection of sea life
Zhuzhuxia Zhi Jiongjiong Weiji, based on a popular domestic cartoon TV series, will come out on June 29. Young kids who are loyal fans of the Zhuzhuxia TV series will want to see this.
Ice Age: Continental Drift, scheduled to hit the US on July 13, has no set date for its premiere in China. Due to critics' good reviews, it is summer's most anticipated cartoon. According to 533 film reviewers on mtime.com, a professional movie review website in China, Ice Age 4 scores 9.4 out of 10.
It's been three years since Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and this time, Manny, Sid and Diego are separated from the others by the flood and start an adventure on floating ice.
Adult choices
Adults who chose to opt out of cartoons still have their picks this summer, with genres mostly centered around wuxia, horror and action flicks.
Painted Skin: The Resurrection, with its posters plastered everywhere, is a new take on an old theme. Based on the same Chinese ancient fairy tale Huapi, the film stars China's finest: Chen Kun, Zhao Wei and Zhou Xun. Painted Skin also features rising stars Feng Shaofeng and Yang Mi, making this fantasy and wuxia film a display of stars.
Wu Dang, scheduled on July 6, and The Four, July 12, are pure wuxia films that can fill kung fu fans' appetite.
A gathering of horror films is another feature this summer: Bunshinsaba, The Mask of Love, and Qing Yan are all set to debut. Though few domestic horror films receive positive reviews, they often perform well at the box office.
Last July, Mysterious Island, a small-budget horror film made about 90 million yuan ($141.66 million) despite poor reviews. Movie critic Zhang Geng attributed this to the lack of similar movies during that period.
For action movies, there's Chinese mainland's Fearless, Taiwan's Black & White, Hong Kong's Glory Days and long anticipated US film The Dark Knight Rises.
Hollywood exit
Starting late June and lasting all of July, made-in-China films will be the major attraction in theaters. Hollywood blockbusters, like Ice Age and The Dark Knight Rises will not release until a month later. This, many believe, is a way to promote domestic films.
"[July] looks like a month that's set out to protect domestic films, though there is no written order from the government," movie critic Li Zhong told the Global Times.
But this does not win support among insiders.
"In the US, there are only about three blockbusters a month," movie critic Cui Ding said in an interview with Beijing Daily. "Now there is no need to pay attention to competition from Hollywood, domestic films will fight among themselves."
Liu Hui, manager of a cinema in Zhongguancun, Beijing, agrees. He suggests that domestic films should focus on quality, not compete with Hollywood on quantity, and avoid similar topics.
"People, like me, may choose not to watch at all and wait for the Hollywood ones. Domestic films have let many of us down before," Li added.