Today is your last chance to catch Avatar on a regular cinema screen, as all non-3D versions of the film are being pulled from Chinese theatres to make way for the locally-produced Confucius. 3D and Imax screenings will continue, though IMAX tickets can cost anything up to RMB 150.

Beijingers can still catch the IMAX version at UME International Cineplex in Haidian, Wanda International Cinema in Shijingshan, and the China National Film Museum.

In an article in the print edition of yesterday’s Global Times, Deputy Director of the China Film Bureau Zhang Hongsen was quoted as saying the move to pull the non-3D version of Avatar from Chinese screens “was a commercial decision.” Which seems a little curious, given the film’s box office success. As noted on the dgenerate films site earlier this week:

“James Cameron’s Avatar… recently set the opening-day box office record in China with 33 million yuan ($4.85 million US).  The film is on track to take over the record for total gross of 460 million yuan ($67 million US) set just months ago by Roland Emmerich’s 2012, which itself had just beaten the 450 million yuan earned by Transformers 2: The Revenge of the Fallen.”

Overseas coverage paints a more complex picture of the Avatar decision – you can read all about it here and here.

In what is probably pure coincidence, the release date of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes has also been pushed back from late January to February 25 – after the Chinese New Year holiday.

The aforementioned degenerate post also lists the top grossing films in China in 2009:

1. 2012 – $67.5m (RMB461.02m)
2. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen – $63m (RMB430.29m)
3. Founding Of a Republic – $61.49m (RMB420m)
4. Red Cliff II – $37.92m (RMB259m)
5. A Simple Noodle Story – $34m (RMB232.22m)*
6. Bodyguards And Assassins – $30.45m (RMB208m)*
7. City Of Life And Death – $25.18m (RMB172m)
8. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince – $22.99m (RMB157m)
9. Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs – $22.84m (RMB156m)
10. G.I. Joe – $19.6m (RMB133.87m)

Despite the fact that Chinese films comprise half the list, Avatar seems to have inspired something of a crisis of confidence in the local industry. One article in Beijing News, later translated and reprinted by China Daily, made this bizarre accusation:

“Avatar has not only set a good example for the Chinese film industry but also embarrassed our directors, who lack professional ethics. They are not ashamed of making poor films. Instead, they take pride in playing jokes on their audiences.”

Making bad films is unethical? Strong stuff indeed.

In other news, Hollywood star Kevin Spacey has reportedly signed on for local production Inseparable, directed by Beijing-based American Dayyan Eng. According to Variety, the black comedy “centers on a young man (Daniel Wu) with problems at home and work who is befriended by a mysterious American expat (Spacey).”

At the other end of the filmmaking spectrum, UK academic and China film expert Chris Berry has written a detailed account of his visit to the China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing last year. The article contains an interesting analysis of the environment Chinese independent cinema operates in, which Berry argues is seriously impeding filmmakers’ ability to innovate and grow.

Don’t forgot Wang Xiaoshuai’s In Love We Trust (Zuo You) at 8pm this Sunday (January 23) at Yugong Yishan. The film will screen with English subtitles and costs RMB 40. Wang Xiaoshuai will be on hand to answer questions after the screening.

Finally, fans of French screenwriter, director and actor Jacques Tati (1907–1982), will be delighted by the current retrospective screening at UCCA, which includes six feature films and three rarely screened shorts. One of cinema's greatest comedians, Tati was once praised by Jean-Luc Godard for his “feeling for strangeness.” See here for the full screening schedule.