Will ‘Ghostbusters’ Get to Open in China?

According to their official censorship guidelines, the China Film Bureau can turn down films that, in their eyes, “promote cults or superstition”.

Whether or not Ghostbusters is going to be released in China is still up for debate. Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was also banned in 2006.

The original Bill Murray-starring 1984 classic, which never screened theatrically in China, was translated as “捉鬼敢死队”, five characters literally meaning “Ghost Catcher Dare Die Team”.

The Hollywood Reporter states that their contacts in the country have told them the government has denied Sony’s request to release the film there because they do not think there is enough interest in it from Chinese citizens, citing the lack of people that ever saw the first two movies in the franchise. The film even changed its Chinese title to remove the word “ghost”. “Most of the Chinese audience didn’t see the first and second movies, so they don’t think there’s much market for it here”, the exec adds.

Deadline said the studio was not planning to submit the Ghostbusters reboot to China’s cultural authorities until the coming week.

“Ghostbusters” stars Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

American horror films also have historic difficulties securing a Chinese release. That’s a good sign for a film that cost about $144 million to produce and needs to fall on the higher end of its predicated $38-$50 million box office to avoid a mediocre opening.

Ghostbusters hasn’t been screened for the board yet, but Variety has sources saying that it’s “unlikely” the film will get approved.

The other reason is that China Film Co., which handles distribution of foreign movies in the country, felt that Ghostbusters would not be attractive to Chinese audiences, which, in addition to being a bad reason in itself, seems to just be a way to cover up the restrictions on freedom of speech in the country.

Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters finally arrives in USA theaters this weekend, and will spend the next few weeks rolling out across the world.

The world’s most populous country won’t be getting a release of the new Ghostbusters movie, THR reported today.