How 2012, Roland Emmerich’s end-of-the-world drama, broke Chinese box-office records – despite not being the ‘love letter to China’ some thought
- Starring John Cusack, 2012 became China’s biggest-ever box-office hit after its release in 2009, raking in 460 million yuan
- Despite moments that viewers in China found flattering, the film’s references to certain topics lead one to wonder how it ever got through Chinese censors
When Roland Emmerich’s end-of-the-world drama 2012 was released in 2009, the planet wasn’t the only thing that took a battering.
The film, which stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet and Chiwetel Ejiofor, smashed box office records in China, raking in 460 million yuan to become what was then the biggest hit of all time.
“It really is unbelievable,” Sony Pictures vice-president Jeff Blake told entertainment news magazine Variety. “It’s the biggest release for the film outside the United States. The infrastructure is really exploding in China.”
Although it’s an unfortunate choice of words for a film featuring more than its fair share of exploding infrastructure, it’s hard to disagree. But just why did an American blockbuster directed by a German and based – erroneously – on an ancient Mayan prophecy do so well?
One theory is that it’s because the film portrays China as the saviour of humanity, building arks in the Himalayas that will ferry the rich to safety when earthquakes, floods and volcanoes destroy civilisation. Flattery can get you many places, but how about the top spot in a formerly hostile territory?
