[Beijing Diary] Chinese People's Love for 'Avatar'

Chinese People Cheer for Sequel Returning After 13 Years

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Kim Hyunjung] Recently, the movie "Avatar: The Way of Water (Avatar 2)" has been gaining tremendous popularity in China. Chinese people, who had been staying indoors due to concerns over the rapidly spreading COVID-19 infections, are now venturing out to watch the sequel that arrived 13 years after the original release. Right after the premiere, some local cinemas even opened "positive (陽性) theaters" where only confirmed COVID-19 patients were gathered to watch the film, indicating the special affection for this movie.

Released on the 16th, Avatar 2 earned over 500 million yuan (approximately 91.7 billion KRW) within a week of screening in mainland China, capturing a 90% share of the weekly box office. This is a stark contrast to the previous situation where many theaters struggled to make even 100 yuan in daily sales due to the impact of COVID-19. The local ticketing platform Maoyan estimated that Avatar 2’s revenue will reach 1 billion yuan, making it one of the top 10 box office hits in China. The search volume for "Avatar" on Baidu, China’s largest portal, stands at 706,571, overwhelmingly ranking first among all releases in China. This figure is more than twice the search volume for the patriotic Chinese film Wanli Guidu (萬里歸途, 303,138), which holds the top spot among domestic films.

Even considering that interest in Wanli Guidu, which was released to coincide with China’s National Day (October 1), has started to wane, this level of enthusiasm for a Hollywood film is quite rare. Previously, some of this year’s biggest hits in China faced censorship issues: "Top Gun: Maverick" was criticized for featuring a Taiwanese flag, and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was banned due to the exposure of the Statue of Liberty. The respective studios refused China’s demands to delete or modify these scenes.

The background of Avatar’s success can also be found in this context. The film’s worldview is far from the typical American superhero "nationalistic pride" ("gukppong") and instead offers a critical perspective on the history of imperialist powers. Especially if the planet Pandora is seen as the "New World of America" and the Na’vi as "Native Americans," the message becomes even clearer. It sharply criticizes the ruthless domination and exploitation by hegemonic powers, forced military interventions, and the facade of civilization and technology. This viewpoint aligns with China’s political and diplomatic perspective on the United States. A Chinese film critic recently wrote on social media that the success of Avatar is due to its dazzling 3D sci-fi visuals combined with themes of compassion for the weak, the triumph of justice, and humanism, which resonated widely.

However, there is something that Chinese audiences and society should reflect on. China, standing alongside the U.S. as a global G2 power, has long been criticized externally as a new imperialist power. The Belt and Road Initiative (一帶一路), which began with the slogan of growing together, has been stigmatized as "exploitation," using loans to developing countries as leverage for influence. China cannot escape criticism for its COVID-19 prevention policies, which were out of step with global trends and contributed to instability in global supply chains and economic uncertainty.

Director James Cameron himself stated that the core of the Avatar worldview is summed up in one sentence: "Everything is connected." China is already well aware of how intricately its influence is connected with the world. It is now hoped that China will elevate its roles and responsibilities to match the scale of its influence.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.