'Avatar' takes Chinese moviegoers aback with 3D
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Chinese moviegoers have been "dizzy" with the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" since its premiere in the country on Monday, due to a fresh 3D experience it brought about, while some criticizing its weak storyline.
"It is a fantastic experience," office worker Gao Shan told Xinhua Sunday, "I feel as I am on the Pandora and I'm a memeber of it." She added it was her first taste of a 3D dimentional effect in cinema.
Movie fan Li Na rushed to the Beijing Ziguang cinema in spite of snow on the science fiction's opening day. When the 162-minute movie finally ended, she found herself pained by glasses she wore.
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Actor Sam Worthington, who portrays the character Jake, gets a first look at his avatar, a human-alien hybrid bred from Jake's own DNA, in this undated publicity photograph from a scene in director James Cameron's new film "Avatar." [Xinhua/Reuters] |
"But it is worth it," she said, "If there were a Avatar every year, the world would be perfect."
Li even worked out guidelines to watch the movie and spread them among her friends. "It's not necessary to wear the glasses throughout the showing time, just put on them at the last part," she said.
The popular Sina.com also presented tips including a full list of the cinemas which had IMAX and 3D theaters.
An article posted on the popular social networking site kaixin001.com on Wednesday went the extra mile to provide such instructions as what the best timing was to use the washroom and which seats were most advantageous in experiencing the spectacular.
"Avatar has announced 3D experience is already part of our daily life," Chen Shan, a prof. of renowned Beijing Film Academy, told Xinhua Sunday.
But the 3D epic also frustrated some moviegoers. A girl surnamed Sang in Shanghai told Xinhua she was stressed out in the two-and-half-hour's screening.
"I can't afford to watch a 3D movie again," she said. "The dizziness was really a pain."
Some viewers criticized the film for its "poor artistic taste". The Outlook Magazine published an article saying that Avatar is an example to use too many technologies to make up the lack of "literary significance" and "profound meaning".
"It tells a mediocre story," it said. "What a sad movie for the film industry."
However, for Chinese moviegoers, the 3D experience is still a novelty, and Avatar is enough for their expectation. In Sept. 2008, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" brought the first taste of 3D film to Chinese audiences.
The country had about 4,700 screens, but less than 10 per cent of them were 3D ones, according to a report of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on Friday.
As for IMAX experience, its noveller. There are currently some 11 IMAX theaters across the country, eight of which are digital.
But experts are optimistic about the future of the digital and 3D theaters in China. More than 500 digital screens had gone up over the last year, accounting for almost 80 per cent of the new screens, according to the film authority's latest statistics.
"Avatar" would work as a boost for Chinese movie market." Prof. Chen said. "Before its coming, we had been believing the digital movie was still something in the future."
The Chinese cinemas will also see domestic 3D movies coming soon.
Famed director Feng Xiaogang's coming film "Tangshan Earthquake" is expected to be the first Chinese movie in 3D release and could be shown in IMAX theaters. The film, due out in late July, seeks to recapture the Tangshan Earthquake, which killed more than 242,000 people on July 28, 1976.
"Though the movie may not match 'Avatar' in technology, at least China has taken its first step," Chen said.
