Chinese movie goers don’t think Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is attractive enough.
Marvel Studios latest superhero film was criticized by Chinese movie goers based on the character’s looks.
Abacnus News, which is an English language website focused on China, reports a number of Chinese social media users were not happy with the way Larson’s Captain Marvel looks.
They cited one user who wrote, “I’m not judging a person by their looks, but the main character in a superhero movie shouldn’t be a ‘da ma.” A ‘da ma is reportedly a derogatory term for a middle-aged housewife.
They also point to another user who posted an edited side by side image of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man rear end next to Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers stating, “the reputation of Captain Marvel was destroyed by this picture.”
However, it wasn’t all one sided. Some defended Larson’s Captain Marvel. One person wrote on the popular Chinese social media site Weibo, “Why must the superheroes look sublimely beautiful? This face looks tough. It’s exactly what Captain Marvel calls for.”
Another reportedly wrote, “I wish we can all avoid double standards. Is Tony Stark young? Is he well-built? Do you all like him because of his muscles?”
Captain Marvel might have dominated U.S. Box offices bringing in over $270 million at the domestic box office over the past two weeks, but it hasn’t fared quite as strong in China. Chinese box office tracker Maoyan reports the film has made $83 million. When it debuted it was the top movie in China. However, in its second weekend it was best by More Than Blue, a romance film.
Chinese box office tracking has come under close scrutiny of late. In 2017, IndieWire reported that “the makers of the Chinese film “Monster Hunt” admitted to giving moviegoers 40 million free tickets in order to boost its numbers and beat out Universal Pictures’ “Furious 7” for the distinction of highest-grossing title in mainland China.”
They also reported sales for [easyazon_link identifier=”B01DQ5MOX6″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Ip Man 3[/easyazon_link] were inflated “by around $4.7 million through so-called ghost screenings – sold out shows with higher ticket prices that never actually took place — and by an additional $8.3 million by buying up tickets in bulk.”
However, they aren’t just inflating numbers, many local theaters might under report sales in order to pocket the cash themselves. Business Insider corroborated this report just last year indicating that there is rampant fraud in China when it comes to box office sales. In fact, they estimate that “40% of tickets may be reported incorrectly or never recorded at all.”
What do you make of Chinese reaction to the film? Do you think their criticism is warranted?