Captain America: Civil War

[mickey]

Greetings,

THIS.....LOOKS.............AWESOME!!!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVdV-lxRPFo


mickey

[boxerbilly]

Yes, I does.

The beginning of the trailer. If you missed the new 2015 Fantastic Four, that was the end of that film. After the credits if I recall correctly.

[Jimbo]

This has the potential to be the best superhero film (Marvel or otherwise).

[boxerbilly]

This has the potential to be the best superhero film (Marvel or otherwise).

I personally think Captain America series has been the best. I have liked them all but CA wins for me.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I agree with you Jimbo.

"How many installments will there be?" is going to be the question now.

mickey

[PalmStriker]

INTERVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94q6_3vzblw

[GeneChing]

BTW, here's the Captain America thread.

[GeneChing]

‘Captain America ‘ China-Bound Despite Army Dig at Disney ‘Propaganda’
By Fergus Ryan|April 8th, 2016

Captain America: the Winter Soldier grossed $115.6 million in China starting April 4, 2014
The sequel is set to hit Chinese theaters May 6, Disney’s third day-and-date release in 2016
The red-white-and-blue film will flout propaganda against too much Western content
A Chinese army newspaper called Disney’s Zootopia “invisible propaganda”


Captain America is set to pay a return visit to China in May.

If the U.S. is waging an “invisible propaganda” war against Beijing—as one Chinese military newspaper railed this week—then they appear to be winning, as Disney confirmed on Friday its Captain America franchise is heading back to China.

Disney’s official WeChat social media account said the studio will have its third day-and-date release in the Chinese market so far this year, when Captain America: Civil War follows Zootopia and The Jungle Book, onto China’s screens on May 6.

The announcement, which was widely expected, could be seen as an affront to the Nanjing-based professor at a People’s Liberation Army-backed academy who railed against the onslaught of American pop-culture on Chinese audiences.

“Hollywood has long been an effective propaganda machine for the U.S. by using blockbuster films to promote U.S. values and global strategy,” thundered the editorial in the PLA Daily on Wednesday.

“In a world of cruel reality, it is always a wolf that eats a sheep instead of the other way round. Such a fundamental concept that even a child could understand was easily turned around by Hollywood.”

It would be a mistake to consider the views of one PLA Daily article as representative of more than a marginal view in China. Users of leading Chinese social media platforms Weibo and WeChat slapped the paper down, accusing it of overthinking things and needing to learn to relax.

But even positive reviews of Zootopia openly questioned why the allegorical tale hadn’t been censored. In an article titled “Zootopia, Pretty Much a Banned Film” one online portal Sina author, Wang Haitao, saw layers of meaning in the film.

The film exposes how a society may look peaceful and ideal on the outside, argued Wang, but at the same time contains many different levels of darkness and conspiracy on the inside. (The subtext? If the censors really understood it, they’d ban it).

The return of Captain America to China seems odd against the backdrop of official complaints that China’s schools are beset by subversive and potentially ruinous “Western ideas.”

As increasingly paranoid Chinese authorities crack down on “Western values” in textbooks, cinema screens are filled with examples of American soft power, even as officials release guidelines aimed at safeguarding “national cultural and ideological security.”

Last year’s superhero parody Jianbing Man may provide the clue as to why Beijing would invite Captain America back. If that film had any subtext, it was that China lacks a coherent ideology on which a superhero can pin his colors.

The Russo brothers, creators of the Captain America franchise, recently launched a startup studio whose aim is to partner with two Chinese entertainment companies to produce and create Chinese-language films. They may be able to help with a very specific kind of film, said Stanley Rosen, political science professor at the University of Southern California’s U.S.-China Institute.

“The Russo Brothers have been cultivating China for years and may be helping China learn how to make such films with Chinese heroes,” Rosen told CFI. “Despite the injunction on the importance of ‘socialist core values’—the priority of ‘social benefits’ over economic gains—box office still matters.”

Whether the Russos’ help will be needed remains to be seen. The first film in the Disney/Marvel franchise, Captain America: the Winter Soldier, grossed $115.6 million in China starting April 4, 2014, but Jianbing Man, the homegrown parody, grossed $186 million and a sequel is in the works for 2017.

Didja see my pic of Capitano Mexico on our facebook?

[GeneChing]

Read CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR - The ABCs of a Battle Royale by Patrick Lugo

[sanjuro_ronin]

I am really looking forward to this one.

[GeneChing]

‘Captain America’s Hollywood Directors to Co-produce a ‘Captain China’
Home/Featured Stories, News/‘Captain America’s Hollywood Directors to Co-produce a ‘Captain China’
By Fergus Ryan|May 9th, 2016|Featured Stories, News

Russo Brothers working with Jungle Book illustrator as director
$30 million Chinese film a co-production with Beijing-based FangJin Visual Media
Actual title of the action sci-fi film translates roughly as The Hero’s Awakening


Joe and Anthony Russo (Courtesy Facebook)

The Russo Brothers, the creative duo behind Marvel’s blockbuster Captain America franchise, have joined with a Chinese production company to create a new Chinese superhero movie which local media are dubbing “Captain China.”

According to local media reports, Anthony and Joe Russo, the brother directors, are joining with Beijing FangJin Visual Media Culture Communication Company (方金影视) to make a Chinese action sci-fi film whose actual title translates roughly as The Hero’s Awakening (英雄觉醒’).

Speaking to local media at a signing ceremony to mark the cooperation on Monday, Joe Russo reportedly said he hoped to be able to bring Chinese stories to the big screen. While the “Captain China” film will draw on Hollywood expertise, the story itself will be wholly Chinese, reports said. Calls to Beijing FangJin went unreturned.

In April, Joe Russo told the Los Angeles Times that his team was working with a young Chinese filmmaker on a “superhero origin film” that will “probably go into production in the fall” and has a budget of “about $30 million.”

According to Fangjin’s Weibo account, the company was founded in 2006. The company’s website says it has invested and produced a number of films, including The Sun Beaten Path (太阳总在左边), which won the Dragons & Tigers award at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival.

The announcement comes as the Russo brother arrived back in China to launch the latest installment of the Captain America franchise Captain America: Civil War.

Including previews, Civil War has taken in US $97 million in China since Friday, making it the second-biggest three-day opening in China, behind Fast and Furious 7 in 2015.

Anthony Leonardi III, concept illustrator for Disney’s The Jungle Book, has been invited to be the Russo’s new film’s “U.S. director” and creative director. Leonardi’s first and only feature film was Nothing Left to Fear in 2013.

The Russo brothers have been cultivating their work relationships in China for years and recently set up a startup studio in the country under their Anthem & Song banner with an eye to producing and creating Chinese-language films.

Despite recent pushback from some quarters in Chinese society against a perceived American cultural hegemony, the Captain America franchise has proven to be wildly popular.

Whereas Captain America: Civil War was renamed First Avenger in Russia and South Korea, the film retained its original title in China.

But replicating the success of the Captain America formula in the Chinese market could prove to be a difficult task for the Russo Brothers. Local critics long have doubted that a Chinese super-hero could get off the ground, given the country’s censorship restrictions.

— Additional reporting Chet Leung

I wonder if they can get Scar-Jo or Tilda to play Captain China.

[GeneChing]

In Captain America: Civil War Tony Stark Uses a Phone Only Sold in China [Updated]
Alex Cranz
Yesterday 3:55pm Filed to: VIVO



Tony Stark, leader of the Marvel’s technological revolution and freaking Iron Man, uses a Vivo V3—a mid-range phone available exclusively in China. According to Geek, he uses it because Chinese audiences love Marvel movies (bull**** Dr. Strange casting aside), and Marvel loves targeted product placement.

I will admit that I did not pay attention to what kind of phone Tony Stark used in Captain America: Civil War. Which is a shame, because noting the tech characters use is a major hobby of mine (please do not judge me for my knowledge of Jane Fonda’s iPhone 5c in Grace and Frankie). But I didn’t pay attention to Tony Stark’s phone because I figured it was a prop phone meant to sub in for “Stark Tech.”

I mean the guy regularly interacts with holograms and builds super suits in his basement. He’s not going to use an off-the-shelf iPhone or Samsung Galaxy—although he did use co-branded Stark/LG tech in earlier Iron Man flicks.

Yet I was totally wrong guys, because Geek, with an assist from PC Mag, says Tony Stark uses the Vivo V3.

The Vivo V3 retails for about $270 with a five-inch screen or $360 for the five-and-a-half inch V3Max. That’s half the price of most American phones and on par for phones from Vivo’s parent company BBK Electronics: specifically Oppo and OnePlus. But Vivo only sells its devices in China so it’s not currently available in the US—though it’s popular enough in China to snag a 2.7 percent portion of the global market share.

So why is Tony using a mid-level consumer phone from China when he’s supposed to be the largest and most bad ass tech developer in the world (outside of Wakanda)? Geek suggests it’s because of product placement for Chinese markets. In the last few years the American industry has increasingly focused on international film markets—and China, with the largest film going population outside of the US, is super attractive. While I wouldn’t put “white guy using an alright Chinese phone” at the same level as “film actually casting Chinese people to play Chinese characters because Chinese people are like everyone else and want to see themselves represented in film,” it’s still a nice nod for Chinese audiences.

Personally, I’m still banking on it being because the prop department didn’t want to build a whole new phone. But I’m probably wrong.

Correction (5/11/16 8:45 EST): Tony Stark does not use a Vivo V3 as our story suggests. He uses a transparent Vivo concept phone.

Wasn't there a product placement plug for a Chinese drink in one of the Iron Man films? I thought we posted here but couldn't find it on a cursory search.

[GeneChing]

Captain America rice dumplings are here to save the Dragon Boat Festival
BY VICTORIA HO
5 HOURS AGO


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO

Marvel's marketing wheels were turning in time for Thursday's start of the Dragon Boat festival.

Thanks to the American firm's tie up with Chinese dumpling maker Wu Fang Zhai, you can now buy Captain America, Ironman, Thor and Black Widow-themed rice dumplings for the festival, where the stodgy treats are an integral part of the celebrations.


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO


IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO

The dumplings are on sale across various retailers on Taobao, China's version of Amazon and eBay.

Most reviews of the dumplings appear positive, with commenters saying: "The packaging was attractive, but when I opened the box I was surprised that (the dumplings) were delicious."

Another commenter said: "I knew the men in my household would love the dumplings because of the packaging! If Iron Man says it's good, it's good."


The dumplings come in these boxes.
IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO


They also come in fancier shield-looking packages.
IMAGE: TMALL/TAOBAO

If superheroes don't float your boat, other retailers are carrying Kungfu Panda and Mickey Mouse dumplings.

The festival is also known as Duanwu Jie, and is a national holiday in China. It's also celebrated by Chinese communities across Asia in countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The festival is marked by dragon boat races, with teams rowing long boats in time with a drummer keeping rhythm at the head of the vessel.

And at home, people celebrate by eating rice dumplings packed in triangular shapes and wrapped in bamboo leaves. The dumplings come in various flavours, some with meat in them and others with sweet bean fillings.

The story in folklore most commonly associated with the festival is the death of a Chinese minister and poet, Qu Yuan, who lived during 300 BC and was said to have flung himself into the river as a political protest. People were looking for him in the water, and beat drums loudly in boats to scare the fish away from eating his body, and threw rice dumplings in so the fish would be distracted.

[h/t Marketing Interactive]

I would so knosh Black Widow's zongzi

[JasonB]

Great movie I watched it yesterday