![]() ![]() China considers Taiwan a rogue province and has longstanding beef with Japan. In a trailer released in 2019, the Taiwanese and Japanese flags – referring to tours of duty made by the character’s fighter pilot dad – were replaced by rectangles with vague shapes and similar color patterns. And its influence was obvious, as evidenced by the changes made to patches on Maverick’s bomber jacket. I guess that was enough to get Tencent on board during production. It’s not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not even some made-up country like Zamunda, and it’s not a mistake: They’re trying to thread the needle on this one to make it palatable to moviegoers the world over, including those whose governments have frosty relations with the United States. naval aviators that climaxes in spectacular dogfights with foreign warplanes without naming the foreign adversary. And just like the writers did in the original, the filmmakers managed to write an entire movie about U.S. Nevertheless, a release in the enormous Chinese movie market was part of the plan. The sequel, I can confirm, is no different. The first movie is basically a paean to the American military, a recruiting tool if there ever was one. Now look, they’ve got plenty of televisions and DVD players in China, so it’s kinda weird the Tencent execs didn’t expect the friggin’ Top Gun sequel to be jingoistic. The about-face turned “Top Gun: Maverick” from a movie that once symbolized deepening ties between China and Hollywood into a fresh example of the broader tensions forming between the U.S. The reason: Tencent executives backed out of the $170 million Paramount Pictures production after they grew concerned that Communist Party officials in Beijing would be angry about the company’s affiliation with a movie celebrating the American military, according to people familiar with the matter.Īssociation with a pro-American story grew radioactive as relations between the U.S. And early on the financing involved Tencent, the Chinese tech conglomerate, which had a 12.5% stake in the movie … until it didn’t: Maverick was not cheap to make and the studio backing it is sparing no promotional expense. This is honestly the real story here, and the Wall Street Journal has a good writeup on it. If you like action movies, it’s worth your dime.īut you know what it doesn’t have? Chinese money involved in its production. And, of course, it has tons of its real draw: Jaw-dropping camerawork shot from inside the cockpits of F-18s in flight. ![]() ![]() It’s got it all, including the Kenny Loggins song from the original, Maverick’s Kawasaki Ninja, and a scene where the hardbodied fighter pilots get sandy and sweaty and play sports. ![]()
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