Casino Royale Opens In China, Semi-Excitingly

Now that Casino Royale has been out for a few months, the world has had time to downsize its initial opinion of the film from "Wow, Casino Royale is the best Bond film ever" to "Yeah, I suppose it was sort of OK in places" - and now it's China's turn.

Even though no James Bond movies have ever been officially released in China, Casino Royale this week became the first 007 film to hit Chinese cinemas uncensored and is expected to become China's highest-ever grossing foreign movie, despite the fact that Casino Royale has been widely available on pirated DVDs for months. It's hard to know how the release of Casino Royale will affect China's view of the west, apart from making the country think that all card games feature a jovial bearded man standing behind the action explaining exactly what's happening for people too stupid to understand. And a man who can squirt blood out of his eyes.

China can be an intimidating country for newcomers. Even though it'll be the biggest global superpower in the next decade and it's government is happy to blast satellites out of the sky with missiles willy-nilly, China still has a bit of a problem with some aspects of western culture. For instance, it won't let Jay-Z perform there, it doesn't let old men swear and it kills dogs specifically to annoy Paul McCartney. And it isn't just rappers and wrinkly old singers that China takes issue with - it also bans foreign films like The Da Vinci Code.

But while hokey films about Amelie being Jesus' grandkid don't make it past the Chinese film approval board, films about a thug who murders people until someone clobbers his balls in with a rope seem to be fine. Casino Royale has become the first-ever James Bond film to be officially released in China despite it being widely available as an illegal DVD for months, as Reuters reports:

"Ling ling qi" - Chinese for 007 - has never before been officially released in the world's most populous country, and new James Bond Daniel Craig and leading lady Eva Green flew in especially for the event. "It's been an ambition of mine to get here, and I wish I had more time," a casually dressed Craig told reporters while sipping coffee in a five-star Beijing hotel ahead of the premiere. Poor quality pirated DVD versions of "Casino Royale" have been available on China's streets for weeks, costing just a little more than $1 and underlining the risk movie makers face in the world's most populous country. "It hasn't premiered here yet, but I think it's been seen here," Craig lamented. "Someone tried to sell me a copy last night," he added. "I was wearing a hat and glasses so they didn't recognise me."

Casino Royale had an infamously inept conception - nobody knew who James Bond was, or the Bond Girl or the villain; and then Daniel Craig got his teeth punched out and then, worst of all, the Audioslave bloke did a rubbish theme-tune - so illegal Casino Royale DVDs should prove to be no problem for the James Bond juggernaut. Let's hope not anyway, because if Bond 22 is about 007 chasing a man around Shanghai because he was caught selling fake DVDs, we won't be best pleased.

Read more:

James Bond Arrives In China — Neither Shaken Nor Stirred - Reuters