The organizer of an outdoor screening of Batman movie “The Dark Knight” has cancelled the projection after being warned by the Hong Kong government against going ahead, according to reports.
The Christopher Nolan-directed movie was partially filmed in the city in 2007. It was released in Hong Kong theaters in 2008. But it was not able to be released in mainland China.
Financial news publisher Bloomberg reported on Friday that a planned screening of “The Dark Knight” on Oct. 27, 2022, has been cancelled. It cited a message sent to ticket holders that explained the decision was “based on direction from the HK Government Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration.” The Bloomberg report did not specify the identity of the organizer or the venue of the planned screening.
“The Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration would not comment on the application of individual films,” the organization said in an emailed response to Variety’s enquiries.
In mid-2020, Hong Kong introduced a National Security Law that ushered in a significantly changed environment for media and entertainment industries and has led to the arrest of journalists and the closure of news outlets including the prominent Apple Daily. The following year, 2021, Hong Kong changed the law on film classification, introducing national security considerations into the film rating system and allowing three-year jail terms for anyone found guilty of screening unapproved content.
One of sub-plots in “The Dark Knight” involves Lau, a corrupt accountant played by Chin Han, who bribes the local police for protection and offers to launder money in Hong Kong on behalf of the Gotham criminals that Batman is pursuing. “The Chinese will not extradite one of their own,” he boasts to the mobsters by way of explanation.
While grimy subjects including money-laundering, corruption of officials and organized crime have been the stuff of hundreds of Hong Kong movies, such content cannot be made in mainland China, nor released without modification.
It is understood that the Hong Kong scenes in “The Dark Knight” were at least partly responsible for the film not being released in mainland China in 2008. The film also makes a joke about a gun that fails to fire as being “made in China.”
At the time, the studio distributor responsible Warner Bros. said: “Based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to ‘The Dark Knight,’ as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forgo a theatrical release of the film in China.”
That stood in contrast to the hoopla which greeted the filming of the movie in Hong Kong in 2007. The Batman character played by Christian Bale was filmed standing atop the IFC Tower, then the city’s tallest building, and chasing down the iconic Mid-Levels Escalators, which transport thousands of Hong Kongers to and from Central District every day.
“Over the past year, the Government has been supporting and assisting the Batman crew in the preparatory work for shooting in Hong Kong, including the scouting of filming locations, overcoming numerous logistics challenges, and securing relevant permits for filming, with the help of various extremely supportive government departments,” boasted the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing, Ms Maisie Cheng, at a November 2007 press event. “This week, we finally have Batman in action here – and all the effort is well worth it for Hong Kong.”
The apparent ban of “The Dark Knight” is certain to raise further questions about the ‘mainlandization’ of the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
Earlier this year animated film “Losing Sight of a Longed Place” was barred from screening after the filmmakers chose not to cut a one-second shot depicting the 2014 ‘Occupy Central’ street protests. It had previously played in Hong Kong at the 2017 Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
And, in recent weeks, the Hong Kong Film Producers Association has written to its members urging them to join mainland China’s boycott of Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards.
A slew of documentary films depicting the 2019-20 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have not been able to screen in the city where the events took place.
The crackdown in Hong Kong against content that the mainland government might not like raises further questions about future developments.
“The fictional movie includes a corrupt accountant, Lau, who flees from Gotham to HK and bribes the local police for protection – surely something that many HK-made triad movies have depicted in the past. Are those now banned too?” asks Hong Kong-based financier and commentator David Webb in a Twitter posting. “Perhaps OFNAA could announce whether it is now illegal to possess or view the DVD or Blu-Ray version of this movie.”
