Chapter 873: Domestic Protection Month

This was destined to be a turbulent Summer Season. The Dark Knight Rises seemed cursed, with all sorts of bizarre incidents continually cropping up.

On Sunday afternoon, a fire broke out at a massive cinema in Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Thanks to the swift arrival of firefighters, over 800 audience members were evacuated in time. Fortunately, the local fire department reported zero casualties.

But that wasn't the end of it.

That evening, Ohio police confirmed they had arrested a man carrying firearms and knives at a theater, and subsequently uncovered a massive cache of weapons and ammunition at his residence.

According to a bulletin released by the Ohio police, a cinema manager had alerted them to the suspicious man. Upon searching his military-style bag, officers discovered a loaded "Glock" pistol, two fully loaded high-capacity magazines, and four knives.

This incident thrust The Dark Knight Rises right back into the eye of the storm.

Protest groups began gathering in Washington D.C., fiercely demanding that The Dark Knight Rises be forcibly pulled from theaters.

With so many incidents happening one after another, it was impossible for them not to negatively impact The Dark Knight Rises. The first casualty was the film's North American box office.

Though the numbers hadn't been officially publicized and the relevant agencies had canceled the routine weekly North American box office charts, well-informed insiders still easily discovered the truth: after pulling in another 52.13 million dollars on Sunday, The Dark Knight Rises had reaped 205.38 million dollars in North America over its opening weekend.

It was the second film in North American history to break 200 million dollars in its opening weekend, but it still fell noticeably short of the same magnitude as The Avengers, which both the public and Warner Brothers had expected.

In other words, The Dark Knight Rises had failed to meet expectations.

Just as Duke had predicted, the shooting had attracted so much public attention that the impact of The Dark Knight Rises far exceeded the realm of cinema. It sparked massive curiosity and discussion overseas, leading to explosive first-week numbers in international markets. It raked in nearly 350 million dollars across roughly a hundred countries and regions, pushing the film's global box office past the 500-million mark in one fell swoop to a staggering 551.27 million dollars!

With everything that had happened, The Dark Knight Rises became a massive topic of conversation. Compared to traditional media, voices on the internet were far more relaxed and less prone to Blowing Things Out of Proportion at the drop of a hat.

On Instant Sharing, one user commented on the armed man arrested by the Ohio police on Sunday like this: the truth is that thirty-seven-year-old Ohio resident Scott Smith was terrified after seeing the Santa Monica Commercial Square shooting. He was worried that someone might stage a copycat crime at his local cinema, but he still desperately wanted to see the movie. So, he made a difficult decision. He brought a Glock pistol and a few knives to the theater himself, figuring he wouldn't have to be afraid if anyone showed up. And then, he got arrested.

Just like that post, the most reassuring thing for Duke and Warner Brothers was that the vast majority of moviegoers were still standing by The Dark Knight Rises.

"Psychopaths want to ruin this movie!"

"They say the North American box office fell short of expectations. It's completely the fault of these scumbags!"

"The shooting and the movie are two different things. Don't blame Batman for this!"

Some fans simply enjoyed the drama, posting things like this on their Instant Sharing and Twitter accounts—I can only say Duke's movie is too fucking badass. It's one thing to worry about little kids copying it, but James Holmes was a full-grown adult... If he imitated it, you can only blame his own twisted mind.

The debate surrounding The Dark Knight Rises was far from over.

Because the film was released simultaneously in China, even the media across the Pacific Ocean had joined the discussion.

"The Batman shooting is a tragedy of the American legal system, not a tragedy of Hollywood cinema!"

This was the headline of an article published by a certain southern media outlet across the Pacific Ocean, its stance unmistakably clear.

"When twenty-five-year-old American youth James Holmes opened fire on the audience during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at the Santa Monica Commercial Square in the Greater Los Angeles area, he killed twelve people and injured fifty-eight. This is not only a shocking tragedy in America but has also sparked global discussion."

"Because the killer was obsessed with a character in the film and showed signs of imitating them, some argue that the movie corrupted him. This view is biased. First, the killer had not even seen this new film yet; if he was imitating anyone, he was imitating the character previously played by Heath Ledger. Second, movies frequently feature unforgivable villains. If we must prevent copycats at all costs, then almost all films—except for inspirational ones—would have to be banned."

"In truth, anyone with a sound mind can distinguish between the cinematic world and reality. They know what behaviors can be emulated and what is strictly forbidden. In this sense, the killer mimicking Heath Ledger's Joker is no different from a child watching Harry Potter and jumping off a high building on a broomstick, mistaking fantasy for reality. Such people are sick; they are lunatics. However, the former harmed innocent people, making his actions far more despicable."

"There are crazy, deranged individuals everywhere, and you cannot lock them up before they break the law. But America's gun control policies have amplified and worsened this contradiction. Even more unfortunately, despite knowing the problem, the American system cannot solve it. What seems like an uncomplicated issue to other countries is completely blinded by politics in America. The two biggest issues in American politics are gun control and abortion. Since the two opposing camps each account for roughly half the population, these problems can never truly be resolved."

"Citizens are allowed to own firearms; this was written into the Constitution when America was founded, and many Americans view it as a sacred civic right. This is difficult not only for ordinary foreigners to understand, but also for pro-gun-control Americans themselves, who feel that highly lethal weapons are unnecessary for hunting. Little do they realize that the citizens opposing gun control view gun ownership as a means to restrict government power—leaving an out to defend their civil liberties. The American far-right has its own militias, equipped with firearms and ammunition, and they frequently issue anti-government statements. Yet as long as they don't take concrete action, none of it is considered illegal."

"American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore once made a profoundly influential film called Bowling for Columbine, which detailed the school shooting that occurred there and the subsequent widespread calls for gun control. But his political leanings were too obvious; his use of cynicism and sarcasm made it difficult to persuade the opposition. The reality is that many American middle schoolers bring guns to school, making such tragedies nearly impossible to eradicate at the root. You could say this is the price Americans pay for their so-called freedom."

"However, the American Constitution's protection of free speech surpasses its protection of the right to bear arms. Therefore, this tragedy will not fundamentally harm The Dark Knight Rises. In America, making a movie falls under freedom of expression. In 1981, crazed fan John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Reagan due to his obsession with the star Jodie Foster. Fortunately, the bullet missed any vital organs, though it did leave Reagan's press secretary permanently disabled. Hinckley's behavior was clearly imitating Taxi Driver, a film Foster had starred in, yet this neither impacted the film's status in cinematic history nor affected Foster's acting career."

"In short, what Americans need to reexamine isn't the movie, but their laws and institutions."

Although The Dark Knight Rises wasn't pulled from theaters by the Chinese authorities, its treatment was hardly stellar. Under the domestic protection policies of the big scissors, Duke's film premiered in China on the exact same day as Sony Columbia's Super Spider-Man, instantly turning the latter into a tragedy...

Hollywood films clashing like this was a direct result of the scheduling protection policies there.

It could be said that the end of one domestic protection month in this market merely brought about the disguised beginning of another. This "unwritten tradition" of keeping the enemy at bay outside of prime scheduling windows also triggered debates, heated discussions, critiques, and complaints among Chinese movie fans—Why establish a domestic protection month by default? Was the practice reasonable, and why did it cause such massive controversy and dissatisfaction? Could a domestic protection month truly protect domestic films? Did this method of protection actually serve local moviegoers and the market? Did other countries also use domestic protection months to shield their own films?

In all fairness, fighting off Hollywood's massive invasion and supporting local cinema was a basic stance held by the vast majority of countries around the world when developing their film industries. Imposing policy restrictions on the circulation of Hollywood films within their own markets to carve out survival space for domestic films was a perfectly justifiable practice. Countries like South Korea, France, and Italy had all implemented mandatory quota systems against Hollywood films at some point.

Protecting and supporting domestic films was a policy direction and necessity for every country, so why did it generate such enormous controversy in China?

Having once lived in that country, coupled with his current research, Duke could naturally see part of the reason. It was inextricably linked to the overly simple and crude methods employed by the big scissors.

For an entire one to two months, only domestic films of varying quality, both big and small, fought for turf. The near across-the-board ban on importing Hollywood blockbusters meant that this level of protection, from a moviegoer's perspective, completely lost any sense of service, diversity, and choice. Meanwhile, from the perspective of domestic films, the overcrowding and bunching of major, mid-budget, and indie releases during this window resulted in a flood of rushed and poorly-thought-out movies. A domestic protection month was not an omnipotent fortress; it still required domestic films to bring formidable quality to the table.

Thus, although the original intent of the protection month was to safeguard domestic films, it simultaneously infringed on the rights of the audience, unpopularly stripping domestic fans of their power to choose.

When the Warner Greater China Region conducted market research, a theater chain representative put it this way: "Hollywood definitely has a huge impact on Chinese cinema, but the root cause lies in the quality issues of Chinese films themselves. From the audience's standpoint, of course they're going to choose to watch the better movies."

Did other countries also have this so-called protection month system?