10 Times They Were Worried What Movies Would Do To You

7. Avatar Would Lead To A Revolution In China

Batman Returns Penguin
20th Century Studios

The highest grossing movie in cinema history, James Cameron's Avatar had the Chinese authorities concerned for not one, but two reasons.

Back in 2010, the standard 2-D version of Avatar was pulled from 1,600 Chinese theaters after just two weeks. As reported by Hong Kong's Apple Daily at the time (via The Guardian), the state-run China Film Group put this order in place due to concerns that the narrative of Avatar would inspire a revolution of sorts in the country - in particular amongst vulnerable Chinese people who were having their land and homes targeted by property developers.

Additionally, there was also concern that Avatar could damage the Chinese film industry. At that time, there was huge hype behind the Chow Yun-fat-starring Confucius. With Cameron's Na'vi offering dominating cinemas across the country, the belief is that the 2-D version of Avatar was pulled in order to take away substantial competition from The Confucius.

As for why the 3-D version of Avatar was still allowed to play for several more weeks, that's due to the simple fact that China at that time had only a handful of cinemas with the capability to show 3-D films.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.