‘Christopher Robin’ Won’t Show In China, Maybe ‘Cos Pooh Is A Bad Bear There

Meanwhile, Disney’s Christopher Robin has been denied release in China possibly because the country keeps comparing President Xi Jinping to the bear.

This is a strange one but you might have heard of it.

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So, back in 2017 the image and name of Winnie the Pooh started disappearing from the country’s social media sites. In short, after physical comparisons between the cartoon character and the president were made, the general public used Pooh to openly criticise and mock their leader on social media sites.

I imagine it’d go a little like ‘Pooh, not a big fan of the guy. Eats too much honey.’

Anyway, it became a huge meme and Pooh’s name was synonymous with President Xi’s and a symbol of resistance.

Though China doesn’t explain the denial of every foreign film’s release in the country, a source told The Hollywood Reporter the ban was because of the country’s “crackdown on images of the Winnie the Pooh character”.

Pooh is obviously a y’huge character in Christopher Robin. 

However, another source told THR that the film’s only being banned because there are already a number of Hollywood films in the Chinese market. The country has a foreign film quota of 34.

If you wanted an idea of just how serious President Xi is about banishing Pooh then get this:

Back in June, HBO was blocked in China after comedian and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver made fun of President Xi’s suppression of Winnie the Pooh. First, the Chinese social media platform Weibo started censoring ‘John Oliver’ then HBO in China went poof. According to The Guardianeven HBO Asia, a Singaporean-based network which airs HBO through a Chinese TV subscription service also appeared to be blocked.

Intense times.

As for Christopher Robin – reviews… are concerning. Not because the film’s bad or anything but because some critics are describing it as “sombre”. Although, with the trailer alone being a nostalgic kick-in-the-gut, a lot of depressing tears are expected.

The movie currently has a critic’s review of 67 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes while the audience score is at an impressive 93 per cent.

Christopher Robin will land in Aussie cinemas, September 13. 

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