Hong Kong cancels ‘Dark Knight’ screening amid censorship push
Officials in Hong Kong have cancelled an outdoor screening of Christopher Nolan’s iconic superhero movie The Dark Knight, with many considering the move as yet another sign that the city is under the control of the Chinese censorship regime.
The screening of the 2008 movie had been scheduled to take place on October 27th, but has since been cancelled “based on direction from the HK Government Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration,” according to a news report from Bloomberg. The film, which features several scenes shot across Hong Kong, as well as the kidnapping of a Chinese businessman, is to be replaced by Marvel’s Iron Man.
Beijing, the Chinese capital, has put its foot down on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in recent years, violating the ‘one country, two systems’ policy that has been in place for decades.
As well as Beijing pushing through ‘national security law’ that permits any Hong Kong resident to be extradited to the mainland, officials in the special administrative region of China published guidelines in June 2021 that outlined censors would prohibit movies that threatened ‘national security’.
Anyone who screens a so-called ‘forbidden movie’ can face harsh penalties from the local government, with Nolan’s classic superhero movie clearly coming under that umbrella of restricted titles. Once boasting a thriving film industry that produced the likes of Jackie Chan, John Woo, Chow Yun-fat, and the iconic martial artist Bruce Lee, the Hong Kong film industry is now a shell of its former self.
Take a look at the trailer for Nolan’s classic superhero movie, below.
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