As Avatar: The Way of Water heads to theaters in the U.S, it will also be screening in theaters across China. To that end, the film will be getting a Mandarin dub, with Chinese actor and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi joining the voice cast.
Her involvement was officially announced on China.org, an official state-run portal. Zhang will be voicing Ronal, the tsahìk of the Metkayina clan, voiced and performed by actor Kate Winslet in the English version of the film. Ronal's mate, Tonowari, performed by actor Cliff Curtis in the English version, will be voiced by Huang Xuan in the dub. Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and Zoe Saldana's Neytiri will be played by Deng Chao and Sun Li, respectively.
Zhang has enjoyed immense popularity in China and was named one of the "Four Dan Actresses" of the 2000s -- a group of major actors who dominated cinema in China. Following the announcement of Xi Jinping's historic third term as the country's paramount leader, the actor released a statement on Chinese television, praising Xi and the Communist Party. She went on to say, "I will adhere to the people-centred creative orientation according to the instructions of the general secretary, adhere to the position of Chinese culture... tell the Chinese story to the world, and spread the Chinese voice."
Avatar: The Way of Water Benefits From China
Avatar: The Way of Water was given an official release date in China, which is something few Hollywood films have been able to do in the last couple of years. The date of Dec. 16 -- the same date of release in the U.S -- was displayed on official channels on Chinese social media, instead of a vague release window, as with most other films that have been kept from the country's screens.
Director James Cameron himself travelled to China earlier this year to screen the film for members of China Film Group, owned by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party and responsible for the review, censorship and importation of foreign films, among other things. Cameron's Way of Water was screened using China's CINITY cinema format of 3D, 4K and high-frame rate and will play in IMAX theaters across the country.
IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond recently suggested a release in China will benefit the Avatar sequel significantly. While he did not divulge exact figures, he did reveal, The Way of Water was seeing "one of the highest pre-sale levels we've ever seen. So I'm extremely excited about Avatar getting into China." It should be noted that at the time, numerous theaters had been shut down due to severe restrictions stemming from the country's Zero-COVID policy. At the time of writing, over 7,000 theaters are back in operation, following the easing of restrictions in China. This followed several weeks of widespread protests that broke out across the country.
Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 16.
Source: China.org
NOTE: China.org is a state-run outlet run by the State Council Information Office and the China International Publishing Group.