European cinemas did not boycott Chinese blockbuster 'Ne Zha 2'
"European countries collectively boycotted Ne Zha 2! Greece is so happy that it is organising a large-scale film event to attract tourists," reads the simplified Chinese Facebook post shared on February 18.
The post also shares an image showing the film's protagonist and a text overlay that repeats the false claim.
It also links to an article that claimed cinemas in most of Europe refused to screen the film -- except for those in Greece. This forced "students studying abroad and Chinese residents to fly to Greece to watch the movie".
Greece is a signatory to the Belt and Road Initiative -- a programme of China-backed infrastructure projects (archived link).
The film is based on Chinese mythology and features a rebellious young deity battling formidable foes after his village is destroyed. It ousted Disney's "Inside Out 2" to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, state news agency Xinhua reported on February 18 (archived link).
The film's overseas release in February sparked hopes among some Chinese that it would garner similar acclaim abroad (archived link).
President Xi Jinping has urged more confidence in traditional culture and aims to build China into a cultural powerhouse by 2035.
Similar claims also spread on YouTube, X, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok -- including Chinese international relations scholar Jin Canrong, who posted a video on his YouTube channel titled "Ne Zha 2 banned in Europe. Chinese films still have a long way to go global".
But British film distributor Trinity CineAsia said on its official Facebook page that the film would be released "across multiple territories in the UK, Ireland, and Europe" (archived link). Variety reported it will be shown in 37 European territories (archived link).
In another post on March 8, the distributor announced the film would first open in the UK and Ireland on March 21, with previews starting a week earlier (archived link).
Tickets for the film are available on the company's ticketing platforms, for UK and Irish cinemas (archived link).
IMAX also posted on its official Facebook page on March 14 that Ne Zha 2 can be seen in its theatres in UK and Ireland (archived link).
Trinity CineAsia additionally announced the film will be released in Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium in the last week of March (archived here, here,here and here).
AFP also debunked false claims that the United States had banned the blockbuster.
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