China Panders to US in The Great Wall Trailer

Matt Damon plays a European merchant in China during the Northern Song Dynasty (959–1126 AD) in the Chinese made, English speaking film The Great Wall.

Now, I admittedly am not up on my early Chinese history and I know much less about when Europeans (or any white person) first traveled to China. I tried to research a little and it seems there are sparse reports of a few European merchants making their way into China during this time period.

But why make a Chinese movie with a white actor? With the movie taking place during this time period and being set in China, why not have the entire cast be Chinese? If Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ($128 million domestic) taught us anything, it's that an American audience will watch a foreign film if the release is wide enough and the movie is good enough.

Well, the answer is probably a lot more boring and simple than you may want. Chinese production company, China Film Group Corporation, wants the movie to do well internationally. At $135 million, The Great Wall is the current record holder for the highest budget movie to come out of China. With a budget like that, they simply need to gross more than what they can pull within their own borders. So rather than have the movie entirely have Chinese actors that are speaking Chinese, it will be in English with some leading American actors.

American production companies do this all the time as well. For example, the Michael Bay film Transformers: Age of Extinction has it's entire 3rd act take place in China. The majority of Now You See Me 2 takes place in China. Having a movie take place, at least partially, in China has proven to increase ticket sales not only in China but in other Asian countries as well.

So just like American companies are continually pandering to the Chinese market, China is finally attempting to pander to us. Now, while they could have chosen a well known Asian-American actor like Henry Cho (Star Trek Beyond), Rick Yune (Netflix's Marco Polo), Ki Hong Lee (The Maze Runner), or Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), they instead tried to do what the rest of Hollywood is already doing and gave the role to a well known white actor.

The Great Wall opens in the US on February 17, 2016.

Those are my thoughts on the trailer for The Great Wall. What did you think? Leave your comments below and remember to always keep it unpopped!