Shanghai Goes Avatar Crazy

Last week we took the office to see Avatar. Purely for research purposes of course. It’s a good movie in that it, helped by a very drafty Shanghai cinema, keeps the viewer engaged for 2.5 hours. Probably should have spent a bit of the budget on the story though rather than re-hashing Pocahontas. We saw the movie on the morning of its first day in Shanghai for RMB 45. Since then Shanghai has gone Avatar crazy. CCTV reported that the Imax cinema would increase its price to RMB 200 from RMB 150. However, following online outrage, the Imax has now said it will not increase prices. Avatar tickets were so hot they were being re-sold online for RMB 500. Meanwhile DVDs are for sale on the street for RMB 6.