The remake of 1984’s classic ‘kidz against the world’ tale Red Dawn has hit a snag due to the ethnicity of its villains and, fearing low box-office returns in China, MGM has insisted that the filmmakers digitally remove all traces of Chinese military and cultural symbols from the film.
The new invading force will be those pesky North Koreans because they are still evil in the eyes of the world (and they don’t contribute a massive amount to world box-office receipts). It will be interesting to see how different audiences react to the film when the studio and producers have essentially said, ‘Yeah, change them to North Koreans; they all look the same anyway’.
Overcoming the logic leap of North Korea being capable of invading the North American continent, the producers of the film stated that all the digital tweaking would make it clear that North Korea has a larger role than you might expect in invading the USA, but are still in league with a (presumably unnamed) Chinese Red Army.
There isn’t a set release date yet for Red Dawn but it should be out by the end of the year. The film marks the directorial debut of stunt coordinator Dan Bradley (who has previously handled second unit duties on the likes of Superman Returns, Spider-Man 2 and 3, Quantum of Solace and the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Josh Peck (Mean Creek), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right), Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) and Ken Choi (Captain America: The First Avenger).
Originally published March 17, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
