In the first weekend of April, two new films were released in North America. Both genre films received good reviews, but neither of them was able to shake the leading position of "Godzilla vs. Kong 2", and their opening box office performance was lower than expected.

The Indian version of John Wick is difficult to be released in India

Of the two new films, the one that fared better was the action film Monkey Man, directed and acted by Dev Patel, who rose to fame with Slumdog Millionaire. This is the first time that the British-Indian actor has directed a feature film, and he also served as co-writer and co-producer. The film is set in India and tells the story of the protagonist played by Patel, who has a deep blood feud and seeks justice from the local gang after years of forbearance.

Poster of "Raging Monkey"

"The Monkey King" earned $10.15 million in 3,029 theaters in North America, which is twice as much as the $31.7 million of "Godzilla vs. Kong 2," the weekend box office champion. However, the film has a good reputation. After its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March this year, it received high praise from the media and was hailed as the "Indian version of John Wick". It currently has an 87% freshness rating on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes.

Netflix originally bought the rights to "The Monkey King" for $30 million, but later they thought the film's subject matter was too sensitive and would not be accepted by local Indian audiences, so they planned to resell the rights. At the critical moment, Jordan Peele, an African-American filmmaker who had made films such as "Get Out," watched the sample of "The Monkey King" and was very impressed, so he persuaded Universal Pictures to take over, giving "The Monkey King" the opportunity to be released in theaters.

The film is scheduled to be released in India on April 19. However, according to media reports, the Central Board of Film Classification (CBFC), which is responsible for film censorship, is quite disgusted by the violence, sex, politics and religion themes in the film and is likely to ask the film company to cut it, so the original release plan may not be guaranteed.

The Central Board of Film Classification of India was established in 1951. Whether it is a domestic or imported Indian film, if it wants to be successfully released in India, it must first obtain a classification certificate issued by it. At present, there are three categories of Indian film classification: the general level is applicable to all audiences, the adult level can only be watched by those over 18 years old, and the rest is the general/adult level sandwiched between the two, where children under 12 years old need to be accompanied by their parents. In the past, many Hollywood movies have been cut in advance before they can successfully obtain this certificate. For example, when Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" was released in India, there were many cuts and swear words were muted, and some characters were even completely removed. And "Oppenheimer", which belongs to Universal Pictures and "The Angry Monkey", was released in India last year. Because a certain line involved the Hindu classic "Bhagavad Gita", it was not cut or muted in advance, which resulted in a boycott by many Indian people.

This time, "The Angry Monkey" was rated as restricted when it was released in the United States because "there are scenes involving bloody violence, rape, swearing, sexual content, nudity and drug use throughout the film." However, for the Indian film review agency, perhaps more sensitive are some details in the film that only Indians will feel. For example, the heroine of the film is the prostitute Sita played by Sobhita Dhulipala. Those who are familiar with Indian culture know that this name can also be translated as Sita. She is the heroine of the epic "Ramayana" which is known as the cornerstone of Indian culture. She is the wife of Rama, the incarnation of the Indian god Vishnu, and therefore the incarnation of the Hindu goddess of happiness and the Buddhist guardian goddess Lakshmi. In addition, the villains in the film also used Hinduism and Hindu totem images as a cover for their violent behavior. Even some real news footage of Indian civil anti-government protests used in the film may also attract the attention of the film review agency.

It can be seen that the concerns that Netflix had when it bought the copyright of the film were not groundless. The 2024 Indian general election will begin on April 16, and the current Prime Minister Modi vows to seek a third term. At this focal moment, the sensitive content of "The Angry Monkey" is likely to be used by all parties to hype political issues. In the trailer of "The Angry Monkey" released in India before, Universal Pictures has post-processed some content to avoid controversy. But at present, it seems that it is still very difficult for "The Angry Monkey" to enter the Indian theaters in a complete state, and Netflix, which is responsible for its streaming distribution, has succumbed to market pressure and given up the global distribution rights of the film. Indian audiences who want to see the unabridged version of "The Angry Monkey" may not be able to count on it.

"The Omen" failed to win box office success with classic IP

Another new film released last weekend was the horror film "The First Omen" distributed by 20th Century Fox. It ranked fourth in the weekend box office chart after "Ghostbusters: Frozen City".

The Omen is the sixth film in the 1976 horror film series, which follows the original film starring Gregory Peck, and tells the bizarre story of a boy adopted by the US ambassador to the UK who turns out to be the son of Satan. In the summer of 1976, The Omen was enthusiastically watched by American audiences and ranked sixth at the box office that year. However, the many sequels that followed have failed to replicate this success.

Poster of The Omen

This prequel story is directed by Arkasha Stevenson, who has filmed the American TV series "The Paranormal" and "Legion". It currently has a freshness rating of 78% on the film review website "Rotten Tomatoes", which is a relatively high score for horror films. Interestingly, according to the film producers, the film also encountered film rating issues before its release. A production scene was shot too straightforward and exciting, so the MPA, which is responsible for the film rating in the United States, took the initiative and gave "The Omen" a special restricted rating of NC-17. This is the highest level in the current film rating system in the United States. Although it is said that people under 17 years old are not allowed to watch it, in actual operation, it is often equated with pornographic films by the outside world, and it is generally difficult to enter mainstream theaters in the United States. After five revisions, "The Omen" finally received a restricted rating.

Even so, "The Omen" only earned $8.36 million in box office after opening in 3,375 theaters over the weekend, and its Cinemascore audience rating was only C. It seems that 20th Century Fox and its parent company Disney's plan to reboot "The Omen" IP has completely failed.

Overall, the total North American box office this weekend was about 86 million US dollars, far lower than the 205 million US dollars in the same week last year when the hit animation "Super Mario Bros. Movie" was released, and the annual box office decline rate rose to 10% year-on-year.