China bans new Winnie the Pooh film amid President Xi comparisons
Past Pooh crackdowns have followed social media comparisons between the honey-loving bear and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Monday 6 August 2018 13:38, UK
The latest Winnie the Pooh film - Christopher Robin - has been denied release in China.
The Disney live-action, which tells the story of author A A Milne's son Christopher Robin, will not make it into cinemas across the east Asian nation - the world's second-largest film market.
While no official reason has been given, China has previously had several Pooh crackdowns after the honey-loving bear was unfavourably compared to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Describing it as "one of our smaller films", Cathleen Taff, head of distribution for Disney, confirmed that it had been denied a China release.
Despite the rebuff, Ms Taff said Disney was "happy with where it's at", highlighting the fact that the summer film is "one of the only family options going forward".
China's refusal to release the film was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The ruling Communist Party is highly sensitive to mocking depictions of its leader.
Government sensors have previously blocked images of Winnie the Pooh - who is called "Little Bear Winnie" in China - after bloggers used him to parody President Xi.
Last month, HBO was blocked in the country after Last Week Tonight host John Oliver highlighted the strict censorship and made fun of the president's sensitivity over the comparisons.
A particularly widely-shared post, which first popped up in 2013, shows a photo of President Xi with former-US President Barack Obama alongside an image of Pooh and his friend Tigger.
The following year a photographed handshake between President Xi and Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe received similar treatment.
Currently, while searches for Pooh's Chinese name comes up with the result "20021 content is illegal!", his English name still throws up some results.
Earlier this year, sci-fi film A Wrinkle In Time starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine, was also refused release in China.
China's foreign film quota allows a maximum of around 34 foreign films to be imported into China per year.
Christopher Robin stars Ewan McGregor as the grown-up titular character, no longer a happy-go-lucky child but a jaded luggage efficiency manager with a wife (played by Haley Atwell) and child of his own.
With the help of digital re-creations of his old friends from the Hundred Acre Wood - Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Owl and Rabbit - he recaptures the joys of childhood.
Christopher Robin will be in UK cinemas on 17 August.