While Patriots Day includes graphic violence, the fact the movie depicts a terrorist attack taking place in the United States probably helps rather than hinders its chances with Chinese censors.
CBS Films and Lionsgate’s Boston Marathon bombing drama Patriots Day has been approved for cinemas in China, according to sources familiar with the matter, but a release date is yet to be announced.
Peter Berg’s film centers on the events of the 2013 bombings at the annual Boston Marathon and its aftermath. It stars Boston native Mark Wahlberg as down-to-earth police Sgt. at the center of the terrorist attack. Wahlberg is well known in China as the star of recent Transformers installments.
Wahlberg and director Peter Berg’s previous effort, Deepwater Horizon, another film about everyday Americans dealing with extraordinary circumstances, was a last-minute addition to last year’s autumn release schedule in China. Deepwater Horizon earned RMB 72.9 million ($10.7 million) after it released in China in mid-November last year.
The film received a MPAA rating of R in the US for violence, realistically graphic injury images, language throughout, and some drug use. It was released January 13 in North America. Patriots’ Day is a public holiday celebrated on the third Monday of April in the American states of Massachusetts and Maine. The Boston Marathon is traditionally held on Patriots Day.
Scripted by Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer, the film also stars Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, Michael Beach, Jimmy O. Yang, Themo Melikidze and Michelle Monaghan.
