Bagheera wrote:If you're predicting the Asian box office will make the movie successful I really don't see how it follows that it is somehow more responsible for the fortunes of Asian-American actors than Hollywood itself.
The CCP has a strict policy regarding the portrayal of Asian actors in movies. You want to know why in Dr. Strange they changed the ancient one from Tibetan to white, and the setting from Tibet to Nepal? Because 1) there is no way the Censors would allow a movie with a Tibetan in a powerful competent role. 2) China objects to most negative depictions of asians in the movies they show in their movies (with some very rare exceptions), and if a Studio makes one tiny misstep, the majority of your future releases could potentially be denied access to a huge audience that almost always guarantees a movie will be a hit.
Disney learned this the hard way when they produced Brad Pitts "Seven Years In Tibet", and had all of their movies and products shut out of the Chinese Market for almost a decade!
Ever since then, Studios have been very careful to avoid potentially offending Chinese Censors.
For example to get a Chinese release for Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Disney had to edit out all scenes featuring the Chinese pirates. Even at the expense of narrative cohesion.
So casting Scarjo as Kusanagi was (in part, not the only reason) a deliberate attempt to court the Chinese Market. Why would a studio/director/producer risk potentially offending and losing the biggest potential market for movies? If the government controlling that market didn't like the way you portrayed an Asian character, then there goes a potential extra billion.
Whitewashing and not hiring Asian actors cuts that Gordian knot. No Asian actors, No potentially offensive Portrayals of Asians, and no risk of offending censors and losing the Chinese audience.
It's a massive oversimplification. but generally speaking that's sadly the way the studio thinks.
Edit:
Last Airbender, bombed over here. Earned its money back in the Chinese market. Terminator Genysis, similar results.