Today, Guardians of the Galaxy, or should we say “Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team,” hits theaters in Beijing and beyond. This will be a big month for Hollywood releases, because the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is giving all of the primo holiday release territory to domestic productions to ingeniously meet their desired quota. Other Hollywood films being released this month include Hercules on October 21, The Maze Runner on October 28, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on October 31.

December will see the release of such anticipated Chinese films as Gone With the Bullets, John Woo’s The Crossing, and Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain.

It was announced last week that China’s selection for the foreign-language category of this year’s Oscars will be The Nightingale. It’s a Chinese-French co-production about the bond built between a young girl and an aging man on a trip through southwestern China. It was directed by Philippe Muyl and stars Li Baotian, Yang Xinyi, and Li Xiaoran. The film is described as a Chinese take on Muyl’s last feature The Butterfly (Le Papillion).

With the exception of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, China has never won the foreign language category. Last year, Feng Xiaogang’s Back to 1942 was submitted by SARFT but it failed to make it past the first cut of nine movies before the final five oscar nominees are selected. Man of Tai Chi probably would’ve had a better shot with the academy.

In other entertainment news, China Daily reports that SARFT has now banned all media containing stars busted for drug use or visiting prosititutes from being broadcast, in an attempt to maintain “industry health” and protect children from these abominable characters. The ban comes following a number of high profile celebrity drug busts over the past few months that netted Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie Chan, Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, and Zhang Mo, son of actor and director Zhang Guoli.

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Photos: themovietalkonline.com, www.hollywoodreporter.com, China Daily