Born to Fly: China’s aerial combat film ejected before take-off after producers saw Top Gun: Maverick

BY EJ TANGONAN
December 24th, 2022

As we’ve seen this year with a certain superhero film, it’s entirely possible a movie can get shelved after production completion. As we’ve also seen with the original Fantastic Four film by Roger Corman, movies can get shelved even when completely finished due to rights issues. It is not known, however, if a finished movie has ever been shelved due to fear of embarrassment in the wake of another movie. Enter 2022’s Born to Fly.

Born to Fly is a Chinese production that tells the story of a “country’s most daring and promising young fighter pilot taking part in a top-secret testing program for the military’s most advanced fighter jets.” That’s the logline, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and more importantly, that’s China’s answer to this year’s biggest movie, Top Gun: Maverick. Born to Fly was supposed to open in September before the Chinese National Day holiday. However, this summer, Tom Cruise’s sequel to the 1986 Tony Scott blockbuster premiered and smashed box office records. Just before the premiere, Born to Fly was delayed “in order to present better production effects.”

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