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Wham! in China: Foreign Skies

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Wham! in China: Foreign Skies
Betamax release cover
Directed byLindsay Anderson
Produced by
Starring
Edited byNigel Galt
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byCBS/Fox Video (original)
Sony Music Entertainment (current)
Release date
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguagesEnglish, Mandarin
Budget£1 million[2]

Wham! in China: Foreign Skies is a 1986 documentary film about the English pop duo Wham! consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. It follows Wham! on their historic 10-day visit to China during the 1985 world tour when they became the first Western pop act to visit the country.[3][4] The film is a British venture produced by Big Boys Overseas Limited and CBS Records, with CBS/Fox Video serving as distributor.[5][6]

The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson and produced by Jazz Summers, Martin Lewis and Simon Napier-Bell. Anderson originally made a film of the tour titled If You Were There; however this version was never released and Anderson was fired from the project while the film was remade into Wham! in China: Foreign Skies.[7] Wham! in China: Foreign Skies had its world premiere at the farewell concert held at London's Wembley Stadium on 28 June 1986.[8][9]

Production

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Development

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Manager Simon Napier-Bell’s negotiation for the two performances took over 18 months. Napier-Bell used cunning tactics to sabotage the efforts of rock band Queen to be the first to play in China: he made two brochures for the Chinese authorities – one featuring Wham! [Michael] as "wholesome", and one portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in typically flamboyant poses. The Chinese opted for Wham!.[3][10]

In December 1984 Wham! set out for their second concert tour, The Big Tour a commercial success, which promoted primarily their second studio album, Make It Big. The concept of filming Foreign Skies began when producer Martin Lewis was busy directing the 1985 documentary about Julian Lennon, titled Stand by Me – A Portrait of Julian Lennon. During a Wham! performance on 14 February 1985 at the Beacon Theatre in New York, he met the duo's co-manager Jazz Summers and discussed the possibility of filming the China tour.[11] When Lewis had permission for the film, it took two weeks to prepare the 35-member international crew, including transportation of a sound desk and super 16 camera equipment.[11]

British director Lindsay Anderson was engaged to accompany Wham! to China in April 1985. The second leg in East Asia began with two concerts in Hong Kong, before moving to China and a concert at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing on 7 April in front of a crowd of 12,000, who paid about $1.75 each. They also played a concert on 10 April in front of 5,000 in Canton where tickets cost about $5.50 each. The two concerts were played without compensation, however Wham's visit to China attracted huge media attention across the world.[12] Promotion of the project cost at least $1.5 million which was self-funded, due to Michael wanting artistic control over the film.[12][13]

Post-production

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The film created by Strathford Hamilton and Andy Morahan was shot over two weeks, was then edited over summer and autumn 1985 in London. Anderson called his one-hour and 18 minute film If You Were There.[14] Michael, however, was unimpressed with Anderson's edit which contains only four songs of the tour, only one of which is a full performance, and thought the film "scornful" of Wham!.[7] Anderson was dismissed in October 1985 by Wham!'s management, the editing team quit, and the film was entirely re-edited, renamed and released as Wham! in China: Foreign Skies. The original edit of If You Were There has never been screened to the public as public screening of this version was blocked by Michael and his estate.[14][7] The film's original cut was finally screened publicly for the first time at the BFI Southbank twice, on 25 May and 31 May 2024, with the co-operation of George Michael Entertainment and Andrew Ridgeley.[15]

Music

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The soundtrack used in the film was taken from the albums Fantastic and Make It Big. The documentary features some concert footage and studio cut excerpts of the following tracks:[16]

  1. "Bad Boys"
  2. "Club Tropicana"
  3. "Blue" (concert footage)
  4. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
  5. "A Ray of Sunshine"
  6. "Young Guns (Go for It)"
  7. "Careless Whisper" (concert footage)
  8. "Everything She Wants" (concert footage)
  9. "Like a Baby"
  10. "If You Were There"
  11. "Runaway"
  12. "Love Machine" (concert footage)

Release

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The world premiere of Wham! in China: Foreign Skies was shown at London's Wembley Stadium on large video screens on Saturday 28 June 1986 before The Final began.[8] With an audience of 72,000; this set a record for the largest audience at a film premiere.[8]

Home media

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It was released on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc in October 1986. The documentary has yet to be issued on DVD and only one track "Blue (Live in China)" from the film has been officially released on their studio album Music from the Edge of Heaven. In the United States the video retailed at $19.98 and debuted at number 8 on Billboard's Top Music Videocassettes chart, for the week ending 25 October 1986 and climbed to number 4, two weeks later.[17][18] As the video started to climb up the chart, and for the week ending 6 December 1986, it reached number 1, replacing The #1 Video Hits by Whitney Houston.[19] Wham! in China: Foreign Skies was the sixteenth best-selling music videocassette for 1986.[20] It was present on the top 20 chart for a total of 17 weeks until February 1987.[21] The video was certified gold in April 1987 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 50,000 copies.[22]

Charts

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Chart (1986) Peak
position
US Top Music Videocassettes (Billboard)[23][24] 1

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[25] Gold 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Credits

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kelbie, Paul (18 April 2006). "How Wham! made Lindsay Anderson see red in China". The Independent. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  2. ^ "The Wham! in China documentary George Michael didn't want you to see". 14 June 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b "How Wham! brought the West to China". BBC News. 24 March 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  4. ^ Jovanovic, Rob (3 December 2015). George Michael: The biography. Little, Brown Book. ISBN 978-0-349-41124-8. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  5. ^ "If You Were There: Wham! in China". University of Stirling Archives. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Wham! In China Foreign Skies". Lindsay Anderson. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Tryhorn, Chris (7 July 2023). "Dead dogs, capitalist critique and only four songs: when Wham! squashed Lindsay Anderson's China film". The Guardian.
  8. ^ a b c "How Wham! made Lindsay Anderson see red in China". The Independent. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Foreign Skies (1986)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. ^ Napier-Bell, Simon (30 Jan 2006). I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch: A Fantastic Tale of Boys, Booze and how Wham! Were Sold to China. Ebury. ISBN 9780091897628. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Wham! in China tour documentary to premiere at farewell concert". Billboard. 21 Jun 1986. p. 50. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b Patrick, Al (April 28, 1985). "ROCK: East meets Wham!, and another great wall comes down". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  13. ^ "If You Were There: Wham! in China". University of Stirling Archives. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  14. ^ a b "If You Were There: Wham! in China". University of Stirling Archives. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  15. ^ "If You Were There…". British Film Institute. May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  16. ^ Wham! In China: Foreign Skies - (VHS (Video) - CBS/Fox #) Allmusic.com
  17. ^ "Billboard Top Music Videocassettes New entry: #8 for week ending October 25, 1986" (PDF). p. 51. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Billboard Top Music Videocassettes Position: #4 for week ending November 8, 1986" (PDF). p. 48. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Billboard Top Music Videocassettes Position #1 for week ending December 6, 1986" (PDF). p. 49. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  20. ^ "Billboard Top Music Videocassette Hit Chart best-selling videocassettes during August 2, 1986 to August 1, 1987 - August 22, 1987 (V-36)" (PDF). Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Billboard Top Music Videocassettes February 14, 1987" (PDF). p. 44. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  22. ^ "RIAA Certified Awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  23. ^ "Top Music Videocassettes" (PDF). Billboard. 1986. p. 49. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Wham! in China, Top Videocassettes". Billboard. 6 December 1986. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  25. ^ "American video certifications – Wham! – Wham! in China: Foreign Skies". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
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