How is digital visibility reframing the transnational cinematic gaze? I propose an article that considers how the cross-cultural marketing strategies of Zhang Yimou's opening Olympic ceremonies in Beijing delimit the concept of what counts as cinematic. Using his operatic visual style, Yimou's ceremonies invoke sublime aesthetics in ways that draw associative comparisons through commentary, commercials, and methods of digital distribution to Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, Werner Herzog, Richard Nixon, Mao Tse-tung, Nike, Coca-Cola, and the current American presidential campaign. The high-definition cinematic staging of international diplomacy with an almost unlimited cast and budget and by one of China's most internationally prominent film directors reached a global audience of staggering proportions. From controversies surrounding the digitalization of fireworks to the replacement of a young girl singing due to her looks, this event raised more significant questions about the future of cinema. I aim to compare the official Chinese and NBC DVD releases with the actual NBC broadcast including aired commercials and commentary. Cultural theorists like Michel Foucault, Edward Said, and David E. Nye will be employed to explore the structural frameworks of knowledge production that achieve a kind of 'double exposure' through the twofold digital gaze of American annotations on Chinese ocular perspectives. The purpose is to consider the 2008 Beijing ceremonies as the world's most expensive movie along with the multiple narrative lines suggested by the diverse methods of digital distribution.