Onscreen credits include the following statements: “Produced in the jungles of Northern Siam,” and, “The Cast: Natives of the wild: who have never seen a motion picture; Wild Beasts: who have never had to fear a modern rifle; The Jungle.” A preface reads: “Before the most ancient civilization arose, before the first city in the world was built, before man trod the earth – then, as now, there stretched across vast spaces of farther Asia a great green threatening mass of vegetation…the Jungle…”
       Chang was the second collaboration between filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who produced the 1925 documentary Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, based on Iran’s Bakhtiari Tribe and filmed in the Middle East, with the participation of Paramount’s Famous Players-Lasky Corp. (see entry). As reported in the 26 Mar 1926 FD, Paramount had agreed to produce Cooper and Schoedsack’s sophomore film, then referred to as Hazards of the Jungle, for the studio’s upcoming 1926-1927 release season, as noted in an advertisement in the 14 Apr 1926 FD. The Paramount Story (1985) by John Douglas Eames, listed the picture’s costs as $70,000.
       According to the 6 May 1926 FD, filming was currently underway near Bangkok, Thailand, then known as Siam. Merian C. Cooper was expected to return to NY in Nov 1926. Modern sources noted the exact location as the village of Nan.
       Filmmakers used an all metal “Debrie” camera for the eighteen-month shoot in Thailand, according to an advertisement from a “Debrie” camera dealer in the 15 May 1927 FD. The May 1927 Amateur Movie Makers indicated that a total of twenty-one months was required to complete the picture, including cutting and titling.
       Nearly a year later, the 5 Apr 1927 FD announced that Chang would open in New York City on 29 Apr 1927 at the Rivoli Theatre, using Paramount’s new “Magnascope,” as reported in the 13 Apr 1927 FD. The presentation process, which consisted of outfitting theaters with an enlarged screen and a wide-angle lens attachment for projectors, was first utilized for the premiere of Old Ironsides in Dec 1926 (see entry).
       Chang ran at the Rivoli for nine weeks and was seen by more than 301,000 people before the end of its exhibition on 1 Jul 1927, as stated in the 20 Jul 1927 FD. A report in the 17 Jun 1927 FD listed a 3 Sep 1927 release date, but Chang was already playing in many cities at that time, including Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Boston, MA; and Los Angeles, CA. The 3 and 10 Aug 1927 Var reported record-breaking ticket sales totaling $27,600 at the California Theatre in San Francisco, CA.
       Audiences and critics praised Chang. The 4 May 1927 Var review deemed it “a remarkable moving picture,” noting, as many other reviews, the exciting jungle sequences involving a wild elephant stampede. Var stated that Chang was “the first animal picture [to have] a scenario,” which called into question whether or not contemporary audiences viewed the picture as a “documentary” film. Cooper and Schoedsack admitted “staging” several sequences, and using editing techniques to create a more exciting, if less realistic, presentation. In the Jul 1927 Amateur Movie Makers Cooper stated: “We didn’t sit down in the jungle and shoot everything that we saw. [Chang] is as carefully constructed as anything made in a studio…We didn’t create customs, but we chose what we wanted for the drama.”
       On 19 Oct 1927, FD announced that a print of Chang was given to the British Museum, which was expected to be sealed for fifty years and shown again in 1977.
       As part of the first Academy Awards held in 1929, Chang received a certificate of honorable mention as a "Unique and Artistic Picture."
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant. It was screened at the Kansas Silent Film Festival on 26 February 2011.