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China: ‘Skyfall’ Opens Strong As Bond Film Debut And ‘Cloud Atlas’ Premiere Raise More Questions About Censorship

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday January 22, 2013 @ 1:24pm PSTTags: China, Cloud Atlas, Skyfall

Both Skyfall and Cloud Atlas have been making waves in the Chinese media during the past few days, turning a spotlight on the notorious censors at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. They’ve also highlighted why, as my local contacts often refrain, doing business in China is never cut and dried.

James Bond juggernaut Skyfall opened to $5.1M in China on Monday, almost three times the debut of Quantum Of Solace. The film, which prominently features the Shanghai skyline and shows off Macau in what could pass for a travel brochure, is understood to nevertheless have had some scenes modified ahead of release, the BBC reported. The shooting of a Chinese security guard is said to have been excised, and a mention of torture by Chinese security services is said to have been subtitled to remove the reference. Mathew Alderson, a Beijing-based partner at law firm Harris & Moure who specializes in entertainment, tells me that although he has not seen the Chinese version of Skyfall, the reported cuts are “fairly typical examples of censorship. The Chinese are inclined to remove anything that portrays them in a negative light. It could be something as obvious and simple as having Chinese security guards appear ineffective, or because they wouldn’t want people to get the idea that you can walk into some building in Shanghai, kill the guard and walk up to the top of the building… It gets down to a bunch of censors who make decisions based on what they regard as better representing the national prestige of China and directly, or indirectly, the prestige of the Party.”

At the same time, a question hovers over Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer’s sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas which just had its Beijing premiere READ MORE »

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Chinese Pics Lose Market Share In 2012, But Local Comedy Is Top Grosser Of All-Time

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday January 2, 2013 @ 5:24am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, China, Lost In Thailand

In 2012, the market share for local films in China fell below 50%. That marks the first time in four years domestic pics have hit such a low and comes despite the eleventh-hour surge of homegrown road … Read More »

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Low-Budget Local Comedy ‘Lost In Thailand’ Breaking Records In China

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday December 21, 2012 @ 3:23am PSTTags: China, Jackie Chan, Lost In Thailand

The Chinese-produced Lost In Thailand was made for a reported $3.1M and doubled that on its opening day. With $6.26M on December 12, it set a record for a Wednesday release, says Film Business Asia. It also took $14.9M on December 15, setting a one-day record for a domestic film and set another record for number of screenings with a massive 33,000 showings that day. The road movie, which follows two rival businessmen who travel to Thailand, beat single-day records held by Painted Skin 2, Titanic 3D and Transformers 3, Twitchfilm reports. Its unofficial cume as of Thursday was $72.2M. Financed and released by Beijing Enlight Pictures, the movie was written, produced and directed by Xu Zheng in his feature helming debut. The comedy will nevertheless face strong competition this weekend with the release of Jackie Chan’s Chinese Zodiac and Andrew Lau’s The Guillotines. There’s currently no word of Stateside distribution, but you can click over to see a subtitled trailer: Read More »

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Chinese Box Office Hits $2.3B; Local Pics Struggle Against Imports: Report

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday December 19, 2012 @ 2:42am PSTTags: China, Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Chinese box office takings were $2.3B for the January through November period, up from about $2.1B for all of 2011, the Xinhua news agency reports. And even though China has produced 686 movies so far this year, the … Read More »

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Chinese Filmmaker Blasts Local Movie Censors, Calls For System Overhaul

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday December 17, 2012 @ 8:42am PSTTags: China

In a letter addressed to Chinese authorities, award-winning filmmaker Xie Fei has accused local film censors of being “a corrupt black spot for controlling the prosperity of the cultural and entertainment industry,” wire reports say. The review … Read More »

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‘Iron Man 3′ In Beijing

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday December 15, 2012 @ 11:20am PSTTags: China, Iron Man 3, Wang Xuequi

Deadline reported earlier this week that Iron Man 3 was on location in China. Now here’s a publicity photo of actor Wang Xueqi, who plays Dr. Wu, with a suited-up Iron Man in front of Beijing’s … Read More »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: China Rebates, Bona Film, Screen Australia Docs & More

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday November 29, 2012 @ 9:59pm PSTTags: Bona Film Group, China, Global Showbiz Briefs, Screen Australia

China Theaters Offered Rebates To Boost Local Film Market Share
Worried about competition from U.S. and other foreign titles, China’s movie industry regulators have created financial incentives for any theater chain that takes in at least 50% of its annual box-office revenue from Chinese films. Tian Jin, deputy director of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, complained recently that the market share of Chinese films in China had dropped to 41.4%. The incentive will be in the form of a rebate of the fees — 5% of all ticket sales — that theater owners pay to the National Film Development Funds Management Committee. If half of a theater owner’s revenue comes from domestic films, the entire fee is refunded. If 45% of sales come from Chinese films, 80% of the fee is returned. If the percentage falls below 45% but exceeds the domestic market share in the previous year, the rebate is 50% of the fee. Read More »

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China Predicted To Surpass U.S. Box Office By 2020: Report

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday November 28, 2012 @ 7:40pm PSTTags: China

China’s media and entertainment industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 17% in the five years leading to 2015, significantly outpacing the country’s economy overall, according to a report released today by Ernst & Young. Part of … Read More »

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U.S. Movie Influx Has “Shaken” Chinese Industry, Official Says

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Sunday November 11, 2012 @ 10:43am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, China, China Film Group

Back in February, the U.S. and China agreed to significantly increase the number of imported films allowed to be shown in Chinese movie theaters. The move has “shaken” the local industry, radio-film-TV vice minister Tian Jin said today in Beijing. “This has brought handsome profits to the American film industry, but has also posed pressure and challenge to the Chinese film industry,” he commented at a press conference on the sidelines of the Communist Party’s 18th congress, AFP reports. “Domestic films are facing great pressure,” said Tian, who vice minister of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. “The objective reason is that more foreign films in the Chinese market have dealt a blow to domestic films, and the subjective reason is that the domestic film industry needs to be more competitive,” he said. Box office is up 40% on last year, Tian noted, at $2.1B as of the end of October. However, the local share of that pie was only 40%. Read More »

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‘Iron Man 3′ Still On Track To Be Marvel-China Co-Production

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday October 23, 2012 @ 5:02pm PDTTags: China, Iron Man 3, Marvel Studios

Iron Man 3 China Marvel StudiosSome eyebrows were raised when this morning’s release of the Iron Man 3 first full trailer confirmed that the pic was a co-production between Marvel Studios and China’s DMG … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘Back To 1942′

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday September 12, 2012 @ 3:51pm PDTTags: Back To 1942, China, IMAX

Director Feng Xiaogang’s Back To 1942 explores a devastating drought and famine in Hunan Province that occurred at the same time Japanese forces were invading China. Here’s an international trailer for the movie which doesn’t have a U.S. release date but it’s one of a handful of movies IMAX … Read More »

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3D ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Leads 2D ‘Dark Knight Rises’ On Day 2 In China

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday August 29, 2012 @ 11:35am PDTTags: China, Dark Knight Rises, IMAX, The Amazing Spider-Man

Nikki Finke is unavailable today.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Amazing Spider-Man (Columbia/Sony Pictures) pulled in $5.3M on its second day in China, bringing its two-day cume to $10.6M. That bested The Dark Knight Rises (Legendary/Warner Bros Pictures), which pulled in $4.6M on its second day, with a cume of $535.2M. … Read More »

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James Cameron Forms 3D Technology Joint-Venture With Chinese Partners

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday August 8, 2012 @ 4:02am PDTTags: China, James Cameron, Titanic 3D

James Cameron is the latest to jump on the China bandwagon announcing a joint-venture to offer 3D camera technology to Chinese filmmakers. The news comes as Cameron is in China attending a 3D film forum at Tianjin Polytechnic University. … Read More »

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DreamWorks Animation, China Partners To Build ‘Dream Center’ Park In Shanghai, Produce ‘Kung Fu Panda 3′: Reports

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday August 6, 2012 @ 9:15pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, China, DreamWorks Animation

Oriental DreamWorksDreamWorks Animation and its Chinese joint venture partners plan to open a theme park in Shanghai by 2016, with a total investment amount of 20 billion yuan ($3.14 billion), the companies announced Tuesday in the Chinese city, … Read More »

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RealD To Have 2,000 Screens In China Following Deal With Stellar International

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday June 14, 2012 @ 3:00am PDTTags: China, RealD

The 3D technology company says this morning that it will install its systems at 100 screens operated by SMI Corporation’s Stellar International Cineplex. “This agreement adds to RealD’s growing traction in the Chinese exhibition market where we recently announced four new … Read More »

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China’s Bona Film Group Talking With Hollywood Studios About Co-Prods: WSJ

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 4, 2012 @ 7:51pm PDTTags: Bona Film Group, China, News Corp

The Chinese distributor that recently secured a strategic investment from News Corp said it is in discussions with Universal, Sony, Paramount and News Corp’s Fox about co-producing movies for global distribution. Bona CEO Dong Yu told the Wall Street … Read More »

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Raleigh Studios To Run Wuxi Production Complex In China

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 4, 2012 @ 5:27pm PDTTags: China, Raleigh Studios, Wuxi Studio

Los Angeles, CA, June 05, 2012 – Raleigh Studios is heading to China. The largest independent studio operator in the United States is proud to announce they have entered into a long term management agreement with Wuxi Studio in Wuxi, China, located in the Jiangsu province, to create a full service production and entertainment complex. The studio will serve as a hub for foreign productions seeking Chinese co-production opportunities as well as servicing the local Chinese domestic film and TV market.

The project, located just outside Shanghai, first garnered attention when Wuxi Studio named Hollywood Producer and former Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences President, Sid Ganis, honorary chairperson 18 months ago.

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China VOD Provider ‘YOU On Demand’ To Trade On NASDAQ

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 29, 2012 @ 1:46pm PDTTags: China, NASDAQ, YOU On Demand

YOU On Demand NASDAQThe company name sounds a little creepy, but investors attracted to anything that has to do with China and entertainment may be glad to know that beginning tomorrow NASDAQ will carry shares of YOU On Demand, China’s top provider of pay-per-view and VOD services, under the ticker symbol “YOD.”  It currently offers films from Disney, Warner Bros, Lionsgate, and Miramax.  Before you call in your “buy” order, you should know that the company’s still in its investment phase and lost $4.2M in Q1 — an increase from its $2.6M loss in the period last year — on revenues of about $2M, up 20%. This month CEO Shane McMahon loaned the company $3M. Company shares have lost nearly 40% of their value over the last 12 months in over the counter trading. These and other factors “raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” YOU On Demand says in its latest Read More »

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‘Hunger Games’ To Play In China On IMAX

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 24, 2012 @ 6:17am PDTTags: China, IMAX, Lionsgate, The Hunger Games

SANTA MONICA, CA, and TORONTO, Canada, May 24, 2012 – IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX), one of the world’s leading entertainment and technology companies, and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, today announced that Lionsgate’s blockbuster film The Hunger Games will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format and released in China in 67 IMAX® digital theatres in June.

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