Following Tax Evasion, Will Fake Ratings Become The Next Target of Chinese Authorities?
Recently, Chinese TV Director Guo Jingyu published a long post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, furiously revealing and criticizing how various parties, including marketing agencies, TV broadcasters and data providers, work together to force TV producers to buy fake ratings. Several high-profile industry executives and directors, such as Enlight Media CEO Wang Changtian, filmmaker Lu Chuan and director Chen Sicheng, supported Guo by sharing Guo’s post and verifying Guo’s accusations. The Chinese authorities quickly responded by stating that they had started an investigation regarding the issue. China’s state media People’s Daily also shared the authorities’ statement on social media to express support for the investigation. Like tax evasion and box office fraud, fake TV ratings is another major problem that hinders the development of the Chinese entertainment industry. Read more on diyizhipianren
Tencent Pictures to Partner With iQiyi and Alibaba Pictures
On September 17, Tencent Pictures celebrated its third anniversary, announcing a slate of 33 film & TV projects as well as new strategic partnerships with iQiyi, Tencent Video and Alibaba Pictures. Some of this year’s 33 films appeared on last year’s list as well. Tencent Pictures CEO Cheng Wu admitted that only after entering the film industry, they were able to realize how hard it was to make movies. He also stressed that Tencent Pictures strives to archive long-term success and has the patience to learn and hone crafts. He went on to promise that the company would release some films in 2019 and more films in 2020 and 2021. Read more on TMT Post
A Look At This Year’s Mid-Autumn Festival Movies
Mid-autumn festival is a harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This year’s festival will be next Monday, September 24. As the mid-autumn festival is close to China’s National Day (October 1), it’s usually seen as a warm-up for the National Day holiday season. This year, there are 20 films to be released between September 20 and September 24. While the number of new releases is high, it’s predicted that most of the films will not perform well. A few stronger films that might succeed at the box office include Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White, Hong Kong film Goden Job, Bruce Willis’ Death Wish, and Guo Jingming’s Cry Me A Sad River. Read more on entgroup.cn
