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On Screen China: Sony’s Marketing Caper Wins at Box Office for 007

Nov 17, 2015 / Box Office /

Bond-mania swept over China this past weekend, much to the delight of Sony, which has struggled with underperforming releases this year in the world’s second-biggest film market. Spectre, the 24th installment in the enduring spy series, pulled in nearly $49 million from Chinese moviegoers in its first three days. Spectre’s $15 million opening day on Read More

Protecting Copyright Online in China: Takedown Regulations

Nov 16, 2015 / Legal /

China has a pretty good system for taking down copyrighted subject matter illegally stored or posted online without the approval of the copyright owner. This is the first in a series of posts looking at online takedowns. In this post we provide a general summary of the regulations that establish the takedown procedures for copyrighted Read More

Chinese Stars Promise to Behave, Or Else

Nov 13, 2015 / News /

The latest twist in Xi Jinping’s vision of wholesome Chinese culture involves Chinese celebrities pledging their adherence to morally upstanding conduct. It would be difficult to imagine a similar scene in Hollywood, with, say, Jennifer Lawrence and Warner Brothers CEO Kenji Tsujihara proclaiming their intention to behave according to government directives. Yet that is exactly Read More

China Film Revenue: Who Watches the Watchers?

Nov 11, 2015 / Legal /

As reported last week, the Motion Picture Association of America has signed an agreement with China Film Group Corporation that will allow US rights owners to realize more money from film exhibition in China. Read More

China’s Film Industry Promotion Law: The New Draft

Nov 10, 2015 / Legal /

China’s National People’s Congress issued a draft of the Film Industry Promotion Law for public comment on November 6, 2015. The law is to apply to “film activities” such as film development, production, distribution and release within the PRC. The published annotations indicate the law is intended to simplify the regulation of screenplays, film productions and Read More

Chinese Filmmakers Zhang Yimou and Zhang Zhao Honored in Hollywood

Nov 6, 2015 / News /

Over 20 years ago, Zhang Zhao was a bicycle delivery man working his way through film school at New York University. One day, the Shanghai native bought a ticket to Farewell My Concubine, his countryman Chen Kaige’s 1993 epic movie about Beijing Opera players caught up in mid-century political turmoil. “[The movie] made me cry Read More

Wang Jianlin’s Open Lecture at Harvard Gets Partial Shutdown at Home

Nov 5, 2015 / News /

Dalian Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin (a.k.a. China’s richest man) is perhaps the leading representative for the realization of the “Chinese Dream,” a vision of a revitalized national greatness that takes global soft power as a central theme. Yet even as Wang’s empire reaches around the globe, his words are being curtailed back home. Last week, Read More

Zhang Yimou: ‘Even Though Our Market Is Growing Fast, We’re Still Not Satisfied’

Nov 4, 2015 / People /

Zhang Yimou's next film, "The Great Wall," due out in November 2016, is an unlikely departure for him and for China—a mega-budget English-language picture co-produced by Le Vision Pictures and China Film Group in China with Legendary and Universal in Hollywood, and starring Matt Damon, a big Chinese monster, and the most Chinese of landmarks. Read More

Film Looms Large in Lego’s China Business Interests

Nov 2, 2015 / News /

In the recent high-profile public relations battle between artist Ai Weiwei and Lego, significant attention has been directed to the toy behemoth’s rapidly growing business interests in China. Read More

China’s Filmmakers Directed to Heed Socialism—Will Hollywood Follow?

Oct 31, 2015 / News /

Just days after the recent publication of the full transcript of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s major speech on arts and culture from October 2014, the country’s top leadership gave further indication that Xi’s retro vision of patriotic and morality-infused entertainment is meant to have an actual impact on China’s cultural scene. On October 20, the Read More

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