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Hollywood studios owed millions by China
Hollywood studios have not been paid by the organisation which represents Chinese cinema distributors for a number of months, a period during which blockbusters such as Skyfall, Man of Steel and Star Trek Into Darkness have pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars at the local box office, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The China Film Group is withholding payments following disagreements over a new 2% VAT-style tax that Beijing expects US studios to pay. The American studios say the tax violates World Trade Organisation rules but so far have failed to make an official complaint or withdraw their films from cinemas. All six major US studios are reportedly involved in the impasse.
The WTO legislation that the studios are citing states that the studios receive 25 percent of Chinese box office revenue on their films, with no additional payments (including taxes) coming out of the studios' split. The Hollywood Reporter estimates that Warner Brothers is owed at least $31m (£20m) for Man of Steel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Jack the Giant Slayer, while Sony is due $23m (£15m) for Skyfall and After Earth and Disney $35m (£22.8m) from Iron Man 3 and Oz the Great and Powerful. Paramount is owed around $30m (£19.5m) for Into Darkness, GI Joe: Retaliation and Jack Reacher, while Universal and Fox also have outstanding payments for hit films such as Oblivion and Life of Pi. MGM will be due its share of profits from co-productions The Hobbit and Skyfall.
Chris Dodd, chairman of the US film group the Motion Picture Association of America, is currently working on a solution to the disagreement. Studios hope to avoid a referral via the office of the US trade representative to the World Trade Organisation. US vice president Joe Biden signed a deal last year that studios believe is violated by the demand for payments under the "luxury" tax.
Hollywood is wary of rocking the boat because China's film market already the second biggest in the world is rapidly growing to the extent that it is due to surpass that of the US by 2020. The nation is due to build 25,000 cinema screens over the next five years, many with the latest 4k digital technology to cope with demand from an increasingly wealthy population. The government's recent decision to relax the number of foreign movies allowed to screen each year from 20 to 34 should also boost profits for US studios.
Hollywood studios owed millions by China | Film | theguardian.com
Despicable Me 2 blocked by Chinese censor, but Smurfs sequel approved | Film | theguardian.com
Hollywood studios take note: to crack the lucrative Chinese market, it may help if your films star smurfs instead of zombies. Reformed cartoon supervillains, it should be added, are also a hazard to censorship.
This week, Chinese authorities gave the green light to Sony Pictures's 3D comedy The Smurfs 2 for domestic distribution, while previously rejecting the Brad Pitt zombie thriller World War Z and the animated film Despicable Me 2, in which Steve Carell plays a former villain. The original Smurfs film was a hit with Chinese audiences, earning $40m on its release in 2011.
It remains to be seen if the sequel will equal that haul. While Sony's film appears to have cleared domestic censors, its distribution has yet to be formalised. Variety reports that the Chinese government has previously reversed its decisions without explanation.
Even if The Smurfs 2 is released, its fate is by no means assured. Last April, the state-run China Film Group Corporation ordered Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked western, to be immediately pulled from Chinese cinemas. Earlier this year, the science fiction epic Cloud Atlas was approved for distribution only after a reported 40 minutes of love scenes were cut.
The Smurfs 2 will be released, uncut, in the US and UK on 31 July, and in Australia on 12 September.
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WHAT HAPPENS TO A CHINESE IF THEY WATCH A CHILDREN'S CARTOON- Despicable Me 2?
Hollywood studios have not been paid by the organisation which represents Chinese cinema distributors for a number of months, a period during which blockbusters such as Skyfall, Man of Steel and Star Trek Into Darkness have pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars at the local box office, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The China Film Group is withholding payments following disagreements over a new 2% VAT-style tax that Beijing expects US studios to pay. The American studios say the tax violates World Trade Organisation rules but so far have failed to make an official complaint or withdraw their films from cinemas. All six major US studios are reportedly involved in the impasse.
The WTO legislation that the studios are citing states that the studios receive 25 percent of Chinese box office revenue on their films, with no additional payments (including taxes) coming out of the studios' split. The Hollywood Reporter estimates that Warner Brothers is owed at least $31m (£20m) for Man of Steel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Jack the Giant Slayer, while Sony is due $23m (£15m) for Skyfall and After Earth and Disney $35m (£22.8m) from Iron Man 3 and Oz the Great and Powerful. Paramount is owed around $30m (£19.5m) for Into Darkness, GI Joe: Retaliation and Jack Reacher, while Universal and Fox also have outstanding payments for hit films such as Oblivion and Life of Pi. MGM will be due its share of profits from co-productions The Hobbit and Skyfall.
Chris Dodd, chairman of the US film group the Motion Picture Association of America, is currently working on a solution to the disagreement. Studios hope to avoid a referral via the office of the US trade representative to the World Trade Organisation. US vice president Joe Biden signed a deal last year that studios believe is violated by the demand for payments under the "luxury" tax.
Hollywood is wary of rocking the boat because China's film market already the second biggest in the world is rapidly growing to the extent that it is due to surpass that of the US by 2020. The nation is due to build 25,000 cinema screens over the next five years, many with the latest 4k digital technology to cope with demand from an increasingly wealthy population. The government's recent decision to relax the number of foreign movies allowed to screen each year from 20 to 34 should also boost profits for US studios.
Hollywood studios owed millions by China | Film | theguardian.com
Despicable Me 2 blocked by Chinese censor, but Smurfs sequel approved | Film | theguardian.com
Hollywood studios take note: to crack the lucrative Chinese market, it may help if your films star smurfs instead of zombies. Reformed cartoon supervillains, it should be added, are also a hazard to censorship.
This week, Chinese authorities gave the green light to Sony Pictures's 3D comedy The Smurfs 2 for domestic distribution, while previously rejecting the Brad Pitt zombie thriller World War Z and the animated film Despicable Me 2, in which Steve Carell plays a former villain. The original Smurfs film was a hit with Chinese audiences, earning $40m on its release in 2011.
It remains to be seen if the sequel will equal that haul. While Sony's film appears to have cleared domestic censors, its distribution has yet to be formalised. Variety reports that the Chinese government has previously reversed its decisions without explanation.
Even if The Smurfs 2 is released, its fate is by no means assured. Last April, the state-run China Film Group Corporation ordered Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked western, to be immediately pulled from Chinese cinemas. Earlier this year, the science fiction epic Cloud Atlas was approved for distribution only after a reported 40 minutes of love scenes were cut.
The Smurfs 2 will be released, uncut, in the US and UK on 31 July, and in Australia on 12 September.
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WHAT HAPPENS TO A CHINESE IF THEY WATCH A CHILDREN'S CARTOON- Despicable Me 2?
