In the first quarter this year, ticket sales for American movies in China — including films as prominent as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “Skyfall” — fell 65 percent, to about $200 million, while sales for Chinese-language films rose 128 percent, to well over $500 million, according to the online publication Chinafilmbiz.com.

The weekend brought one sign of a rebound for Hollywood: “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” from Paramount Pictures, took in a respectable $33 million at the Chinese box office, matching roughly 75 percent of its ticket sales when it opened in the North American market on March 28.

But if the preferences of Chinese moviegoers continue to shift to domestic releases, China will maintain control of its own film market just as Hollywood was ready to seize it.

When “Iron Man 3,” an action heavyweight from Disney’s Marvel Entertainment, opens in coming days, it will slug it out with a small, domestically made romance called “So Young,” about a Chinese woman who reconnects with her college sweethearts. It is hard to be certain which film will be the underdog.

Some studios have attempted to tailor versions of blockbuster films for the Chinese audience, such as Iron Man 3, which reportedly has an extra scene featuring two prominent Chinese actors. The film will not, however, be released as a co-production with a Chinese studio, which would have exposed it to a wider audience but would have also been subject to the scrutiny of Chinese censors. As the Guardian’s film blog explains, Hollywood has found it difficult to make inroads in the Chinese market without sacrificing the universal appeal of its films:

Unfortunately, Hollywood’s ersatz “fortune cookie” approach to its Chinese product probably won’t work for much longer. Increasingly discriminating Chinese filmgoers are seeking entertainment that unabashedly speaks for them, and the local industry is increasingly able to provide it. Since the turn of the year, Hollywood has slipped behind not because of the Chinese government’s anti-competitive practices, but because of a stream of hits from Chinese film-makers.

Low-budget comedy Lost in Thailand was a surprise hit in December, followed by Jackie Chan’s Chinese Zodiac and more martial arts from Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster. Stephen Chow’s comeback film Journey to the West was another predictable rainmaker, but there was also a pair of breakout performers in cable TV spin-off Bring Happiness Home and romcom Finding Mr Right. And more are on their way. A formidable showing, then, for homegrown Chinese films in 2013′s first quarter. Lost in Thailand, Chinese Zodiac and Journey to the West all grossed $100m+ at home – and it’s been a year since a Hollywood import (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) managed that. Despite the oriental mood music, Skyfall disappointed in China compared to Daniel Craig’s first two outings – taking just under $60m.

Could this be the start of a divergence of tastes that will make US films try a lot harder to woo Chinese audiences? Buying preferential treatment and milking the PR works for single, high-impact projects such as Iron Man 3, but it’s hardly the kind of comprehensive rethinking needed by the studios to be seriously in the running against local competitors operating with Hollywood savvy. There will come a point when the Chinese, quite understandably, want a Chinese Iron Man.

Update: In response to news that DreamWorks Animation (DWA) is teaming up with China Film Group (CFG) to produce Tibet Code, an animated film set in 9th century Tibet, ChinaFile is hosting an online discussion about Hollywood in China.

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Like a town marshal determined to nip trouble in the bud, China’s main film distributor rode into the country’s movie theaters on Thursday and took out Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” before it could get its gun out of its holster.

“Django,” the story of an American slave-turned-bounty hunter who cuts a bloody swath through the antebellum South in an attempt to free his wife, was set to premiere in China Thursday morning. But it was pulled at the last minute after China Film Group, the film’s government-controlled importer, issued a notice instructing theaters to stop showing it.

[...]The movie had already begun showing in some places when the orders arrived. One Chinese fan of Mr. Tarantino’s, 27-year-old photographer Xue Yutao, said he had just sat down to watch a 10:15 a.m. showing of “Django” when the lights suddenly came on.

“About a minute after the film started, several people in suits came in and the film stopped,” he said, adding that the theater apologized and offered them refunds. “At first we were shocked and didn’t know what to do, but then we all laughed at how ridiculous it was.”

Whether or not screenings will resume in China is uncertain. The Guardian tells of official and speculated reasons why the film was pulled from theaters, and the adjustments already made to prepare for China’s tight media regulations:

Media authorities claimed the Quentin Tarantino film, scheduled for release on Thursday, had been postponed for “technical reasons”, but unofficial news websites reported that the real reason was a scene showing full-frontal male nudity.

[...]Tarantino, Django Unchained’s director, had already reined in the movie’s gore for the Chinese market, retouching footage to tone down the colour and bloodshed.

[...]Many online commenters were perplexed by the cancellations because the film had passed China’s notoriously opaque pre-screening censorship process. Censors’ “cutting hands are fiercer than that of a slaveowner, insistent on making Django a eunuch”, wrote one, according to Agence France Presse.

Off Beat China translates netizen commentary showing frustrated suspicion that the film was pulled due to nudity:

One netizen 桃桃林林小淘淘 commented: “Some people don’t have balls, so they cannot tolerate the thought that other people have. I guess that all penis scenes will be cut before the movie is allowed to be shown again.” Netizen imomad thought the same: “Everyone at the censor body is a Taijian (royal servants in China’s history who need to be castrated before taking the job). They don’t have, so others’ must be cut. Or maybe they are intimidated by Django’s size because their own have shrunk due to overuse.” Another netizen 影评老大爷暗夜骑士 commented: “In this hypocritical country, the corrupt and the rich can have group sex parties, and yet the ordinary people aren’t allowed to see a penis.”

Even Hu Xijin, chief editor of mouthpiece Global Times, thought it was a stupid move: “The showing of Django Unchained was stopped abruptly. The action itself does more harm to the country than a few uncut ‘harmful scenes.’ China’s current system lacks people who dare to speak out the truth on sensitive issues to prevent inappropriate policies from being made. Maybe the system doesn’t encourage such people. Absurd policies are everywhere. The government’s credibility among its people is what at cost.”

Even after being edited to satisfy Chinese censors, the film was set to run its marathon 165 minutes, unlike Cloud Atlas and Skyfall, which both saw significant portions cut before opening in China earlier this year. Hollywood has been increasing efforts to reach the Chinese market by catering to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), China’s media regulator. The Washington Times looks at Tarantino’s taming of Django (and other recent examples) to show the contradiction between Hollywood’s flaunting of free-speech ethics at home and its desire to tap into China’s burgeoning market:

“For an industry that promotes free expression and alleged liberal values to work with totalitarian government that is the antithesis of the values we hold dear as Americans is in many ways a hypocrisy,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.

“They often mask what they do with other values such as the First Amendment, but if indeed they are working with China’s censors, then obviously they don’t believe in those values,” said Fitton.

[...]“The censoring of content is simply ‘good business’ as far as the studios are concerned,” said Stephen Tropiano, an associate professor of screen studies at Ithaca College and author of Obscene, Indecent, Immoral and Offensive: 100+ Years of Censored, Banned, and Controversial Films.

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Marvel Studios will release a special cut of the movie ”Iron Man 3″ specifically for China, the Walt Disney Co. subsidiary said Friday in a joint statement with Chinese media company DMG.

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According to news portal China.com.cn Huang yesterday urged judges to watch these types of foreign films as they would improve their ability to make decisions on important legal cases. But, he added, they should leave their viewing until Sundays – their day off.

[…] Watching action-hero films, Huang said, would improve judges’ abilities to balance emotion with rational thinking when making decisions.

Huang also encouraged judges to study Western courtroom dramas, particularly films about American jury trials in which defendants and plaintiffs try to influence the jury’s final decision.

Sadly, Huang did not offer specific recommendations, but the recent unblocking of film site IMDb may assist English-literate judges in their research.

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In ignoring the official co-production process, the film is challenging conventional wisdom about how best to tap China’s lucrative but tightly controlled film market. Over the past several years, foreign film producers have signed a number of official co-production deals in China under the assumption that such deals were the most efficient method for bypassing the country’s foreign film quotas, which the cap the number of foreign films the country can show at its theaters each year to 34 each year, provided 14 of them are filmed in 3D or fit the jumbo Imax screen format.

The 2011 film “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” a co-production between IDG China Media of Shanghai and Fox Searchlight, fell flat in both of the world’s largest box offices, making $1.3 million in the U.S. and $6 million in China’s box offices, according to box office database Box Office Mojo and the film’s producers.

Other co-productions have found success in China but failed to win over a global audience. Each installment of the two-part John Woo epic “Red Cliff,” produced by Lion Rock Entertainment and China Film Group, raked in more than 100 million yuan ($16 million) in its first week of release, according to media-research firm EntGroup. A condensed version for Western audiences, meanwhile, earned less than $700,000, according to Box Office Mojo.

The creators of Iron Man hope to win everyone over, so they’ve avoided over-playing any China plot for an easy entry into the market, said Mr. Cain. At the same time, producers have kept things friendly with China by shooting scenes in the country and featuring Chinese stars Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing next to Hollywood stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow.

As attention gathers around the upcoming release and reception of the third film in the ‘Iron Man’ series, Marvel Studios, one of the companies behind the movie, has released a second trailer for the Chinese audience. From The Hollywood Reporter:

The tweaked Asia-targeted trailer closely resembles the U.S. original, but offers additional glimpses of Chinese actor Wang Xueqi and actress Fan Bingbing, along with a scene of Iron Man taking flight amidst cheers from a group of Chinese schoolchildren in front of Beijing’s historic Yongdingmen gate.

Meanwhile, the Chinese blogosphere is rife with speculation about the film’s rollout in China, with unconfirmed reports stating that Downey Jr. will be flying into Beijing for a three-day visit from April 4-6, during which he will attend the film’s world premiere.

Jointly produced by Marvel and DMG, IM3 drew some fire when the film’s first teaser trailer was released in October and revealed no Chinese actors or China-set scenes. Traditionally, to officially pass as a co-production in China — a status which would allow the film easier access to Chinese cinemas and its foreign producers a bigger slice of box-office receipts — projects must include significant participation from Chinese talent and Chinese settings or motifs.

DMG declined to comment when the Hollywood Reporter reached out Thursday to inquire about the company’s marketing rollout for the film in China. But the Chinese micro-blogosphere was abuzz with excitement Thursday over a tweet from the Robert Downey Jr. Fan Club Weibo account “TeamDowney,” which seemed to suggest some insider information on the star visiting Beijing from April 4-6 for a world premiere.

See also Hollywood, China, & Freedom to Blow Up Tiananmen, which focuses on film censorship and China’s relationship with the Academy Awards and Hollywood, via CDT.

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As Oscar fever grows around the world with the 85th Academy Awards set to begin in Los Angeles just hours from now, excitement is building in China, even though it has no films in competition. There is also a sense of frustration here about why China’s movies aren’t nominated for the world’s biggest awards?

[…] The most popular answer to the question, held by ordinary Chinese and film experts alike, is: “Too few good films. That’s the real reason in recent years Chinese films have moved further and further away from the Oscars dream,” wrote The International Herald Leader newspaper, in a story carried on the country’s popular Tencent entertainment site.

An article by The Economic Daily, carried on People’s Daily Web site, gave another interpretation: “The Oscars have never been a communal forum, the films taken seriously have only the responsibility to portray the North American world view and the lives they’re willing to see.”

The Oscars’ presence in China is almost as thin as China’s at the Oscars, according to The Los Angeles Times’ Barbara Demick. Only one of this year’s Best Picture nominee has so far reached Chinese theaters: Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, which as a co-production with China enjoyed exemption from tight import quotas in exchange for compliance with the whims of the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television.

As for Oscar viewing parties? Unimaginable. The ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Monday in China, will be broadcast only in much-redacted form hours later by state-owned CCTV. (Last year, it didn’t air until 10:40 p.m. Monday.) […]

[…] “Nobody even has the live stream in China,” complained Raymond Zhou, film critic for the English-language China Daily. “The government won’t allow it. They are afraid somebody will say something against China.”

Chinese television used to broadcast the ceremony live, but stopped after Richard Gere, as a presenter in 1993, called on then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to remove troops from Tibet.

“The Chinese translators didn’t know what to do, so they just tried to ignore the sentences. After that, they were afraid of the Oscars,” said Wu Renchu, a Shanghai film critic. “It is regrettable. There are many Chinese movie fans, students and white-collar workers who really would like to watch the ceremonies.”

[Update: CCTV6's M1905.com (via Bill Bishop) is streaming the awards ceremony.]

Gere’s outspokenness earned him a twenty-year ban from the awards, ending tonight with a musical performance to mark Chicago‘s six-Oscar haul in 2003. “Apparently, I’ve been rehabilitated,” he told HuffPost UK. “It seems if you stay around long enough, they forget they’ve banned you.” Despite this punishment, Gere became a symbol of Hollywood’s defiance of Chinese authoritarianism, before hunger for Chinese funding and market access made this a disposable luxury. From Damien Ma at Foreign Policy:

In Hollywood in the 1990s, China was an oppressive place. Red Corner opens with Gere gazing up at security cameras in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, ground zero of the infamous bloodshed of early June, 1989, seared into many Americans’ memories. Brad Pitt, too, had been blacklisted from China, ostensibly for starring in the 1997 feature Seven Years in Tibet, in which his character becomes friends with the young Dalai Lama.

[… But t]he era in which China could still be a menacing villain and stir political passions from the Spielbergs and the Geres appears to be ending. Even Brangelina are reportedly studying Mandarin. And the political drama surrounding disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, ripe for Hollywoodification, will never see the light of day. Too bad, because the Bo Ultimatum is the Chinese Godfather waiting to be made. As Hollywood gathers for its biggest awards night Sunday, the industry seems to be biting its tongue. After all, the future, as Jeff Daniels quips in Looper, is in China.

From The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos:

[… T]hese days, Hollywood directors find themselves in the curious position of being more compliant than some of their Chinese counterparts. When censors ordered the Chinese director Lou Ye to make additional cuts to his movie “Mystery” just over a month before the film’s release date, Lou took the unusual steps of publicly tweeting the censors’ demands and then removing his name from the credits. Online, he explained his decision to break the taboo of discussing censorship in the hope that the system would “become more transparent and eventually be cancelled.” He was not willing to comply in silence. “We are all responsible for this unreasonable movie-censorship program,” he wrote.

[…] By comparison, Hollywood has been less vocal on the subject of censorship. When James Cameron released “Titanic” in 3-D last year—having agreed to censor Kate Winslet’s breasts—the Times asked him about the compromises of working in China. He said, “As an artist, I’m always against censorship… [But] this is an important market for me. And so I’m going to do what’s necessary to continue having this be an important market for my films. And I’m going to play by the rules that are internal to this market. Because you have to. You know, I can stomp my feet and hold my breath but I’m not going to change people’s minds that way.”

Transparency might be a more constructive approach than either foot-stomping or meek compliance. While there may be no end in sight for Chinese film censorship, Osnos suggests that the industry could formally and publicly catalogue cuts made at SARFT’s behest. Lou’s defiance, meanwhile, together with changes recently imposed on imports such as Cloud Atlas and Skyfall, has prompted calls for a more codified and less capriciously restrictive system. From Kristie Lu Stout at CNN:

[…] Lu Chuan is calling for change in the censorship system, hoping that Chinese filmmakers can be governed less by guesswork and more by a transparent rating system.

Lu says there must be change for the sake of his craft and also because his audience demands it.

“In an American movie, you can blow up the White House. We cannot blow up (Tiananmen) Square. It’s different. But the audience wants to see a lot of exciting visual things. So I think the leadership will think about that.”

He’s asking for the freedom to film China’s own “Independence Day,” the freedom to blow up anything without fear of political blowback.

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Post tags: Academy Awards, Dalai Lama, Evan Osnos, film censorship, film distribution, film industry, hollywood, Lou Ye, Lu Chuan, oscars, Richard Gere, SARFT, Tiananmen Square, Tibet, Titanic
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Industry insiders say international influence is only set to grow, as Chinese censors loosen restrictions on foreign films and more fans make a habit of seeking out the latest blockbusters. Last year, the country’s box office receipts increased 30% to over RMB 17 billion ($2.7 billion), making China the world’s second-largest box office

On the fifth episode of CNN’s monthly show “On China,” host Kristie Lu Stout traveled to Hengdian Film Studios to discover what strikes a chord with Chinese viewers. There, she asked Dan Mintz, CEO of DMG Entertainment Group, and acclaimed film directors Jin Yimeng (Eva) and Lu Chuan what Chinese filmgoers want to see.

On the surface, the script for success is not dissimilar to what works in the United States, they said. U.S. films, including “Titanic 3D” and “Mission: Impossible– Ghost Protocol” comprised seven of the top 10 highest-grossing films in 2012, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. While foreign films accounted for only a quarter of the 303 movies screened in Chinese theatres last year, they took in over half of overall ticket sales (52.4%).

Easy access to theaters is also driving mainland viewers to the silver screen. China has over 12,000 movie screens and it is adding more at a rate of eight to 10 each day, Mintz said. Cinemas in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai are comparable to those in the U.S., Lu added.

In an attempt to attract fans of the film, ‘Titanic,’ there are now plans to build a replica of the Titanic in China. From The Hollywood Reporter:

According to Blue Star Line, the cruise line company Palmer founded to build and manage the vessel, the Titanic II was designed by Finnish naval architecture firm Deltamarin but is being built in China’s Jiangsu province by state-owned Chinese shipyard CSC Jinling.

Palmer introduced the dinner via a video-conference call from Australia, saying, according to the Wall Street Journal: “Why build the Titanic? Why go to the moon?”

“They’ve really got guts. You see how many collapsing bridges there are in China and how much ‘tofu-style’ construction there is, and they still dare to do it,” the Journal quoted one micro-blogger as writing.

“Titanic II is being built by a Chinese shipyard!! How stupid. Do you want to re-enact the original ending?” wrote another.

Despite the success of international films in China, Stephen Chow’s latest comedy landed in the top spot in the box office during the Spring Festival holiday. From China Daily:

The takings for Chow’s blockbuster, featuring Wen Zhang, Shu Qi and Huang Bo, accounted for 66.7 percent of all ticket sales during the period, according to a posting by China Film News on micro-blogging service Sina Weibo.

The film took 76.7 million yuan on its first day of release on Feb 10 on the Chinese mainland. It also smashed the opening-day record for domestic films by beating last year’s 70 million yuan made by Chinese film Painted Skin: Resurrection.

The fast-expanding Chinese film market – measured by audience figures and number of screens – has nurtured record-breaking box-office revenue this year, said Huang Qunfei,general manager of Beijing New Film Association Co Ltd, one of China’s largest theater chains.

Huang said domestic box-office revenue has grown 30 percent on average each year, with more than 9,600 screens across the nation. he said he expects even higher growth this year.

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Some who are involved in Hollywood’s entry into China are privately expressing hope that the Justice Department inquiry will be resolved before they run out of time on what one of them last week called a “ticking clock,” as Chinese consumers outgrow their receptivity to Hollywood fare.

The squeeze started last year when they began to spend more money on some homegrown films than on the American blockbusters.

But Michael W. Emmick, who was formerly a prosecutor with the Justice Department, and now focuses on the corrupt practices cases, among other things, in his private law practice, said a resolution could be a long time coming.

“This is still early in the game,” he said.

While Mr. Emmick is not representing clients in the investigation, and said he had no direct knowledge of it, he said that regulators sometimes use such industrywide inquiries as a “cost effective” way of putting an entire business sector — like the pharmaceuticals industry or the portion of the financial industry dealing in sovereign debt — on notice.

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The original film, based on the novel of the same name, spanned 172-minutes long for European and American markets but was cut to just 137 for its mainland version, according to the film’s directors.

[…] “Although the mainland version is a bit constrained, [we] fully believe in the regulator’s editing standards,” said Cloud Atlas co-director Tom Tykwer, who was in Beijing on Tuesday to promote the movie ahead of its January 31 release.

[…] Material deleted mainly comprised of love scenes, gory sequences and nudity. A number of same-sex love scenes between actors Ben Whishaw and James D’Arcy were also cut from the film due to the Sarft’s strict ban on homosexual content.

Details of changes to the latest Bond film, Skyfall, also emerged last week following its belated Beijing premiere. While The Atlantic’s Matt Schiavenza dismissed the edits as “little more than a government tailoring a popular film for its audience“, Xinhua reported that the altered film had prompted calls for a less capricious censorship process:

Shi Chuan, a professor from Shanghai University’s school of film & TV arts and technology, proposed the enaction of relevant laws and the establishment of norms for movie censors to follow.

[…] “Movie regulators should respect the producers’ original ideas, rather than chopping scenes arbitrarily,” Shi said.

However, he said that he believes the censorship system is necessary for China’s film industry.

[…] During an annual session of China’s political advisory body held in March last year, Yin Li, vice chairman of the China Film Association, said Chinese film-making faces too many restrictions regarding sensitive topics such as public security, diplomacy, ethnic minorities and religion.

“I hope China can offer more freedom to film-makers so that a more favorable environment can be created for the country’s movie industry,” Yin said.

While money from the mainland has attracted attention recently, SCMP’s Vivienne Chow wrote that Cloud Atlas‘ financing suggests a role for Hong Kong in the global film industry:

According to veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Philip Lee, an executive producer of Cloud Atlas responsible for its fund-raising in Asia, Hong Kong has a unique edge in film financing, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Hong Kong is the Asian financial centre and has a long history in filmmaking. With more collaboration with foreign projects or companies, knowing how to find the right match is very important, and Hong Kong has the expertise,” says Lee, who served as an associate producer of the international hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a line producer for Batman film The Dark Knight during its filming in Hong Kong.

[…] “The mainland certainly has capital, but can they find the right people? Not necessarily. Hong Kong can be more active in bridging this gap,” [Media Asia's head of distribution Ricky Tse Chi-keung] says.

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Wanda has been talking with some studios, as Mr. Wang promised when Wanda completed its $2.6 billion acquisition of AMC Entertainment with a flashy presentation in early September. But any progress has come in halting steps, according to people briefed on the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with the principals.

And that probably carries an overall message about the film industry’s current rush to do business in China: The promise is great, but much is still being lost in translation.

“Hollywood would prefer to accept what they commonly call ‘dumb money’ and not give very much back in return,” said Stanley Rosen, a University of Southern California political science professor who has written extensively about China. “China is now pushing back.”

Both sides are likely to continue pressing their efforts; Hollywood is eager to have a partner that can help it tap into China’s fast-growing film market, and Wanda wants to strengthen its foothold in the lucrative North American market. But the slow going underscores the disconnect inherent in negotiations between parties whose goals reflect their own, more narrow interests.

See more on Wanda’s acquisition of AMC and Cieply’s recent account, with Brooks Barnes, of the political strings attached to co-productions in China, via CDT.

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The missing scene was set in Shanghai, when a French hitman (played by Ola Rapace) is shown shooting a Chinese security guard in the elevator lobby of a skyscraper before preparing for an assassination.

Later in the film, in a casino in Macau, Daniel Craig’s Bond questions the story’s femme fatale, Severine (Berenice Marlohe), about whether her tattoo is the result of her being forced into a local prostitution ring at an early age. While the lines remains intact on the soundtrack, the Chinese subtitles suggest the spy is asking her about being coerced into the mob instead.

The film’s Chinese subtitles also fudged the exposition of the back story of the film’s villain, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), who tells Bond how he was handed over to the Chinese authorities while working for the MI6 in Hong Kong. He adds that he suffered immense torture at the hands of his interrogators before attempting to kill himself.

Increasingly, content likely to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people is being removed during production, often in consultation with officials.

Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan, meanwhile, reports that genius inventor Tony Stark will be outsourcing some of his gadgets in the forthcoming Iron Man 3:

In a product-placement deal for Paramount Pictures Corp.’s third Iron Man movie, Robert Downey Jr.’s character Tony Stark will battle his latest nemesis, the Mandarin, using TCL’s products. Some real-world features, such as handheld devices interacting with televisions, will be replicated on-screen.

[…] “I believe our new generation of products are as good as those from Samsung and Apple,” Tomson Li, TCL’s chairman and co-founder, said in an interview at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. “This Iron Man cooperation is very useful for us to promote the TCL brand in the global market, including the U.S. and China.”

To support the marketing effort, Li sealed a deal last week to rename Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles as TCL Chinese Theater, buying naming rights for the cultural landmark along the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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[…] Paramount Pictures just learned the hard way that some things won’t pass muster — like American fighter pilots in dogfights with MIGs. The studio months ago submitted a new 3-D version of “Top Gun” to Chinese censors. The ensuing silence was finally recognized as rejection.

(“Political disapproval?” wondered the Times’ Edward Wong. “Or just good taste?”)

Mr. Cohen’s “Mummy” film, which was shot throughout China in 2007, was a historical fantasy about an evil emperor who is magically resurrected by foreign adventurers in 1946. The script was preapproved by China’s censorship board with only token changes — the emperor’s name had to be fictionalized, for instance. The censors also cautioned that the ancient ruler should not resemble Mao Zedong.

In a 2011 Web post, Robert Cain, a producer and consultant who guides filmmakers through China’s system, described having worked in Shanghai on a romantic comedy that went off script; the director included a take in which an extra, holding a camcorder, pretended to be a theater patron taping a movie on a screen.

The next day, Mr. Cain and others involved with the film were summoned to the office of a Communist Party member who told them the film was being shut down for its “naïve” and “untruthful” portrayal of film piracy. Assuming they had been reported by a spy on their crew, the producers apologized and managed to keep the film on track.

As tricky as dealing with SARFT may be for foreigners, it is all the more so for Chinese filmmakers. Last year, director Lou Ye described the tortuous process of securing approval for Mystery, a film he ultimately disowned in protest.

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Like “Mad Men’s” characters, young white-collar workers in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are often imbued with an alluring sense of living in a nation on the rise, even as they grapple with rapid and disorienting social, cultural and economic change.

“Mad Men” is licensed by Lionsgate for viewing on the portal http://www.sohu.com with Chinese subtitles and is available on some Air China international flights. It is one of scores of American shows benefiting from the increasing popularity and legitimacy of Internet TV, which offers spicier fare than China’s bland state-run channels and gives busy professionals the convenience of when-you-want it viewing in a nation largely devoid of on-demand programming, DVRs or TiVos.

To be sure, “Mad Men” seems unlikely to ever notch the popularity of American crime shows like “Prison Break” or “CSI,” which attract tens of millions of viewers here. And it’s far less of a phenomenon than “Friends,” which spawned a series of books with scripts from each season translated into Mandarin. (Beijing even boasts a Friends Café, modeled after the Central Perk coffee shop on the series.)

Although Chinese businesses remain strongly male dominated — in the World Economic Forum’s 2011 Gender Gap report, China ranked 61, way behind the U.S. (17) and Iceland (1) but ahead of Italy (74) — advertising is among the sectors in China in which women have made bigger strides. Martin Murphy, managing director of global brand management for Ogilvy & Mather’s Shanghai branch, noted that his office is headed by a woman.

While the growing popularity of American sitcoms continues, China Daily reports China has become the biggest TV series producer:

China has become the world’s largest television series producer after making 15,000 episodes in 2011.

The country is also the world’s third biggest film producer, Culture Minister Cai Wu said on Wednesday.

While briefing national lawmakers at a the bi-monthly session (scheduled from October 23 to 26) of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, Cai said, in 2011 China produced 15,000 television series episodes and 558 movies.

It also made 260,000 minutes of animations and 4,000 hours of documentaries.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hollywood, media industry, Relativity Media, sohu, television
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It was a mere 30 minutes into the opening screening of the 9th annual Beijing Film Festival when the power cut off.

JiaZhangke: Indeed, films need electricity. I heard that the Bureau of Cinema is merging with the Electric Power Supply Bureau. Okay, I’ll go ahead and learn shadow puppetry tomorrow. They won’t send in the fire brigade, right?

贾樟柯 ： 电影的确是需要电的，传说电影局要和供电局合并办公了，行，哥明天就去学皮影，不会派消防队来吧？

BeijingCuiWeiping: Today the Beijing Independent Film Festival in Songzhuang was forcibly shut down. Independent film is a cinematic tradition. Hollywood absorbs so much from it, transforming it into a force of self-renewal. But in China, “independence” has become a “natural pest,” no matter what the “independent” thing is.

北京崔卫平：今天宋庄北京独立影像展开幕放映电影，遭遇拉闸。独立电影本是电影的一个传统，好莱坞大量吸收独立电影，将其转化成自身创造力。但是在中国，“独立”变成了一个“天然害虫”，也不管什么独立。

BeijingYellowStallHaoJian: Yesterday’s 9th Beijing Independent Film Festival was a dismal affair. There were several comrades from the “relevant organs” on guard, and the courtyard doors were shut before the opening ceremony. People were only allowed to leave, not to enter. The electricity stopped 30 minutes into Egg and Stone. (The poor director, Huang Ji, had left her kid to her husband and waited there for 6, 7 hours.) From 8 p.m., people enjoyed a courtyard screening without electricity or films. The candle-lit cocktail party was pretty bougie. I bought a few big candles.

北京黄亭子郝建 ： 昨天第九届北京独立影像展很悲催，门口二十多“有关部门”的同志哥护卫，开幕式没开始院子大门就被关，只许出不许进。放《鸡蛋与石头》大约30分钟被停电（可怜导演黄骥把孩子托给老公，守候6、7小时）。到夜间8点，大家在院子里享受没电、没影的影像展。烛光酒会倒是小资了一下，我买几个大蜡烛。

SobbingCrow: The opening ceremony of 9th Beijing Independent Film Festival had its electricity supply cut by the relevant organs. This event enlightens us to the fact that independent film festivals need independent generators.

恸哭的乌鸦：昨天在北京宋庄，第九届北京独立影像展开幕式被有关部门断电。这件事情带给我们的启示：搞独立影展，要备独立发电机~

adtonny: The electricity was cut off at the Beijing Independent Film Festival. This establishes a strong foundation for an Unplugged Film Festival.

adtonny：宋庄北京独立影像展竟被强行拉电闸，这为发展不插电电影节奠定了坚实基础。

WangRan: How can a country like this win the respect of others?

王冉: 这样的国家，凭什么赢得世界的尊重？

sLanBenbens: The title irks the Communist Party. At the very least it should be called the “Harmonious” Film Festival.

s蓝笨笨s：名字太扎tg的眼，起码应该叫“和谐”电影节

Qiyueqi: I salute all the warriors who believe in tomorrow! // @cinemaChengQingsong: We’re unable to move an inch. // @LiYu: In the harmonious era, we are unable to move an inch. /// @cinemaChengqingsong: The darkness before the dawn. // @BeijingCuiWeiping: BeijingCuiWeiping: Today the Beijing Independent Film Festival in Songzhuang was forcibly shut down.

柒月琦：向所有相信明天的战士致敬！//@电影人程青松: 寸步难行。//@李玉:和平时代，我们寸步难行 ///@电影人程青松:黎明之前的黑暗。 //@北京崔卫平: 今天宋庄北京独立影像展开幕放映电影，遭遇拉闸。

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Wendy Qian.

“Netizen Voices” is an original CDT series. If you would like to reuse this content, please follow the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 agreement.

© Wendy Qian for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing, Beijing Independent Film Festival, censorship, Cui Weiping, Hao Jian, hollywood, Huang Ji, independent film, indie film, Jia Zhangke, Netizen Voices, netizens, power outage, relevant organs, sina weibo, songzhuang, Wang Ran, weibo
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Oscar-winning director James Cameron said on Wednesday that he will open a joint venture in China to provide 3-D filming technology, the latest move by Hollywood to secure a foothold in the country’s booming movie industry.

CPG China Division, the new arm of Cameron Pace Group, will offer Chinese film makers three-dimensional camera technology but will not be involved immediately in producing films, Cameron told Reuters in an interview.

“We’re not going to tell Chinese film makers how to make movies. We are going to help them make a transition to 3D production technology as cost effectively as possible, and in a way that doesn’t inhibit creativity,” he said.

Three-dimensional films, which enhance depth perception by being shot from two perspectives, gained in popularity during the 2000s and achieved a breakthrough with Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster “Avatar”, a movie about blue aliens which set a $2.8 billion box office global earnings record.

The Huffington Post reports that Cameron and Vince Pace will provide technology and production services together with their Chinese partners:

Cameron Pace Group’s announcement Wednesday comes as the fast growth of China’s film market is attracting Hollywood studios that are rushing to link up with local partners.

The venture with two Chinese partners will supply 3-D filming technology and production services, said Cameron and his business partner, Vince Pace. They said they are discussing possible collaboration with state broadcaster China Central Television on developing 3-D TV.

“This is an enormous untapped market that is right on the verge of the transition from 2-D to 3-D,” said Cameron in an interview. “This is the best place for us to create a kind of second home.”

The Chinese partners are Tianjin North Film Group, a state-owned film and television production company, and Tianjing Binhai Hi-Tech Development Group, which operates a technology park in Tianjin, a port city east of Beijing where the venture will be based.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, some details of the deal remain a mystery:

Financial and ownership details of the venture weren’t immediately clear. Cameron Pace provides 3D technologies and production services.

Citing the country’s official Xinhua News Agency, Bloomberg News said that the company struck the deal in the northern Chinese province of Tianjin.

Cameron also traveled to China in April to attend the Beijing International Film Festival where he told THR he was considering teaming with China for the Avatar sequels.

China’s film market is one of the biggest in the world, and Cameron said he would need to rely on this market for growth, The New York Times reports:

In the first quarter, Chinese ticket sales surpassed Japan’s for the first time, making China into Hollywood’s largest export box office market. In spite of the government’s limit on film imports — only 34 are allowed to share in the box office take each year — Hollywood had 8 of the top 10 places on the box office ranking list from January through June, led by Mr. Cameron’s “Titanic 3-D.”

In a testament to his popularity with Chinese moviegoers and the power of 3-D to draw consumers willing to pay a premium, the 3-D remake of the 1997 hit grossed 915 million renminbi, or $144 million, at the box office. That was $41 million more than the runner-up, “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”

In the coming years, China’s movie ticket sales are projected to surpass U.S. ticket sales of nearly $11 billion in 2011, industry estimates show, and Mr. Cameron said he hoped to be a part of the growth of the Chinese market.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 3-D movies are becoming more popular in China:

The number of 3-D screens in China jumped to 5,400 last year from 82 in 2007, according to Beijing-based film market research firm EntGroup.

In China, the 3-D movie “Painted Skin: The Resurrection,” from Huayi Brothers MediaCorp. 300027.SZ -0.24% is on track to become the highest-grossing domestic film ever, with box-office revenue at 628 million yuan (US$98.7 million) and counting, according to data from EntGroup. Mr. Cameron’s 3-D rerelease of “Titanic” has brought in more than 934 million yuan in China this year.

In 2011, six of China’s top 10 grossing films were 3-D, according to EntGroup. China’s overall box-office revenue climbed 29% to 13.1 billion yuan ($2.08 billion) last year, according to official figures.

China has pushed to produce films that will help it soften its image overseas. The country’s local and central governments are throwing new weight at 3-D as they look for ways to build up domestic consumption and to pave the way for innovation, said Bai Qiang, the chief executive of Beijing-based technology and film production company 3D China Ltd., which isn’t affiliated with Mr. Cameron’s venture. “They ultimately want to see Chinese homes buying new television sets and high-definition cable boxes,” said Mr. Bai.State broadcaster China Central Television launched this year a 3-D station, but only an estimated 30,000 people receive it, said Mr. Bai, adding that few consumers are eager to buy it given that there are so few content options right now.

See also Hollywood Kowtows to China, via CDT.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cinema, film industry, hollywood, movies, Relativity Media
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