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Thread: Chollywood rising

  1. #91
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    Oh crikey, you are spot on about the bollywood films.

    one or two and the rest are unwatchable after that. lol
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  2. #92
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    of course...

    Quote Originally Posted by David Jamieson View Post
    one or two and the rest are unwatchable after that. lol
    ...a lot of people say that about martial arts flicks.
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  3. #93
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    ...a lot of people say that about martial arts flicks.
    those people have no souls and are the devils spawn...just saying.

  4. #94
    Greetings,

    A Chinese film with no MA has to be really GOOD.

    Red Sorghum was one. Well, there was one kick in it.


    mickey

  5. #95
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    a two-fer

    If only the interest in Asia would translate to Kung Fu Tai Chi sales.
    China's rise driving Hollywood interest in Asia

    HONG KONG—China's economic rise and growing international profile are spurring Hollywood's interest in movies using Asian themes and production money, U.S. movie industry veterans said Tuesday.

    Big studios are trying to push further into China, where box office receipts rose more than a third last year to $2 billion. China represents one of the most attractive growth opportunities for the U.S. movie industry, which is facing declining North American theater revenue and slumping DVD sales.

    For the last decade, China has allowed only 20 foreign films a year -- mostly big-budget Hollywood fare -- to get national distribution. But it opened the door a little more last month when it changed the rules to allow in up to 14 more films a year as long as they are made in 3-D or for the big-screen Imax format. The foreign share of ticket sales will rise to 25 percent, up from 13.5 percent to 17.5 percent under the old system.

    "I know studio executives and even chairmen of studios who've never been to China, who are now saying: I need to go, I need to meet people," said Hollywood producer Tracey Trench.

    At its current growth rate, China is expected to become the world's 2nd largest movie market in a few years, with box office takings projected to top $5 billion by 2015. In North America, revenue has fallen for two years straight, and ended 2011 with $10.2 billion in ticket sales.

    Glenn Berger, the screenwriter of the "Kung Fu Panda" movies, said that China is a trendy theme now.

    "Hollywood needs to tell the same story in new and unusual ways and right now China is hot, it's interesting and most people in the West don't know very much about it," Berger said.

    "Kung Fu Panda 2," about a cartoon panda named Po who battles a pea**** villain, raked in $665 million at the box office last year, although only $165 million of that was from U.S. moviegoers.

    Trench and Berger spoke at a panel at the Hong Kong International Film and Television Market, or Filmart. The entertainment industry trade show is one Asia's biggest, with 640 exhibitors -- 10 percent more than last year -- hoping to sell their films to 5,200 buyers expected from around the world.

    Asia's growing wealth is one big draw for Hollywood studios who are looking for ways to keep costs down, especially on big-budget blockbusters, said Trench, who was executive producer of "The Pink Panther," "Just Married," and "Ever After."

    "You already know it's costing you a ton of money, so you try to figure out every way possible to hedge that financial risk," including getting co-production money and rebates and shooting in cheaper locations, said Trench. "This region now plays into a lot of those factors."

    Hollywood studios have been busy teaming up with Chinese production companies.

    DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., which produced "Kung Fu Panda," said in February it's tying up with three Chinese companies on a joint venture entertainment company that will make Chinese animated and live action content. Dreamworks will have a 45 percent stake in the venture, which is expected to begin operations in Shanghai later this year.

    Legendary Entertainment, producer of hits including "The Dark Knight," "Inception" and the two "Hangover" installments, partnered with leading Chinese studio Huayi Brothers Media Corp. in June to form Legendary East. The venture plans one or two big budget movies a year starting in 2013 for global audiences that are also commercially viable in China. The films will be mainly in English and feature themes based on Chinese history, mythology or culture.

    Another Hollywood studio, Relativity Media, said last year it's partnering with two companies to make Chinese films for global audiences and distribute movies in China.

    While English is usually the preferred language for Asian-themed movies aimed at international audiences, that could change in the next decade as America's grip on the title of world's biggest movie market weakens, Trench predicted.

    "There's a time right now that all of the studios, if they're going to do movies with Asian elements, they're going to be in English," she said. "But that's not going to be forever."
    DreamWorks China Venture to Produce First Animation in 2016
    2012-03-20 16:06:46 Xinhua Web Editor: luodan

    A joint venture between DreamWorks Animation, producer of Hollywood blockbusters such as "Kung Fu Panda," and its Chinese partners is scheduled to release its first animated film in 2016, the head of the U.S. studio said Tuesday.

    Ultimately, Oriental DreamWorks will become a landmark entertainment center in Shanghai, just like Broadway in New York and Hollywood in Los Angeles, said Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation (DWA), who began a two-day inspection tour of the Shanghai-based joint venture on Monday.

    Katzenberg said there are seven animation proposals competing for Oriental DreamWorks' maiden production.

    He said the joint venture, promoted as a Chinese family entertainment brand, will closely link elements of Chinese history, culture and literature in its various productions.

    For 2012, work will focus on assembling talents into a competent team, Katzenberg said, adding that a studio will be set up with leading DreamWorks expertise, especially on three-dimensional (3D) technologies.

    Yu Zhengsheng, chief of the Communist Party of China Shanghai committee, told Katzenberg on Monday that the city is marching toward becoming an international metropolis, and he hopes that Oriental DreamWorks can produce world-leading cultural products.

    The joint venture was first announced in February amid Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States.

    With a preliminary investment totaling 330 million U.S. dollars, the Chinese side -- composed of three state-owned Shanghai-based groups -- will hold 55 percent of ODW's shares, and DWA will take up the remaining 45 percent.

    DreamWorks has most recently taken the spotlight with "Kung Fu Panda" and "Kung Fu Panda 2." Both achieved impressive box office success in the Chinese market, with the latter reaching ticket sales of 470 million yuan (75.2 million U.S. dollars).
    Gene Ching
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  6. #96
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    Huairou

    Posted: Sat., Mar. 24, 2012, 4:00am PT
    Studio complex puts China in the picture
    Huairou Film Base hopes to lure Westerners

    By Clifford Coonan
    HUAIROU, CHINA -- About an hour's drive from Beijing, inside a giant studio complex, you'll encounter armies of kung fu specialists being put through their paces by China's top helmers. Or you might see Nationalist Kuomintang soldiers marching through 1920s Shanghai.

    Drive through a gate proclaiming "China Film" and there's an arrangement of artillery weapons, all at the disposal of a prospective filmmaker

    Welcome to Huairou Film Base, which in a few short years has emerged as the center of Chinese film production, and home to some of the biggest movie projects in this rapidly expanding market.

    Following the Chinese government's announcement that it's prepared to open up a bit more to Hollywood by allowing more movies to be imported into China and by giving overseas producers more of the take from films distributed here, the base could well become a major destination for U.S. bizzers.

    "This year, we had around 120 feature films, and the rest were TV shows," says Zhang Hongtao, a Huairou spokesman.

    The complex, the largest of its kind in Asia, covers 131 acres and cost $294 million to build. It's cleanly landscaped and provides facilities for all aspects of production and post-production with 16 studios, a digital production shop and a prop/costume warehouse.

    The facility has provided the famous Ningrong Street for the epic based on the classic novel "A Dream of the Red Chamber," as well as the cave where Mao Zedong lived during China's Civil War.

    A visit to the costume warehouse includes some of the light suits from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2008, as well as Gong Li's costume for "Curse of the Golden Flower," day beds with shell inlays, and a real throne used by the Qing Dynasty's Pu Yi, known to Western auds from Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor."

    The throne is a gift from the culture ministry.

    Since it opened, the fortunes of the facility have reflected the boom in the Chinese film biz. Revenues last year were around one billion yuan ($160 million).

    "This is the first stop. All the projects made here come here first," Zhang says. "We organize not only shooting, but also development, catering, hotels and services for producers."

    Many of China's most popular recent domestic films, including "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Forever Enthralled," were made here.

    Now the studio is looking further afield for future growth.

    In a recent coup for Huairou, Keanu Reeves signed on to shoot "Man of Tai Chi," a $32 million contemporary chopsocky and tai chi actioner that will film here. The cast includes Tiger Chen and Karen Mok, with Reeves as a bad guy -- and martial arts choreography by Yuen Woo-ping ("The Matrix").

    One of the film's backers is China Film Group, the Chinese state film colossus that is also behind the Huairou Film Base. Other coin comes from Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia, Wanda Media and Universal.

    The Huairou boom also has benefited the nearby town of Xiantai, whose denizens appear as extras and works as staff for the complex. Lu Hongxu, a 25-year-old law graduate who makes her living guiding people around the site, says Chow Yun-fat is the most famous thesp she's spotted on the base.

    The regular employment of 2,000 townspeople is some consolation for the expropriation of their farmland, on which the government built the facility. Just outside the complex, serious high-end homes are going up, including a Netherlands-themed development, replete with a windmill.

    And in June, Huairou will open a five-star hotel; in fact, June is the base's official opening, although it's already in use.

    Traditionally, post-production on films shot in China has gone to Hong Kong, Australia or to the U.S., but the operators of the base are determined to keep that aspect of the business at Huairou, and are investing heavily to do so. This includes spending $240 million on a "producer headquarters base."

    "In the future, we want to get more projects, and we will further train the locals," Zhang says. "This is a studio for producers, with services (ranging all the way) from development to post-production."

    And on sound stage 7, there's a replica of a jungle that's not used for films, but rather serves as an indication of how conscious those at Huairou are of tapping into every possible revenue stream for the studio.

    The jungle is meant to attract tourists to Huairou's theme park.
    Here are the threads on MoTC and LtBF
    Gene Ching
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  7. #97
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    Appropo to this thread

    More grist for the mill...

    Hollywood looks to China
    Hong Kong
    April 8, 2012

    Kung Fu Panda raked in an estimated $US630 million, with $US26 million from the Chinese mainland alone.

    China's booming movie industry is attracting interest from Hollywood heavyweights, as they chase bigger box-office returns to offset tighter margins at home.

    Films with Asian and especially Chinese themes are becoming more prominent after Hollywood hit a 16-year low in movie tickets sales last year, while some of its biggest studios are setting up shop in the country.

    DreamWorks Animation is setting up a China base while Legendary, the studio behind Christopher Nolan's wildly successful Batman series as well as Clash of the Titans and The Hangover franchises, is also developing a venture.

    Keanu Reeves is making his directorial debut with Man of Tai Chi which is currently filming in China and Hong Kong, while Aamir Khan's Bollywood comedy drama 3 Idiots is in talks for a Hollywood remake.

    "It's a hugely interesting time now," said executive producer Tracey Trench, whose projects have included Just Married and Ever After.

    "The United States is still the biggest market. Within the next 10 years, we are not going to be the biggest market place, everything is going to change," she told a forum at the Hong Kong International Film and Television Market (FILMART) in March.

    China's rapidly expanding film industry continues to break new ground and set new records, collecting an estimated 13.1 billion yuan ($A2.01 billion) in 2011 - up by around 30 per cent on-year.

    Around 2500 more cinema screens are expected to be unveiled across the country in 2012, with its market now the third largest behind Japan and the United States.

    This compares with a clear slowdown in North America.

    The Motion Picture Association (MPA) says box office takings from 2007 to 2011 in the United States and Canada grew only 6.3 per cent to $US10.2 billion ($A9.97 billion), while the Asia-Pacific region saw 38 per cent growth to $US9 billion.

    Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War was China's biggest box office smash of the past 12 months, starring Oscar-winning American actor Christian Bale.

    It collected around $US90 million from the Chinese box office while picking up a nomination for best foreign language film at the Golden Globes in the United States.

    It comes as Hollywood looks to increasingly give a Chinese angle to its output.

    "There are so many stories that you can tell and right now China is hot, so many people want to know more," said screenwriter Glenn Berger, who wrote the popular 2008 animated Hollywood comedy Kung Fu Panda and its 2011 sequel.

    A box-office hit in China, the film told the story of Po, an oversize and unfit panda who dreams of becoming a martial arts hero. But Berger said the movie was never really about China or kung fu.

    "We were just trying to tell a classic underdog story, not particularly a Chinese story," he said of the film.

    "But it was very well received in the Chinese market because they thought it was very respectful of Chinese culture," he said.

    Kung Fu Panda raked in an estimated $US630 million, with $US26 million from the Chinese mainland alone.

    Hong Kong's FILMART exhibition is Asia's major entertainment industry market and one of the top three events of its kind in the world.

    This year it attracted a record 648 exhibitors and more than 5700 buyers, up 14 per cent from last year. The US pavilion had over 40 US exhibitors, or about 25 per cent more than last year.

    Industry veterans say Chinese audiences are particularly drawn to movies that include Chinese references or elements of Chinese culture.

    "People want to feel connected," said Chinese American writer Rita Hsiao, who wrote the screenplay for Toy Story 2 and 1998 animated musical Mulan, a story about a legendary Chinese girl-warrior.

    "If you have that universal message and it's interesting, everybody everywhere can connect with it," she said.

    One of the main obstacles for foreign filmmakers wanting to crack the Chinese market is a law limiting the number of international films that can be screened in the country to just 20 a year.

    It forces studios to co-produce films with Chinese partners or risk having their films blocked at the border.

    But all the pandas in the world won't guarantee a hit in China.

    "It has to succeed on all the fundamentals of a movie, not just because it is shot in China," Berger said.
    Gene Ching
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  8. #98
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    The mouse and the dragon

    Aren't all Disney products made in China already?
    Disney to join animation initiative with China
    Disney will offer its expertise in areas such as story writing and market research to help develop local Chinese talent, the company said in a statement.
    By David Pierson and Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
    April 11, 2012

    BEIJING — Walt Disney Co. said it would join an initiative to develop China's animation industry, marking the latest push by Hollywood to expand into the world's most populous country.

    The agreement announced Tuesday unites the Burbank entertainment giant with an animation arm of China's Ministry of Culture and China's largest Internet company, Tencent Holdings Ltd.

    China's government has identified animation as a key area for development to boost the country's global influence, or "soft power." The interest in animation is due in part to the success of DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" franchise, which sparked wide debate within China about why the country can't leverage its culture as effectively as Hollywood.

    Disney's China partnership echoes DreamWorks Animation's announcement of a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group, China's second-largest media company, to build a family entertainment company to produce animated and live action movies and TV shows for the Chinese market. That deal was unveiled in February when Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Los Angeles.

    Disney said it would offer its expertise in areas such as story writing and market research to help develop local Chinese talent, the company said in a written statement.

    "Our philosophy is to operate as the Chinese Walt Disney Company and as such will remain front and center to help local creative talent realize their dreams and help to create one of the most dynamic original animation industry sectors in the world," Stanley Cheung, managing director of Disney China, said in the statement.

    Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, said: "Disney's involvement builds on our expertise and long-term commitment to nurture the local original animation industry."

    Disney is currently building its first theme park in mainland China, a $3.7-billion attraction in Shanghai slated to open in 2015. The company also operates a network of English-language schools in China. Disney has had less success getting a dedicated television channel approved in the country, considered a vital part of its marketing strategy.

    Although details on the partnership were sketchy, analysts described it as a potentially significant step by a major media conglomerate to build its footprint in China, which was the fastest-growing market for movie ticket sales in 2011, with $2 billion in box-office revenue.

    "It's a big deal that they're doing this," said Ron Diamond, publisher of AWN.com, an online animation magazine. "You're taking America's creative brand and bringing it into a culture that has a long history of storytelling and is hungry to spend. This is a big opportunity for China and for Disney."

    Stanley Rosen, professor of political science at USC and an expert on China, said healthy competition between Disney and DreamWorks — two studios with a long history of rivalry — may have played a part in the deal and fits China's long-term strategy of becoming a player in the global animation business, he said.

    "Right now [the Chinese] need expertise in terms of telling stories, using technology and doing animation," Rosen said. "This is a way for the Chinese to succeed overseas."

    The venture is the latest move by studios and production companies to mine China's vast market. Last year, Glendale-based DreamWorks signed a deal with online video site Youku.com to distribute the studio's popular "Kung Fu Panda" movies in China. Beverly Hills-based Real Inc. also has partnered with Beijing SAGA Luxury Cinema Management Co. to equip the Chinese theater chain with 3-D technology. Imax Corp., the Canadian big-screen theater company, also formed a joint venture with China's largest cinema operator, Wanda Cinema Line Corp., to open 75 theaters by 2014.

    Many studios and independent film producers and distributors are hoping to capitalize on a recently negotiated trade agreement with China that significantly eased restrictions on distributing movies in the country. The accord increases the number of foreign movies allowed into China under its current quota system and gives foreign studios a larger slice of box-office revenue.
    Gene Ching
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  9. #99
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    Im3

    I wonder how the Avengers will do in China.
    Hollywood warms to China's new openness
    By Ryan Nakashima
    Associated Press
    Posted: 04/16/2012 05:57:04 PM PDT
    Updated: 04/16/2012 09:10:17 PM PDT

    LOS ANGELES -- There's a new breach in China's great cultural wall and Hollywood is cautiously moving in.

    Disney's announcement Monday that it will make "Iron Man 3" in partnership with a Chinese company is the latest sign that movie studios are warming to China's new openness.

    For decades, China has capped the number of foreign films it allows into the country each year. Until recently, the limit was 20, but in February Chinese officials announced that they are increasing the quota to 34.

    China said it will also allow foreign studios to garner a greater share of box office revenue. Foreign companies can now expect to earn 25 percent of their movies' ticket sales in China, up from between 13.5 and 17.5 percent.

    The changes are a significant move for a bureaucracy that is leery of outside cultural influences and competition from foreign films. The change could affect everyone from action movie fans in Guangzhou to Hollywood's most powerful filmmakers.

    The relaxing of China's strict rules comes at a price for U.S. studios. The world's most populous nation wants foreign studios to bring their moviemaking know-how to China by forming joint ventures with Chinese studios.

    Still, Hollywood isn't gushing. In recent years, U.S. movie studios have developed a rocky romance with China. Chinese people adore foreign movies, especially 3-D adventures like "Avatar," or more recently "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island." But studios have been jilted when Beijing has promised new openness only to reverse course. In Disney's case, many of its movies have made it into the country, but recent hit "Tangled," for instance, was stopped at the border.

    In a recent interview, Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, summed up the industry's attitude: "The goal lines are moving all the time," he said. "Everyone is wondering how it plays out."

    China has long kept up a barrier against foreign films -- wary of insidious cultural influences while sheltering its own filmmakers. Officials last raised the annual cap on foreign movie imports as a condition of joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. The recent increased foreign movie quota is a belated response to a trade dispute the U.S. won nearly three years ago.

    Studios are patiently trying to make the relationship work because of China's enormous potential. Box office revenue in China rose more than a third last year to $2 billion, putting the country on pace to become the world's second-largest movie market after the combined U.S. and Canadian region this year. It is expected to top $5 billion by 2015. The U.S. and Canadian theatrical market, meanwhile, shrank two years in a row to about $10 billion in 2011. So far this year, however, revenue at U.S. and Canadian theaters is up about 19 percent.

    It's only a matter of time before China's moviegoing market is the world's biggest, according to some industry watchers. Whether it is the most profitable for outsiders is another question. In 2006, Warner Bros. pulled out of a 2-year-old theater chain joint venture when Beijing changed the rules, suddenly disallowing the studio's majority stake. Late last year, production company Legendary Pictures' joint venture, which is set to make the movie "The Great Wall," hit a stumbling block when its Hong Kong-based partner failed to raise enough capital.

    Entertainment lawyer Schuyler Moore says he has warned clients not to be overly optimistic in dealing with the country, and says it will take a year to see how China implements its new movie policy. Moore believes China's new openness is aimed mainly at boosting its own cultural industries.

    "In the long term, it's no different than China trying to make aircraft and cars and everything else. Their goal is to have the expertise so they can displace Hollywood," he says.

    Against that backdrop, companies like Disney and Katzenberg's DreamWorks are entering a delicate dance.

    Katzenberg traveled to China in mid-March to meet with Chinese officials about how the expanded quota rules would be applied. He also sought to work out details regarding the company's new joint venture in China, Oriental DreamWorks.

    "(China) is big, it is the fastest growing and that's what makes it challenging," Katzenberg told The Associated Press before his trip.

    Disney and its new partner, Beijing-based DMG Entertainment, didn't offer many details about their "Iron Man 3" project, although the companies say the movie will incorporate Chinese elements and be partly funded by DMG.

    The DreamWorks deal, announced in February, is for a joint venture studio based in Shanghai that is 45 percent owned by DreamWorks and 55 percent owned by its Chinese partners, capitalized at $330 million.

    So far, co-productions have had mixed success. The 2007 Ang Lee-directed film, "Lust Caution," which paired Hai Sheng Film Production and Universal Pictures' Focus Features group, won critical acclaim but failed to make its money back.

    On the other hand, the retelling of the 1984 classic "The Karate Kid" by Sony Pictures and China Film Group in 2010 reinvigorated a franchise. Much of its success can be credited to the charming chemistry between its new star, Will Smith's son Jaden, and martial arts legend Jackie Chan, a well-established Hong Kong-born hit with Chinese audiences. The movie was a global hit. It cast China and kung fu in a positive light and grossed $343 million worldwide.

    34

    The number of foreign films China allows into the country each year. Until recently, the limit was 20.

    25 percent

    The amount foreign companies can now expect to earn from their movies' ticket sales in China, up from 13.5 to 17.5 percent

    $5 billion

    China's box office revenue by 2015, which would be the world's second-largest market behind the U.S.-Canadian market
    Gene Ching
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  10. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I wonder how the Avengers will do in China.
    avengers will crush all over the world. if online polls are any indicators, according to many websites like boxoffice mojo..its the most anticipated movie of the year...in my mind i wish they would stop making super hero movies after the avengers, thats the crescendo...even spider man wont compare. especially since its a reboot...and even thou they are going with the ultimate spider man, origin...its still the same **** different toilet. nerdy boy gets bit by spider, uncle dies, "great power blah blah" he becomes a super hero.....but the avengers....now thats different...not only does it have a original story but...you got some huge star power in it...scarlett johanson, jeremy renner(who is huge now, with mission impossible and bourne.) mark ruffalo, sam jackson. chris hemsworth, and ofcourse robert downey jr.


    WARNERS will never ever make a justice league movie...at least not one with batman an superman in the same movie. so this is going to be it...and its going to be big.

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    Quote Originally Posted by doug maverick View Post
    avengers will crush all over the world. if online polls are any indicators, according to many websites like boxoffice mojo..its the most anticipated movie of the year...in my mind i wish they would stop making super hero movies after the avengers, thats the crescendo...even spider man wont compare. especially since its a reboot...and even thou they are going with the ultimate spider man, origin...its still the same **** different toilet. nerdy boy gets bit by spider, uncle dies, "great power blah blah" he becomes a super hero.....but the avengers....now thats different...not only does it have a original story but...you got some huge star power in it...scarlett johanson, jeremy renner(who is huge now, with mission impossible and bourne.) mark ruffalo, sam jackson. chris hemsworth, and ofcourse robert downey jr.


    WARNERS will never ever make a justice league movie...at least not one with batman an superman in the same movie. so this is going to be it...and its going to be big.
    Indeed, although I am curious to see the new Superman reboot next year.
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    Probably so...

    Although Avengers won't have the luxury that Hunger Games has had this year - three weeks on top and nothing in the queue for this weekend that might bounce it off. I've been totally digging the sideways ads campaigns for Avengers.

    Meanwhile, back OT (at least for this thread)...

    4/18/2012 @ 5:27PM |278 views
    China Gains Disney's Help With Animating Chinese Culture
    Trefis Team Trefis Team, Contributor

    Disney is partnering with the animation arm of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to push animation in China. [1] The success of the movie Kung Fu Panda parts 1 & 2 has helped China realize that it has a significant opportunity to leverage its culture and create successful animated movies.

    Disney plans to be part of this initiative and benefit from China’s huge population and consequently large untapped market potential for animated films and TV shows. The company can leverage this partnership to also launch its dedicated channels in China where it has struggled in the past. Disney competes with other media companies such as Viacom, Time Warner and News Corp.

    Importance of animation to Disney

    Animation is a significant business for Disney. After ESPN, the Disney Channel is the biggest value contributor for the company among all of its cable networks at an estimated 5%. This might look small but Disney’s animated characters extend far beyond Disney Channel and play a major role in its box office sales, DVD sales, content licensing business as well as theme parks business. The company also leverages its animated characters to sell a variety of merchandise. Overall, animation is a big part of Disney, and it makes sense for the company to push further into China.

    China’s growing box office market

    Just as China has overtaken the U.S. and become the world’s biggest PC market, it overtook Japan recently as the world’s second largest box office market with total sales amounting to $2.08 billion in 2011. [2] This is still far off from $10+ billion box office market for the U.S. and Canada combined. [2] Nevertheless, the growth rate difference is notable. While China’s market grew by 33%, the U.S. and Canada market declined by 4% in 2011 compared to 2010.

    The clear success of the recent animated movies in the U.S. and Canada demonstrates that it’s prudent for animation giant Disney to further its animation business in the growing Chinese box office market.

    Our price estimate for Disney stands at $52.15, implying a premium of about 20% to the current market price.
    BTW, Titanic 3D smashed it in China, but we we thinking the re-release was more about China than America.
    Titanic claims China record
    By Patrick Frater
    Mon, 16 April 2012, 13:15 PM (HKT)
    Box Office News

    Titanic (1997), in its remastered and 3-D version, claimed a new opening weekend box office record in China with an astonishing $58 million gross. It also sailed on strongly through many parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

    The previous Chinese opening weekend record belonged to Transformers: Dark of the Moon with $55 million last year. _Titanic's weekend figure also overtook the full $44 million income at the time of the film's original release, a box office record it held for more than ten years.

    Including standard 2-D outings, and 2,400 3-D digital prints, Titanic was released on 3,500 theatres in China, giving a per screen average of $16,600.

    The massive China figure contributed the lion's share of Titanic's $88m weekend total outside North America, according to distributor 20th Century Fox. The China figure also contributes the largest chunk of the film's total to date in Asia. Across the region it has grossed $74.5 million to date, with many territories including Japan and Australia showing significantly below average drops in its second week.

    In Australia it added $1.50 million for a two week total of $4.58 million; in Japan it added $808,000 for a cumulative of $3.10 million; in Korea it added $757,000 for a cumulative of $2.60 million; and in India it added $727,000 for a total of $2.60 million.

    Other Asian territories saw Hong Kong add $366,000 (for a cume of $1.42 million); New Zealand add $180,000 (for a cume of $675,000); Singapore add $176,000 (for a cume of $602,000) and The Philippines $171,000 (for a cume of $460,000).
    Gene Ching
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  13. #103
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    HK film pirates...

    ...where are the HK film ninjas?

    Hong Kong Film Piracy on YouTube Amounts to $308 Million Loss
    6:11 AM PDT 4/23/2012 by Karen Chu

    Copyright-infringing videos of over 200 films found on world's largest video-sharing website

    HONG KONG – Severe copyright infringement of Hong Kong films is rife on YouTube, with pirated footage of over 200 Hong Kong films found on the world’s largest video-sharing website, amounting to an estimated loss of over HK$2.4 billion ($308 million) to the local film industry, according to the Hong Kong Motion Pictures Industry Association (MPIA). MPIA members urged YouTube and other video-sharing websites to enforce the German court ruling last Friday (April 20) to implement measures to restrict content that infringe copyright.
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    The recent local box office hit Love in the Buff was found to be uploaded in its entirety, directly affecting the theatrical gross of the film, a situation that the association called “extremely severe” in a statement.

    The videos were taken down after a formal complaint made to YouTube by Media Asia, the copyright holder of Love in the Buff.

    But YouTube did not act promptly when contacted by Media Asia to remove the illegally obtained uploaded Buff film, taking days for the removal. John Chong, producer of the film, commented in the statement that YouTube showed “an extreme lack of efficiency in the removal of the pirated videos, but was not responsible for any loss incurred due to the delay in the removal.” Previously, the website operator had immediately taken down pirated film material when contacted by the copyright holder.

    “YouTube repeatedly requested the copyright holder to prove that they are the holder in order to remove the pirated videos of Love in the Buff, while they allow anyone to claim to be the copyright holder when uploading the videos. It’s very unreasonable,” MPIA CEO Brian Chung told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “The pirated videos on YouTube greatly hurt the theatrical performance of the film.”

    Chong believed the German court ruling on Friday for YouTube to restrict videos that might violate copyright should be enforced for YouTube and other video-sharing websites at the earliest possibility.

    In view of the pirated video of Buff on YouTube, MPIA members, which are made up of representatives from most of Hong Kong's film studios, have searched and found in three days over 200 films illegally uploaded on to YouTube, including past and recent Hong Kong Film Awards winners: A Simple Life, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Echoes of the Rainbow, and Shaolin Soccer. Blockbuster Ip Man and its sequel were split into 107 videos, while the pirated YouTube videos of clubbing drama Lan Kwai Fong and Jet Li’s Fearless received 1.8 million and 1.4 million hits, respectively. A fight scene from Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon was viewed 4.8 million times.

    With accumulated views of over 40 million, MPIA estimated a loss of over HK$2.4 billion to the Hong Kong film industry, based on an average cinema ticket price of HK$60.

    “For a video-sharing website of this size and scope, YouTube must have censorship mechanisms to prohibit the uploading of illegal material, such as child pornography or content of extreme violence,” Chung added. “It makes no sense for the copyright owner of a current film release to upload the entire film on to YouTube, so how can YouTube allow just anyone to claim to be the copyright owner and show the whole film on their website?”

    Chung said the association is not trying to single out YouTube, but the company’s international visibility and accessibility has made the severity of the situation impossible for Hong Kong filmmakers to ignore. “YouTube, or any other video-sharing websites, should have a set of ethics in dealing with copyrighted material. It’s unfair to the copyright owner,” Chung said. “The U.S. has always set great store by the protection of intellectual property. As a company headquartered in the U.S., owned by Google, the world’s largest internet search company, it turns out that it allows pirated content on its website. How would the U.S. view this situation?”

    YouTube and its parent company Google have not yet replied to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment.

    MPIA members are now in discussion to determine a strategy to combat piracy online, but meanwhile, “due to the urgency and severity of the situation, we’d hope to raise awareness on it as soon as possible,” Chung said.

    While online piracy is an extension of the larger film piracy issue present since the 1990s, remarked Ip Man director Wilson Yip in the statement, he hoped for effective law enforcement to combat the issue. Free viewing of pirated films would pose an even more serious problem for the film industry, noted Lan Kwai Fong executive producer Patrick Tong, as it is nearly impossible to find the culprit responsible. “It’s a harsh blow to the producers and investors, giving rise to a vicious circle of fewer and fewer investors, and a further weakening of the Hong Kong film industry.”
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  14. #104
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    Chollywood and the SEC

    I've been waiting for this to come up...
    Studios' dealings in China said to be subject of SEC questions
    April 24, 2012 | 5:31 pm


    BeijingFilmFest

    The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent letters to at least four major Hollywood studios, including Walt Disney Studios and DreamWorks Animation, over dealings in China, a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly confirmed Tuesday.

    The letters center on the studios' dealings with China Film Group, the state-run company whose responsibilities include determining which foreign movies get access to a limited number of slots each year for revenue-sharing deals in the red hot Chinese movie market, now the second-largest movie market in the world behind the United States.

    The SEC letters were confidential, meaning the studios are not supposed to discuss them publicly or disclose their existence to investors, another knowledgeable person said. Both the SEC and the Motion Picture Assn. of America declined to comment.

    China has until recently permitted the import of only 20 foreign movies each year, most from Hollywood, under terms that allowed the studios to collect up to 17.5% of the box-office revenue. In February, China agreed to start letting in an additional 14 foreign movies per year, and increase their box-office revenue share to a maximum of 25%.

    Foreign films that don't land one of the quota spots either receive a small fee to play in China -- typically less than $1 million -- or aren't seen in the country at all. As a result, getting into China under the quota can translate into tens of millions of dollars more in revenue.

    The SEC letters may be related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it a violation of U.S. law to make improper payments to foreign officials for business purposes. The letters’ existence was first reported by Reuters.

    Despite widespread piracy, China last year generated more than $2 billion in box-office revenue. Among the top performing movies there in the last few years have been “Avatar,” which grossed $207 million, and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” which generated $159 million. This year, the current re-release “Titanic 3-D” has taken in $105 million.

    The number of Chinese screens doubled in five years to 10,700 at the end of last year, and is expected to rise to 13,000 by the end of 2012, according to the MPAA.

    China Film Group's chairman, Han Sanping, recently visited Los Angeles and met with several prominent Hollywood executives, including top officials at Universal and Sony. Han was accompanied in some of the meetings by Dan Mintz, chief executive of Beijing-based DMG Entertainment, a Chinese-American media company involved in film co-productions and distribution in China.

    A spokeswoman for DreamWorks Animation declined to comment on the SEC letter. The Glendale studio has had great success in China with movies such as “Kung Fu Panda 2,” which grossed more than $100 million in the country. In February it unveiled plans to build a studio in Shanghai under a joint venture with two state-owned firms.

    A spokeswoman for Disney did not respond to a request for comment. The Burbank entertainment giant recently signed a partnership with a Chinese firm to co-finance the super-hero sequel “Iron Man 3” and film part of the movie in the Communist country. Disney is building a $4.4-billion theme park in Shanghai, and has a smaller one already open in Hong Kong.

    Spokespeople for other studios, including Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, declined to comment.
    Gene Ching
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  15. #105
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    Chinawood?

    Chinawood just sounds funny.
    Wu unveils Chinawood mega project
    By Patrick Frater
    Mon, 30 April 2012, 10:26 AM (HKT)


    Seven Stars Entertainment, the new film and investment conglomerate headed by Chinese entrepreneur Bruno Wu, has struck a deal with local authorities in Tianjin to build a major production facility.

    Called the "Chinawood Global Services Base", Seven Stars says the site will require $1.27 billion of investment and be the largest filmed entertainment and media hub in China.

    Wu says that the facility is "targeted at the US led global industry" and will be the headquarters for a large number of financial, technical and creative companies.

    Some 35% of the investment has been earmarked for film financing, ensuring that the unit "will play a major role as a base for Chinese co-productions with North America, Europe and other countries across the Asia Pacific."

    Located between Beijing and Tianjin in the Binhai New Area, the first 35,000 m2 of offices will be open from October this year. Wu has committed two of his other companies Seven Stars Film Studios (SSFS) and Harvest Seven Stars Media Private Equity (HSSMPE) to move in.

    The company says that Chinawood will attract overseas funds for co-production of global tentpole and independent films: act as a one-stop production facility; include 2-D to 3-D conversion facilities and act as a marketing and distribution centre. Among its financial services, it will offer a credit guarantee fund.

    "With the East Asia film market on course to be worth $10billion by 2015, of which China will account for 50%, and rapidly catching up to North America, it is crucial, as well as inevitable, that we offer the products and services to facilitate substantial cooperation between the two territories. This project is a significant step towards closing that gap by providing expertise and facilities in all areas of financing, legal, co-production, distribution, marketing, sales and infrastructure," Wu said in a statement.

    SFS recently announced two joint ventures with US director Justin Lin's Perfect Storm Entertainment and Canadian financier/producer Jake Eberts' Allied Productions East. Allied East's first project Mission Boys written by Erin Cressida Wilson is currently in development. It is envisaged that films resulting from these deals will be distributed by HSSMPE.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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