Everyone thinks of China Film Group’s BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL as THE film celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, but that is actually not true. In the month of July, three more films have been released in Chinese cinemas under the 90th anniversary celebration banner.

WENTIAN is a film by the notoriously patriotic August 1st Studio about the Chinese space program. GUO MING YI is a biopic chronicling 16 years in the life of a devoted party member who is presented as the modern Lei Feng. YANG SHAN ZHOU is another biopic about a party member’s achievements working as the party secretary.

What do these three films have in common? China Film Group is the co-distributor of all three films.

This afternoon, a self-proclaimed film industry insider (who is obviously remaining anonymous, but with over 6,000 followers, obviously influential) posted pages of an internal memo from a cinema chain in China on Weibo:

Of course, I’m not going to translate the whole thing, but here are the essential points

1) 6 (possibly governmental) committees have issued a memo about organizing party members to watch WEN TIAN,  YANG SHAN ZHOU, and GUO MING YI. The essential goal of the memo is to make sure these three “recommended, excellent films” are properly distributed, and to do so with “principles that break the usual methods, but don’t violate the rules”. The memo not only said that admissions for these films can be paid with party and union fees, it also said that these films can be watched together with, and I quote, “imported films such as TRANSFORMERS 3, HARRY POTTER, and THE SMURFS”.

2) Here’s the fun part, so guess what? I’ll just let the memo do the talking:

“The screening period of the party 90th anniversary films coincides with the screening of popular import films TRANSFORMERS 3 and HARRY POTTER 7 (part 2). These two films have two points in common: they’re both major 3D, IMAX films, and they’re both the last film in their respective series. As a sort of a farewell, these films are expected to attract more audiences than usual. Attempts can be made to screen these together with the three excellent recommended films in order to get results that may not be achieve through the usual methods.”

Yes, what this memo is saying is that theaters should try double features, doubling TRANSFORMERS and HARRY POTTER up with one of the three “excellent recommended” films. The memo then details the rules - two tickets must be printed (one for each film), the ticket price for both films cannot be higher than the ticket price for a single film, each film’s share of the price cannot be lower than the mandatory minimum ticket price, the second film MUST screen as long as the audience is still there, and of course, NO REFUNDS.

Now, in consideration of the audiences’ energy, the memo also suggests that the two screenings can be at separate times, meaning the two films will be sold as “group tickets”. The rules about ticket prices and no refund still applies, but this means audiences don’t have to sit around for two films on the same day.

Here’s another part that needs to be quoted:

“The ‘Double Features’ and ‘Group Tickets’ methods of sale are absolutely approved by most audiences, because economically, the audience receive savings from them. However, the possibility of individuals expressing doubts cannot be eliminated. As a result, cinema chains and cinemas (especially managerial and those working at the foundation level) must be honest, and take notice:

1) When cinemas promote “Double Features” and “Group Tickets”, refrain from using the phrases ‘combined selling’, ’sell one get one free’, ‘buy XXX and get XXX for free’, ‘mixed sale’, or other phrases that may cause conflicts or be too promotional in nature. Instead, use neutral phrases like ‘discounted ticket price’, ’steps to benefit the people’, ’sincere recommendation’.

2) When facing provocative ‘questions’ and ‘doubts’, hold to the principle of avoiding direct confrontation. Try hard to not respond directly, emphasizing instead the cinemas’ efforts to promote a variety of choices to consumers with different sale tactics, and that this is a way to explore new ways of promotion for the cinema”

The memo even suggests ways for the cinemas to defend their action, such as saying that cinemas have a responsibility to show “excellent Chinese films”, that such tactics is to make sure both local and imported films both make profits, and my favorite, mental support to help create a “socialist and harmonized society”.

Later, a reporter for Sina Entertainment news wrote a story about the memo and captured a photo uploaded on weibo by a netizen:

The photo shows that this audience member bought a ticket to TRANSFORMERS 3 and received two tickets - one for TRANSFORMERS and one for YANG SHAN ZHOU. The employee even told the netizen that he doesn’t need to watch the second film. The ticket prices for the two tickets: 60 yuan for YANG SHAN ZHOU, and 20 yuan for TRANSFORMERS.

This means that 60 yuan will go to YANG SHAN ZHOU’s box office (to be split by distributors, cinemas, and production companies), while 20 yuan will be split by the same parties for TRANSFORMERS. Yes, that’s another form of box office gouging.

Of course, there’s no official confirmation that the memo or the ticket photo are actually true. The memo doesn’t have any official seals on it, which means it’s not an officially approved memo. The cinema chain’s name is also in the content, with no letterhead on them. With a specific Shanghai-based cinema chain named, this memo may only be applied to one of the many cinema chains in China. The Sina reporter’s inquiry to Paramount AND China Film Group have gone unanswered.  So these are all points of doubt, but if this is true, this is going to be VERY BAD for China Film Group, August 1st Studio, and these so-called “mainstream films” in the future.

For the record: TRANFORMERS just broke the record for the best opening day in China ever with 91.2 million yuan. GUO MING YI made only 200,000 yuan in its first three days from only 441 shows, and WEN TIAN has only made 1.75 million yuan after 17 days.

Back to normal news in the next entry.

Sources:

Sina
Weibo

Today’s focus will be this week’s Chinese box office:

- As expected, WU XIA tops another week at the Chinese box office, adding an extra 52 million yuan to its take. After 14 days, Peter Chan’s action flick has taken in 152 million yuan. Yes, topping the box office for two weeks is good news, but its box office pattern is almost exactly the same as THE LOST BLADESMAN, which topped out at 160 million yuan. For a film that cost a reported 120 million yuan to produce, having only 27.2 admissions per show in its second week is not good news. Normally, the film would make about 200 million yuan at its current rate, but with TRANSFORMERS pretty much swallowing up all the screens this weekend, WU XIA will definitely not be hitting that number. Now, We Pictures will have to look to overseas sale and box office in the rest of Asia (it opens this weekend in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan - all major Chinese-speaking territories) for success.

Meanwhile, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND continues its surprisingly successful run, making 41.3 million yuan over its first full week at the box office with 29.09 admissions per show. After 10 days, it has already made 65.6 million yuan, which is amazing for a film that reportedly cost only 5 million yuan to produce.  It’s likely to top out at around 75-80 million yuan, again due to TRANSFORMERS killing all competition this weekend.

Elsewhere, A LEGEND OF A RABBIT managed to make 12.1 million yuan over 7 days from 20,000 showings and 3D prices. With just 16.45 admissions per showing, it seems like Chinese animation still has a long way to go (more in a future entry). Milkyway’s PUNISHED (shown in edited form in China) makes just 6 million yuan over 6 days, and Simon Yam’s heist comedy COMING BACK makes just 4.75 million yuan over 3 days. Wong Jing’s TREASURE INN was at 96 million yuan by the end of this past weekend, which means it should end with just over 100 million yuan to become one of the highest-grossing Chinese films of the year so far.

For those that still care, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL is at 362 million yuan after 33 days. It still has a strong per-show admission of 29.5, but let’s face it, how many of those admissions are voluntary, and how many of those people that bought tickets actually showed up? Still way below FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC, so while it’s the highest-grossing Chinese film of the year, I think we can chalk it up as a disappointment now.

And for those that actually cared in the first place, HARRY POTTER will be opening in China on August 4th.

- Since we’re on box office, Studio Ghibli’s latest KOKURIKOZAKA KARA, by Goro Miyazaki, only mustered a third place opening behind HARRY POTTER and the latest POKEMON film. Ghibli films have a history of having staying power at the box office, but I think Goro might not be feeling so good right now.

- It’s pretty much TRANSFORMERS day over there in China, as the film officially premiered at midnight July 21st. Expectations are high, as multiplexes are taking down as many as 10 films to clear the way for the robot fightin’ blockbuster. Those films include REVIVAL, KUNG FU PANDA 2,  FAST FIVE, TO LOVE OR NOT, and ANIMALS UNITED. The films that remain - WU XIA, LEGEND OF A RABBIT, PIANO IN A FACTOR - are all only getting two to three showings per day.

According to a post of weibo, Beijing has the film in 68 cinemas for a total of 1380 shows on July 21 alone. How’s that for a foreign invasion?

Speaking of Weibo, people are literally live weibo-ing from their showings. Now, that’s how you trend.

Demand is so high that cinemas are reporting packed midnight showings and IMAX prices jumping up to 150-180 yuan per ticket. Some cinemas said they will even add 3 am IMAX showings if the demand calls for it.

However, on the eve of its opening, some digital projection-equipped cinemas are reporting that they still haven’t gotten the encryption key to download their digital prints, even though the film has been available for exhibitors to download since Monday. Netizens began screaming conspiracy right away, wondering if higher powers are meddling. However, insiders have pointed out that this is actually not the first time theaters didn’t get their encryption key in time, and that this is simply getting so much attention because the film happens to be TRANSFORMERS. Those insiders say that this actually points out that the Chinese film industry is developing so rapidly that cinemas are not prepared in terms of handling the technology. From my experiences in Urumqi cinemas, I can say that’s probably true.

- Zhou Dongyu update: See UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE’s Zhou Dongyu and Aarif Lee on the set of the Barbara Wong tearjerker in Shanghai. Yes, I’m only posting this because I’m a fan of Zhou Dongyu.

- Full-length trailer for THE LIFE OF DAVID, starring Huang Bo as a fried rice-loving mentally challenged man. The film’s poster is already promoting this as the Chinese version of FORREST GUMP, and it certainly looks like it. The film opens in China on July 28th. Whether there’ll be screens playing it is a different story.

If you’re in Hong Kong, the Summer International Film Festival website is now open. Taiwan’s YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE is opening film, while Woody Allen’s MIDNIGHT IN PARIS will close. Tickets go on sale July 22nd.

And if you’re in China, go celebrate the return of foreign films with some robot fightin’

Sources:

Entgroup
Mtime 
Nikkan Sports
Sina 1
Sina 2

- It happens every quarter - Chinese box office rises to new heights, making big money, blah blah blah. However, an Mtime article looks deeper into the numbers and looks at certain problems that still exist in the Chinese film industry.

Here are the statistics: In the first six months of 2011, 103 films were released in China - 74 Chinese films (14 of them co-productions) and 29 imports (*gasp* I thought they allow only 20 all year! No, 3D films are exempt). 18 of those films passed the RMB 100 million mark (the psychological barrier of success in Chinese box office). Total box office was RMB 5.698 billion, with the 74 Chinese films grossing a total of RMB 2.932 billion for an average of RMB 39.62 million per film.

The 29 imported films, meanwhile, grossed a total RMB 2.766 billion for an average of RMB 95.37 million per film. While no Chinese films broke any box office records this year (no, not even BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL), KUNG FU PANDA 2 shattered the highest-grossing animated film record with RMB 600 million at the box office.

However, there were still a few surprises on the Chinese side, as BUDDHA MOUNTAIN managed to gross RMB 70 million - not bad for a small-scale drama. MY OWN SWORDSMAN, based on the successful 100-episode sitcom, grossed more than RMB 189.6 million during Lunar New Year, and TV-based romance ETERNAL MOMENT made RMB 196.3 million on a budget of only RMB 30 million. Even DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART, Johnnie To’s first foray into the Mainland film market, surprised many with RMB 96.2 million at the box office.

On the other hand, big-budget period films seem to be hitting fatigue. LOST BLADESMAN opened RMB 102 million, but topped out at just RMB 159.7 million. WARRING STATES cost a reported RMB 150 million, but made only RMB 77 million. WIlson Yip’s A CHINESE GHOST STORY opened with RMB 73 million, but stopped at RMB 140 million. Even SHAOLIN, which is the second-highest grossing Chinese film of the year at RMB 216 million, can be considered a disappointment because it cost a reported RMB 200 million to make.

Here’s the big lesson that China can learn here:

Audiences want new topics/new genres, and they don’t always cost money:

Traditionally successful genres like the period epic is beginning to lose its appeal. 4 years ago, when THE WARLORDS made RMB 200 million, it was impressive because there were no AFTERSHOCK’s and LET THE BULLET FLY’s. BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS stood apart because the story structure and production values mirrored Hollywood’s.

Now, people aren’t impressed by Donnie Yen action and big battle scenes anymore. If they want special effects spectacle, they can turn to Hollywood. When it comes to local films, they want spectacle, but with a human side. They want smarter films that really use their stars to their full extent. They want stories that they can relate to. MY OWN SWORDSMAN not only had its TV audience, it was also full of modern, local humor. ETERNAL MOMENT brought in adult audiences who watched the drama when they were young. BUDDHA MOUNTAIN was a prestige arthouse flick with issues and characters they recognize. GO LALA GO brought in audiences who read the book and related to the office politics issues (though the film didn’t deliver) And all of these films didn’t even cost as much as SHAOLIN combined.

Be careful, bank slowly:

When GO LALA GO and SOPHIE’S REVENGE were successful, investors started piling up on urban romance films. WHAT WOMEN WANT, COLOR ME LOVE, YOU DESERVE TO BE SINGLE, LOVE IN COSMO all appeared and flopped. There are so many production companies these days that when one trend begins to get popular, all these new companies jump in to make their own copycat, and then the genre quickly fizzles. TO LOVE OR NOT is already lining up to flop.

Remember, Hollywood films make money because they’re big, but Chinese films can make money if they’re good:

LET THE BULLETS FLY sold Jiang Wen, fast-talking punch lines, and a smart, twisty story. Audiences like to feel smart, which means Chinese filmmakers can’t assume that a low-brow comedy like CHASE OUR LOVE is going to bring the audience just because there’s stars. As much as I didn’t like AFTERSHOCK, I can see how people can be touched by the melodrama. Even AVATAR didn’t just bring people in because of the spectacle (those are for front-loaded films). People were involved in the story and the thematic issues it raised. I wouldn’t be surprised if those netizen talk about the parallel of the human’s actions in AVATAR and the forced removal of residents in redeveloping areas actually helped drove the film’s box office.

And God help you if your movie sucks:

The producers of LOST BLADESMAN and WARRING STATES believed that their movies were so good that they were convinced their low Douban scores (5.1 and 4.1, respectively) must’ve been the work of saboteurs. So they offered a reward for netizens who find the culprits that intentionally dragged the scores down. Problem is that people really did think their movies sucked, and the front-loaded box office performances reflected that. The companies were dragged through the mud by netizens who joked about turning themselves in for the reward, and now they’re the butt of jokes within the film industry.

Douban and Mtime are a few of the rare places in China where people’s opinions are actually reflected. You can see it in the star breakdowns and the average score (they don’t always add up, so look at both). Yes, there’s always ringers sent by film companies (they’re easy to find - they write a long review for a particular movie, but hasn’t actually rated much films before), but it still reflects the people’s opinions. This isn’t some niche film geek internet film community we’re talking about here, either, and crossing them will not do your movie any good.

Don’t gamble. Remember how much you really need to make money on a movie

As I wrote in the last post, investors have to be careful when they think about how much money they really have to make at the box office to break even. REST ON YOUR SHOULDERS cost RMB 70 million to make, but with advertising, prints, and giving cinema owners taking away revenue, the production company said they’d need to make RMB 200 million just to break even. It applies to Hollywood, and it certainly applies to China.

Oversea sale prices are based on how much money the foreign distributor can make on a film they buy, and let’s face it, Chinese films do not make bank overseas unless your name is John Woo, or you have a leading man named Donnie Yen or Jackie Chan (double the chances if you have both, but your movie will cost twice as much!).

The problem is that right now, investors are gambling on how much they predict overall box office will be when the film is released without looking far ahead enough on box ofice trends. When SHAOLIN went into production, the trend at the time probably suggested they will rise the wave of rising box office and do BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS numbers. That didn’t happen.Does that mean the period epic genre is completely dead in the water now? Not exactly:

Tentpoles. Make them events.

People got tired of martial arts epics because there’s a big one every other month. People are getting tired of comic book movies in America because there’s one every big release slot (in 3D, no less). The less you make, the more special they are. Then again, the big production companies are not going to sit together and hammer out release plans together, because then, what fun would a free market be?

Of course, then there’s the issue of ticket prices, who really goes to the movies (hint: not many people, but they go to movies a lot), and what China can do to break the international market, but that’s another story for another time.

And now, more news:

- Speaking of box office, TRANSFORMERS 3 will be opening in China in 4 days, and presales for midnight showings are reportedly packed already. Ironically, insiders are predicting the film may have a chance at hitting RMB 800 million at the box office. Haw, haw.

- The 2011 Summer Edition of the Youku Film and Television Awards were held this past weekend, and Gu Changwei’s LOVE FOR LIFE picked up six awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film. The Youku index is apparently based on view counts and search queries in Youku to determine which films are the most popular.

Honestly, the awards don’t mean much to me. The news here is Gu Changwei, who said that he would like to restore the missing 50 minutes of his first cut and release a director’s cut in the future. He said that they will have to be properly mixed and that he would likely change the Chinese title back to his original title if he ever gets it done. He’s not promising anything yet, but I, for one, would watch that cut.

- Chinese film media are buzzing about Wong Kar Wai showing up at the hip Sanlitun District in Beijing recently. Reporters followed him into a cinema, and Wong went into a closely guarded auditorium. The media talked to audiences, who revealed that they saw a one-minute teaser for THE GRANDMASTER, starring Tony Leung.

The reporter called Sil-Metropole, who confirmed that the teaser for GRANDMASTER will be attached to TRANSFORMERS prints in China this coming week, and that WKW went to the cinema himself to see how the teaser plays on the big screen. It still won’t get me to go watch TRANSFORMERS again, though.

Does that mean THE GRANDMASTER is done? None of the reports say, though they speculate that it’s possible since WKW looked “relaxed”. I wouldn’t assume that it is, though. It’s just a teaser.

- Last, but not least, Emperor Films CEO Albert Lee announced on his weibo that action director/actor Ailen Sit passed away today. Sit has worked on films with Stanley Tong, Jackie Chan, and Jingle Ma on films like TOKYO RAIDERS, CHINA STRIKE FORCE, and SUPERCOP. His final film is LET THE BULLETS FLY. As Boss Kozo tweeted earlier, you can find his HKMDB page here.

Sources:

Mtime 1 
Mtime 2
Sina 1
Sina 2
Sina 3

- Today’s focus story goes back to the “box office gouging” story popping up on the internet recently about BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL. However, it seems like not many people (including the western press) know that this isn’t the first time it’s happened. An article in a lifestyle site has analyzed the trend, so here’s what they find, plus a little bit of my own insights:

On the opening day of WU XIA, some netizens reported that they were getting printed tickets for BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL when they bought tickets for other movies. This so-called “box office gouging” has reportedly happened in a few cities, but no one knows the full extent of the practice. However, the CEO of Stellar Megamedia, a co-investor of Peter Chan’s WU XIA, said that the effect was actually minimal on its disappointing opening week.

This isn’t the first time box office gouging has been reported. According to the article, the first report of this happening goes all the way back to 2006, when Ann Hui’s THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT made only RMB 5 million, despite good word-of-mouth. The report quotes an “insider” who said that the box office gross for that film was actually split with other films in secret. The “insider” did not say what films they were.

Then, in 2010, CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH director Lu Chuan wrote an angry tweet on his Weibo, describing his anger when he saw a certain male company executive stood up at a meeting of film professionals and proudly proclaimed  “the main-stream has actually made money!”. He angrily wrote that that the box office for that executive’s “main-stream film” was gouged from box office grosses from smaller films. Of course, Lu did not write what film, what executive, or what company.

The last time such box office gouging happened was in December 2010, when audiences at one multiplex in China reported over the course of two days that they got printed tickets to Chen Kaige’s SACRIFICE when they wanted tickets to MY NAME IS NOBODY. That was probably the first actual recorded case of box office gouging by netizens, but rumor of such practice goes back as far as 2005, when there were rumors of KUNG FU HUSTLE’s box office gross being gouged by Huayi Brothers’ A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES.

Of course, the first party everybody blames is either the production company or the distributor (or in the case of REVIVAL, the government!). However, there are actually many parties on each film that benefit from a film’s success. The report directly points its finger to cinema owners.  Typically, a Chinese film’s box office gross is shared by three parties - the cinema owners, the distributor, and the production company. The cinemas take the biggest share at 45-55%, and they can actually negotiate for a bigger piece of the pie if the film is a bigger release.

Now, let’s suppose that you’re a cinema owner that will be getting, say, a 55% of the gross for, say, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL. China Film Group tells you that they’re targeting a gross of RMB 800 million for the film, which means you’ll be picking up RMB440 million of that gross. So you line it up in your biggest auditoriums, give it half your total shows, expecting your local party members to show up and buy lots of drinks and popcorn.

Now suppose the film under performs.

As of Monday, July 11, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL has made only RMB 348 million, which is not only a ways to go before matching the gross of predecessor FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC, but also a LONG way to go from the RMB 800 million target. If you find yourself only getting RMB 170 million out of the RMB 400 million you were promised from a film that’s giving you a higher percentage of the box office gross than other films that’s taking up your auditoriums now, what would you do?

The report goes to point out that it’s virtually impossible right now for Chinese production companies to send people out to monitor these practices because there are far too many cinemas in China (remember, it’s a big country, with lots of people). Also, the government has essentially bought into this ideology called free market and hasn’t done anything to monitor the practices of its film industry because of its rapid growth. The communication scholar quoted in the article essentially blames the government for not doing anything to crack down on dubious business practices in the film industry. Because seriously, who the hell would trust people to have a conscience or business ethics, right?

Of course, we’ll never know who is really behind these box office gouging practices, but I wouldn’t start pointing fingers immediately at China Film Group or the government just because one of the accused films happens to be a propaganda film celebrating the communist party’s 90th anniversary. Of course, they’re an easy target, but can China Film Group really send out a memo out to theaters all across China telling them to boost box office? And since we’re talking about the government being the puppet master here, why would they need to bother printing out fake tickets when they can simply get the numbers rigged?

Anyway, with netizens proving to be a more powerful monitor than any team sanctioned by production companies (WU XIA’s distributor immediately offered a cash reward for those who report box office gouging of their film, and they said they already allotted RMB 5000 - 1000 for each case), it’s not likely this type of behavior will become regular behavior.

HOWEVER, let me remind you that there are many shady practices in the film industry, including China’s, as well as its media. Hell, the report that I based this focus story on apparently literally steals portions from an older story (and maybe so on and so forth). There’s a possibility that we’re all being taken for a ride by PR firms, publicists, film distributors, media outlets, and even cinema owners. Right now, not even Peter Chan is willing to comment anything specific about possiblity of such practices, except he did say that he always found film distribution “very shady”. So, keep an open mind and just watch how things develop down the road.

- Some more Facebook pages of Hong Kong movies have opened:

Dante Lam’s big-budget actioner THE VIRAL FACTOR stars Nicholas Tse, Jay Chou, and Andy On. The film recently wrapped its shoot in Malaysia, and it’s not clear whether Lam will be shooting more in Hong Kong. The film’s shoot, unfortunately, has been on the news everyday due to the media’s coverage of the Nicholas Tse-Cecilia Cheung divorce. The film has yet to lock down a release date.

Wing Shya and Tony Chan’s LOVE IN SPACE is their follow-up to HOT SUMMER DAYS. Like SUMMER, the film will follow multiple love stories, and it stars Rene Liu, Aaron Kwok, Eason Chan, Guey Lun Mei, Angelababy, and Jing Boran. The 20th Century Fox production opens September 9th in China (and likely Hong Kong as well)

- Peter Chan and Takeshi Kaneshiro attended a promotional event for WU XIA in Beijing, and the film’s distributor released a deleted scene from the film online. The scene shows Takeshi Kaneshiro’s mental alter ego sparring with his investigator, played by Jiang Wu. The scene is amusing, but I can understand why it was cut from the film.

- In March, Huayi Brothers revealed a series of upcoming films called Plan H, including DETECTIVE DEE 2, YANG FAMILY, and Stephen Fung’s TAICHI (currently in production). Now, WINDS OF SEPTEMBER director Tom Lin’s STAR, starring Harlem Yu, Rene Liu and Xu Jiao CJ7), has locked down a November 4th release date. According to the news report, the film will be released day-and-date in Asia and North America. China Lion has a distribution deal with Huayi, so it’s not surprising that it will go to the states, but I have my doubts about Asia.

Another Plan H film getting ready to start production. Doze Niu (MONGA) is beginning a “test shoot” for his latest film LOVE, starring Shu Qi, Ethan Ruan, Mark Chao, and one more actress. While reports indicate that Vicki Zhao will be replacing Zhou Xun on the film, not even the media is willing to lock down who will be playing that fourth role.

And now, I read Weibo so you don’t have to:

- Musician Ah Niu, who made his directorial debut with ICE KAKANG PUPPY LOVE, has announced that his second film will be THE GOLDEN COUPLE. I imagine more info will come in a few days.

- Director Pang Ho-Cheung said that production has officially began on his LOVE IN A PUFF sequel, which is rumored to be called LOVE IN A BUFF

- Hong Kong producer Ng Kin Hung (GIRL$, HI, FIDELITY, the upcoming LAN KWAI FONG) is currently recruiting for his upcoming project about indie rock bands. Here’s the poster:

- And to end the week on a high note: Actor Ronald Cheng has returned to the set of Wong Jing’s latest film after his wife gave birth to his baby daughter. Chapman To apparently attempted to console Ronald being separated away from his newborn baby, and this is the result:

Next time: Why BEGINNING OF GREAT REVIVAL under performed, reading between the lines of China’s box office report, directors insisting their 3D movie really is 3D, and maybe some Korea/Japan news finally. Have a good weekend.

Sources:

China Times
ent.163.com
Film Business Asia
Lifestyle.com.cn
Mtime
Sina News
Yahoo News

Pushing the cheap Hong Kong summer focus story to the next entry so we can cover more detail about Chinese box office this past weekend:

- According to numbers from Entgroup, Peter Chan’s WUXIA made RMB 101 million in its first 7 days. On paper, this seems like a nice number, but it’s actually not a very good gross if you look at the details. In the first seven days, the film had 82013 shows for a total of 2.97 million admissions for the first seven days. In comparison, THE LOST BLADESMAN had 2.98 million admissions from 78966 shows in the first six days. In terms of admissions per show, WU XIA is doing worse than LOST BLADESMAN, and with word of mouth in China reportedly split down the middle, WU XIA may end up grossing under RMB 200 million. This would be considered a major disappointment, considering WARLORDS did this kind of number four years ago, when RMB 200 million was still impressive. As mentioned in the previous entry, the CEO of Stellar Megamedia is disappointed with the gross, but emphasized that the film will eventually find its way to profitability thanks to strong rights sales overseas. As reported in the last entry, Stellar’s CEO also believes that the current “box office gouging” scandal is not believed to be a major factor for WU XIA’s gross, stating that the week’s total box office was weak in general.

The other big surprise on the box office chart is MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, the horror film directed by Chung Kai-Cheung and starring Jordan Chan.  The film made a shocking RMB 24.3 million in its first three days, with 771859 admissions from just 18576 showings for a per-show average of 41.55 admissions (yes, that even beat WU XIA). With this and the success of MIDNIGHT BEATING, this is sparking off a new appreciation in the film industry for low-budget horror flicks, which is surprisingly in line with the way horror films are perceived in Hollywood as well.

Elsewhere on the chart, BEGINNING OF GREAT REVIVAL is taking is sharp dive, now with a total gross of RMB 348 million. With a 32.9 admissions-per-show average, it seems like there is still an audience for the film. However, it’s definitely under performing when China Film Group projections and comparison to FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC’s gross are factored in.

REST ON YOUR SHOULDER, the fantasy film from Jacob Cheung starring Aloys Chen, Gigi Leung, and Guey Lun Mei, was dead on arrival over the weekend. It only made RMB 6.8 million in its first three days, with 204178 admissions from 12744 shows. That’s a per-show average of just 16 admissions. The distributor said before release that the RMB 60 million film will need to make RMB 200 million to recuperate cost, and that’s definitely not happening now.

Wong Jing’s TREASURE INN now takes a steady dive with a total of RMB 81 million in the bank, but it’ll likely hit the RMB 100 million mark by the end of its run. With LEGEND OF A RABBIT opening this week, KUNG FU PANDA 2 has probably just spent its final week in the top 10. It has made an amazing RMB 608 million in 44 days.

In addition to A LEGEND OF A RABBIT, this week also sees the release of PUNISHED (in edited for China form), Taiwan’s NIGHT MARKET HERO, the heist comedy COMING BACK (with Simon Yam), the adult romance TO LOVE OR NOT, animated film THE TIBETAN DOG, and film festival favorite PIANO IN A FACTORY. In other words, films taking screens away from WU XIA, REST ON YOUR SHOULDER, and BEGINNING OF A GREAT REVIVAL, so next week should be interesting.

- Speaking of Chinese box office, total box office gross in the second quarter of 2011 has gone up 47%. Four Hollywood blockbusters - THOR, FAST GIVE, KUNG FU PANDA 2, and PIRATES 4 - took up 50% of the RMB 2.8 billion total. Meanwhile, China had LOST BLADESMAN, A CHINESE GHOST STORY, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL, and even DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART helping to boost local films as well.

According to SARFT, this brings the half-year’s total box office to RMB 5.7 billion. Impressive.

- In more WU XIA news, Hong Kong censorship body TELA has rated WU XIA, and here’s what they wrote:

	WUXIA
Classification:	Category IIB
Director:	Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Language of dialogue:	Putonghua
Language of subtitle:	Chinese & English
Duration:	116 min
Remarks:	Contains strong violence and shocking scenes

According to Australian cinema websites. the version playing there now also runs 116 minutes, one minute shorter than the length reported in China. So this may be the “international cut” being referred to on the internet.

Production news:

Facebook pages have been opened for two films currently in production:

- The Raymond Wong-produced, Wilson Yip-directed comedy is now called MAGIC TO WIN. According to the Hong Kong Film blog, this is Raymond Wong’s remake of his successful HAPPY GHOST series. Due to SARFT rules, Wong was forced to change the ghost part to magic/wizardry. The film stars Louis Koo, Wu Chun, Raymond Wong, and Jing Boran. The film will open in China on December 1.

- The other film just starting production is NIGHTFALL, the latest film from the Roy Chow-Christine To duo. The two last brought you MURDERER (whoo-freakin’-hoo). The film is a crime thriller starring Nick Cheung, Simon Yam, Michael Wong, Janice Man, Kay Tse, and UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE’s Sean Dou. Cheung reportedly buffed up for his role of a criminal, and Simon Yam earlier referred to this film as MURDERER 2.

- No Facebook page, but it’s been confirmed that Pang Ho-Cheung’s first Mainland-produced feature film will be released in August. LACUNA is part of Pang’s “4+1″ project, with the four being the four short films produced by Samsung China and Sina that were released on the web (which included NAIL CLIPPER MONSTER, starring Zhou Xun). LACUNA was directed by Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wan, and it stars Shawn Yue and Zhang Jingchu as two people who woke up after a night of heavy drinking. Together, they trace back to their wild night together and find love in the process. Yes, I know it sounds like THE HANGOVER in China.

- According to Oriental Daily (no link!) , director/screenwriter team Mabel Cheung and Alex Law (AN AUTUMN’S TALE, THE SOONG SISTERS) are planning to make TRACES OF DRAGON, a love story that takes place in the 40s and 50s, and they have asked Nicholas Tse to star. However, no decision on the production will be made until they get a response from Tse’s side.

And now, I read Weibo so you don’t have to:

- Anthony Wong writes on his Weibo: “Hong Kong films must be seen in Hong Kong. It’s like going to Broadway to see a musical. The genuine thing”. On that note, PUNISHED opens in China tomorrow in edited form.

-  According to an unidentified source, Zhang Yimou’s NANJING HEROES may be ready for Venice at its current pace, and that it may get a week-long release in Mainland China in September (assuming to get qualified for the Academy Awards). This is just rumor on Weibo from what may not be a reliable source, so take it with a grain of salt.

- CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST and ONE FINE SPRING DAY director Hur Jin-Ho has joined Weibo. Funny, I’m following him, but not Emma Watson.

Next time: A low-budget Hong Kong summer, and whatever we can get our hands on.

Sources:

Entgroup 1
Entgroup 2
Entgroup 3
Mtimes
Film Business Asia

- Before getting into the focus story today, Sina News just posted a story about WU XIA’s box office in China:

According to the story, the film only made RMB 92 million in the seven days, which co-investor Stellar Megamedia’s CEO admits to being disappointed by. However, he also points out that the film already took up 50% of total box office gross in China this past week, which means that people just aren’t going to movies. He also believes that the recent box office gouging scandal has only minimal impact (more on that later), and that there are bigger factors at play here.

We Pictures marketing head Mr. Lu also admits to being disappointed with the gross, especially its weekend gross. He says total box office in July so far is “outrageously low” compared to the same time last year. However, Lu also says that with overseas sale, the film will eventually find its way to profitability. More analysis of WU XIA’s box office when figures come out in a day or two.

- Today’s focus story is on internet distribution for films in China. In January 2011, LET THE BULLETS FLY premiered on Chinese video sites such as Youku, Tudou, and others, on an on-demand basis. Essentially, the idea is that you pay RMB 5, and you can watch the film as many times as you’d like within 48 hours. The film was viewed over 200,000 times in 20 days, grossing over RMB 1 million.

With legitimate DVD cost continuing to rise and piracy still rampant, this is the new way of film distribution in China. Basically, a film typically lands on these video sites about a month after their theatrical release. After a paid VIP Zone window, which allows members to watch the film in HD for a small premium, the film becomes free for all members. As of today, A BEAUTIFUL LIFE, NO. 32  B DISTRICT, and LOVE FOR LIFE can all be seen for free already, some with subtitles and some without. These sites also include a large arsenal of television dramas, including all 30 episodes of NAKED WEDDING (trust me, they’re not naked like the way you think they are), which just premiered on one major Chinese regional network tonight.

Only a year or so ago, films were being uploaded illegally by users mainly on sites like Tudou and Youku. These sites pulled off a major cleanup and began acquiring licenses from content owners, which would make sense considering the amount of advertising these deals can generate. LeTV (the site I frequent the most) is one of the leading video sites in China. Not only has it built up an archive of over 4,000 films, it is also the first company of its kind to be traded on the stock market. In addition to a free iPad app, LeTV also sells an Apple TV-like device that streams its archive of films via the internet to television in HD, and they’re planning to sell 100,000 of these things this year. I saw an ad for it when I was in the cinema this past weekend:

Tudou, Youku, and now even CCTV’s movie channel have made mobile apps for easier access to their films.

This is a very similar model to what Apple is doing in the states and Japan with iTunes, opening up more platforms and choices for audiences to watch films legitimately. However, these Chinese film industry is relying on this platform to work more so than the studios in the United States. Due to high ticket prices, cinema going is still considered a luxury for workers who only make about an average of US$500 a month. By making films available at a lower price than pirated DVDs, content owners are taking back any revenue they can in any possible way. As I had predicted earlier, the Chinese film industry is definitely heading towards a bubble situation, but there are things being done to delay that day, and internet distribution is one of them.

However, there are problems that come with this model:

1) There’s no report on the true impact of these technology has on cinema revenue yet, but once there is, cinema owners will not be happy (the previous report about July box office being low may be one of the first signs). Like it or not, cinema revenue is still the best way for films to make money, and on a personal note, I believe that films are made to be seen in cinema. If the cinemas go down, the industry will also be severely impacted in a negative way. The same goes for legitimate video sales. Video publisher already had to resort to releasing inferior DVD-5 versions of Chinese films to make them more affordable, but internet distribution is offering these films at a better video quality for a lower price. With Blu-rays being sold at astronomical prices and DVD sales likely to go way down, the Chinese video market may eventually disappear. As far as I know, there is no legit video rental industry in China at the moment.

2) Rising licensing cost. While smaller films will appreciate that video sites will buy their content, production companies are likely charging more and more for bigger films. One day, these licenses may become so expensive that video sites don’t see the point in shelling out the money for them anymore. The rising cost situation is already happening on the TV drama end, where prices are per episode, not per series.

3) Copyright infringement. LeTV recently filed suit against a manufacturer of a home media center (similar to LeTV’s television box) for allegedly providing access to films that LeTV claims to hold exclusive rights for. The media scene in China is very fragmented right now, with more video sites, television stations, and news outlets than I care to count, which means many different companies sharing content that they might not be permitted of having. This may discourage video sites to pay the big bucks for exclusive rights, or encourage video sites to clamp down harder on enforcing their exclusive rights, as well as extending pay windows. This will have a negative effect on consumers, who may just go back to illegal downloads or buying pirated DVDs.

There are a million directions which internet film distribution in China can go, but I say the more legit ways people have to watch films, the healthier the film industry will be. Sure, a film should be watched in the cinema, but it seems like for now, the masses have spoken, and they say otherwise.

- Following up on the box office gouging story from last week, netizens are still reporting that they’re not getting tickets to films they paid to see. To refresh your memory, audience buys ticket to WU XIA, theater prints a ticket to BEGINNING OF GREAT REVIVAL. Audience watches WU XIA, but money go towards BEGINNING OF GREAT REVIVAL.

Netizens reported last week that this practice is still happening in some cities. The distributor lamented that cinemas are simply saying that their employees made mistakes at the box office and that they can do little more than that. China Film Group continues to deny and decry the practice, while Stellar Media continues its campaign of offering RMB 1000 to each report of box office gouging for WU XIA. Stellar Media says they have already given out RMB 5000, and they have no idea how many more thousands they’ll have to give out.

Weibo reports of gouging have slowed down over the weekend, and I will say that this past weekend, I was given printed tickets for films that I actually bought tickets for, so no RMB 1000 for me.

- TVB/Shaw Brothers’ FORTUNE BUDDIES, spun off from the TVB variety show FUN WITH LIZA AND GODS, completed its 20-day shoot. Star/producer Eric Tsang said the film will only have three days of post-production because it has to go through Mainland censorship before its opening date of August 11th (simultaneous with Hong Kong). This is not the shortest shoot for a Hong Kong film - Johnnie To/Wai Ka Fai’s HELP!! only took 30 days from shooting to hitting cinemas, and director Pang Ho-Cheung shot EXODUS in reportedly 18 days. Go, Hong Kong cinema!

Trailer for FORTUNE BUDDIES here.

And now, today’s edition of WHAT I LEARNED FROM SINA WEIBO:

- Derek “son of Eric” Tsang posted the cover of the script for Pang Ho-Cheung’s reportedly Beijing-set sequel to LOVE IN A PUFF. It revealed two things: the script is co-written by Pang and Hong Kong novelist Lu Yi Xin, and its current English title is LOVE IN A BUFF. No kidding. Tsang wrote that he was heading back to Hong Kong to do a cameo for the film, but the weibo post has since been deleted.

- William Chan (HI, FIDELITY) has signed on for a 3D film called WU XING GONG LUE, a drama about Mongolian wrestlers in the 1960s directed by Casey Chan. According to its Baidu entry, the film is supposed to star Siqin Gaowa, Betty Sun, and Josie Ho, and it was presented at Hong Kong’s Filmart in 2010.

- Donnie Yen says that he personally prefers the Cantonese version of WU XIA, though it may have something to do with the fact that he spoke Cantonese in the film (He was dubbed in the Mandarin version).

- MURDERER director Roy Chow will soon shoot a film starring a buffed up Nick Cheung and (after some research) Simon Yam. Could this be the MURDERER 2 that Simon Yam was referring to? According to this story, Janice Man will also co-star.

Next time, Chinese box office analysis, a busy, low-budget summer in Hong Kong and whatever else we can get our hands on.

 I promise I will open up comments when I’m done cleaning out the spam comments that have built up. Trust me, there’s a lot of them.

Just returned from a trip up to Shenzhen to catch two films. That will be today’s focus:

Crossing the border: A personal guide to cross-border movie watching in Hong Kong and China

As China gets more films before Hong Kong, I found myself having the desire to cross the border to Shenzhen to take advantage of the nice, new multiplexes that have popped up thanks to the burgeoning film industry. The main reason I can do this is because a new multiplex’s online ticketing system allowed me to simply book my seats and pay when I get to the box office. I first took advantage of that with the IMAX version of KUNG FU PANDA 2, which worked wonderfully. Today, I tried it again with two new releases, and I’ll chronicle a bit of the journey here.

Today’s films were REST ON YOUR SHOULDER by Jacob Cheung (CAGEMAN, A BATTLE OF WITS) at 10:25 am and WUXIA by Peter Chan Ho-Sun at 2:55pm, which meant I had to make my way to Shenzhen bright and early at 8 am.

It was eerily coincidental (and totally appropriate) that this song would play on my Pandora Radio on the way up:

90 minutes later, I arrived at Grand Theatre Station and KKMall, where the movie is supposed to be. Just about on time to pick up my tickets, right?

Problem is, the mall didn’t open until 10. So I had to sit outside in the humid summer sun as I waited.

Lucky for me, I walked around the mall from the entrance closest from the subway station to the other side, because I found a Starbucks. No, I didn’t get a cup of coffee, I got something better: free wi-fi. Of course, the problem was that I was behind China’s Great Firewall, which means no twitter, no facebook, and not much use for the iPhone.

I have a VPN set up on my phone because I like to listen to Pandora, and I was able to access my VPN via Starbuck’s free wi-fi, which means I beat the Great Firewall. I consider that my biggest victory against China all year.

The mall opened at 10 am sharp, as people looking to get to the theater and/or out of the heat and into a shop rushed into the mall. I walked up to the theater box office, sure that my reservation had gone to waste. However, the staff nonchalantly collected my money and gave me my tickets. That’s because there were only a grand total of six people in REST ON YOUR SHOULDER. By the way, I actually got the tickets I bought, without any handwriting. Yay, me.

UA KKmall is a new-ish multiplex that opened last year. In addition to the IMAX, it has 6 regular auditoriums and one VIP auditorium. The biggest regular auditorium is only 180 seats (which is where I watched WUXIA), but the screen was nice, big, and wall to wall. Ticket prices are pretty steep if you’re not watching a morning show at RMB70 a piece (that’s about HK$84) for regular and RMB 140 for IMAX, so make sure you’re watching something you REALLY want to watch. That means I am not watching THE DEVIL BESIDE ME with Kelly Lin or TO LOVE OR NOT with Alex Fong, Li Shaoran, and a bathtub.

FYI: tickets are cheaper at the Golden Harvest Shenzhen Cinemas on the other side of the same subway station. It’s also one of the highest-grossing cinemas in China, so you’ll really have to book your tickets early there.  After their site renovation, they now have the same ticketing system as UA KKMall.

Couple of things to watch for when you watch movies in Shenzhen, though:

SUBTITLES: I’ve now watched four Chinese-language films in China, and none of them has English subtitles. Naturally, they’d be in simplified Chinese, so work on your Mandarin comprehension before you go.

GUANGDONG PROVINCE FTW: Even though the government demands films be in standard Mandarin, they have made an exception for Cantonese-speaking regions and allow Cantonese versions of films to play in cinemas there. Be sure to double-check your language version before you buy if you’re dealing with a HK-China co-production.

AUDIENCE: Let’s face it, people in general are getting less and less courteous in the cinema. China is no different. In REST ON YOUR SHOULDER, three people had their cell phones out during the film. Two of them were trying repeatedly to take pictures of Gigi Leung on screen. The other guy answered his phone twice. People will talk to each other, talk back at the movie, and talk to other people on the phone. It can get bad in Hong Kong, but at least you can shush people. There’s no use shushing people in China, because they will talk louder than you shush. That’s the way it is, and you can only hope the government will start making propaganda videos about cinema manners.

And now, the movies. I will only touch on them briefly because they will be reviewed for LoveHKFilm sooner or later (preferably sooner).

REST ON YOUR SHOULDER (Dir: Jacob Cheung, 2011)

REST ON YOUR SHOULDER seemed like it had it all: A pretty cast, a solid director, a score by Joe Hisaishi (spelled Job Hisashi in the credits. No kidding), plenty of special effects (including talking insects), and even a distributor that succumbed to artistic integrity and gave the director his final cut. Problem is REST ON YOUR SHOULDER at its current length is too slow for kids and too whimsical for adults. At 120 minutes, it didn’t have enough magic to make its fantasy elements work, nor was the drama interesting enough to justify its length. It’s ambitious, but it was buried by its own self-importance.

I will cover more later in my review, so now we move on to the star of the show:

WU XIA (Director: Peter Chan, 2011)

It has secret societies, dangerous assassins and signature stances….yes, definitely a wuxia film. Like I tweeted, I loved Peter Chan’s latest film. It is his third China film, and it is the most simple in terms of story and character motivations, but yet the most satisfying. There is action, but over 60% of it is a period crime procedural not unlike CSI (except we know who did it). There are ultimately only three action set pieces, but they all serve the story, not the audience.

More in the review, but I want to cover some issues that I will not be covering in the review:

CANTONESE VS MANDARIN: One of the big selling points in China is Kaneshiro Takeshi’s eccentric performance as the nerdy detective, especially the fact that he is speaking in Sichuanese for the entire film. Problem with that is that anyone in Hong Kong and abroad won’t get why that’s amusing (I laughed, but I didn’t know why, either). Also, Donnie and Kara Hui were obviously speaking Cantonese on set (both are dubbed by others in Mandarin), and Kaneshiro seemed to have dubbed himself in Cantonese, if the HK trailer is any indication. So, you will have to make your choice there.

DIFFERENT CUTS: Hollywood Reporter review states that the Cannes version of the film is 110 minutes long. Variety says 116. Film Business Asia says 111. The version I saw is 117. Peter Chan said in interviews that he added more non-action (drama?) scenes in the film and took out some of the CSI computer imagery. Obviously, I’ve never seen the Cannes cut, but Maggie Lee’s criticism of the CGI anatomy stuff getting in the way of the action is all gone, as they only appeared twice in the final fight scene at pivotal moments. The current China version also lacks an explicit shot of ear slicing (shown here in the 8-minute trailer twice), and does run a little slow since Chan said the Cannes cut is paced faster to fit foreign taste. There’s also at least two scenes where Chinese folk songs are used in a humorous way, and I could imagine those playing only in the China cut as well. Apparently the cut playing in Australia now is 116 minutes. Not sure what cut we’ll get in Hong Kong.

I said I was going to keep gushing over this film in the blog, but I think I’ll wait until I get to the review to spill all. Don’t expect another WARLORDS, it’s a fun genre piece, and keeping expectations there will guarantee a good time. I can’t wait to watch it again when it comes out in Hong Kong

That’s it for this one-topic entry.  We’ll get back to our usual news stuff, with Chinese digital distribution, a follow-up on box office gouging, and whatever we can dig up.

Until then, I leave you with this wonderful ad I saw in the cinema today.  Trust me, this got as much laughs as WU XIA’s ending.

- This is an issue that’s been discussed since last year, but it’s still worth throwing it out because it’s an ongoing problem with no solution in sight.

Recently, a photo of an alleged list of actors’ pay on PAINTED SKIN 2 was posted on Sina Weibo by a netizen. The list showed that the highest-paid actor of the film is being paid only RMB4 million to be in the film, and award-winning actress Kara Hui is being paid only RMB 300,000 for her role. Hui immediately denied the list on Weibo, because, well…she’s not even in the film. However, one of the producers weibo-ed that the list is about right.

Whether the list is true or not, this is a good time to bring up what’s happening in China right now regarding actors’ pay and how it affects Hong Kong cinema. According to a report in Apple Daily last year, Chow Yun Fat is currently the top earner in Chinese cinema now, making RMB 40 million per film. Andy Lau and Donnie Yen are not far behind, with roughly RMB 25 million each. However, Mainland actors continue to get the shaft, with even names like Ge You, Aloys Chen, and Zhou Xun getting less than RMB 5 million for each film.

How does this affect Hong Kong cinema, you ask? With Hong Kong stars getting these outrageous pay, it’s now hard for Hong Kong producers to be able to afford films with bankable star. This may explain the attempt to nurture films with mainly young talent (not that it’s working. Is there even a new Andy Lau out there?), and this is the most likely reason that Chow Yun Fat hasn’t been in a Cantonese film in 16 years. Salary issues was rumored to be the reason he dropped out of John Woo’s RED CLIFF.

Meanwhile, the Chinese film industry is also realizing that revenue isn’t growing quick enough to cover costs. While Chinese blockbusters are making big bucks, they’re not making enough to cover ballooning budgets, especially if talents are taking up 1/3 of each films budget. THE LOST BLADESMAN made RMB160 million at the Chinese box office, which is no small feat. However, its budget was a reported RMB 80 million, which means it would need to have made at least RMB 200 million at the box office just to break even.

If the film industry shifts to a point where China can finally produce its own box office-guaranteed stars, producers will either get wise and use strictly China stars (bad for HK stars), or they will have to spend even more on talent (bad for everyone except the stars). Chinese cinema can only grow bigger with bigger productions, but it’s getting to a point where domestic gross is not enough to cover the budget any more. Foreign sales are also drying up, as foreign audiences are getting tired of big Chinese period flicks.

Will Chow Yun Fat, Donnie, and Andy Lau keep sucking up their 20-40 million per film, or will they soon have to compromise? Unless the Chinese film industry start controlling the number of productions, their inflating budgets, and the enormous amount of money they pay to Hong Kong talents, Chinese cinema is undoubtedly heading towards a bubble. And when that bubble pops, everyone’s going down.

- Hong Kong MPA released the box office figures for the first half of 2011. As we all know already, SEX AND ZEN: EXTREME ECSTASY, fueled by curiosity by both Hong Kongers and visiting Mainland Chinese tourists, managed to beat the general negative word-of-mouth (bonus: popular video of Chapman To reading a scathing netizen review - translation could be better, though) and became the highest-grossing Hong Kong film in years (which is amusing for a society that’s been progressing backwards in terms of morals). According to the report, 24 Hong Kong films were released, which would be about on pace with the past few years.

SEX AND ZEN was essentially the AVATAR-like outlier, with local films in general grossing lower than last year’s films. With the rest of the year looking fairly devoid of big box office performers (it’s WU XIA in August, then OVERHEARD 2, then not much until December), expect SEX AND ZEN to keep its top spot for the rest of the year.

- While we’re at it, Film Business Asia looked at Korean box office in the first half of the year. After its bubble popped a few years ago, it seems like the South Korean film industry is stabilizing, as admissions in the first six months of 2011 is only down 2.1% (remember last year cinemas had AVATAR). Better yet, Korean films are currently taking a higher market share in the first half year than the same period last year, as three of the five top-grossing films are Korean.

- Before you say say REST ON YOUR SHOULDER, another feud has brewed up in Chinese cinema. A few days ago, I tweeted a link to the peculiar poster for director Jiang Cheng’s TO LOVE OR NOT. The poster showed stars Alex Fong Chung-Sun and Li Shaoran making out passionately in a bathtub, and that has sparked a lot of feedback about what the film will be like.

And then Li Shaoran fought back.

The star apparently now denies that she ever did the scene depicted in the poster. She insists that the “woman” spitting water is a male double wearing a wig, and then her part in the scene was only one shot that did not involve kissing. She is now refusing to do any further promotional activities for the film.

Director Jiang Cheng then fought back, saying that only one shot in the sequence (the one of the two falling into the tub) was done by body doubles, and that everything else was done by the actors. Of course, now the feud is turning into a he said, she said, with Li spilling everything she was dissatisfied about Jiang, and Jiang Li of essentially being a difficult actress to work with. Both sides have even used Alex Fong as their weapon against the other. Meanwhile, sources confirm that the stills are taken directly from the final cut rather than stills taken on set.

On the surface, this is close to gossip, but if we peel that back, we can speculate what is going on here. 1) There’s a real feud between Li and Jiang, with one actress embarrassed for being talked into doing a scene she now regrets doing. 2) It’s a week away from the film’s release. You don’t have real bankable stars. Any news is good news. 3) Something else. I won’t taking any of these three positions, but the Chinese film industry isn’t exactly the most transparent one, and it’s likely impossible to ever really know what is going on here.

Anyway, if you can read Chinese, read all about it here.

- Upcoming Chinese animated film LEGEND OF A RABBIT has the netizens talking, but in a bad way. Apparently, the character designs all look a little too close to KUNG FU PANDA for comfort. Director Sun Lijun is strongly denying that his work is being influenced by KUNG FU PANDA in any way.

Some of his defenses:

“Netizens say that LEGEND OF A RABBIT is the copycat version of KUNG FU PANDA, then why doesn’t Dreamworks sue us over copyright?! LEGEND OF A RABBIT has been sold to 62 countries. Overseas buyers are not stupid. You think they haven’t seen KUNG FU PANDA?!”

“The characters in LEGEND OF A RABBIT are very different from KUNG FU PANDA’s. Why don’t they say that KUNG FU PANDA took influences from Chinese kung fu?”

[when asked why has hasn’t seen KUNG FU PANDA 2] “Not interested. No second film is better than the first film”

Obviously, Sun hasn’t seen THE GODFATHER PART II.

See the trailer for LEGEND OF A RABBIT here and decide for yourself.

- After AFTERSHOCK and BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL, it’s now time for Korea to have their first film converted into the digital IMAX format. Korea still has something to be proud of, though – it’ll be the first non-English-language film to be converted into IMAX 3D. Korea currently has ten IMAX screens that can show the film, and CJ Entertainment operates all ten of them. It’s a no-brainer.

Check out the teaser for the monster film here.

Next time: Spike some Beach. A double feature across the border. And whatever else comes my way.

No, this entry is not going to be purely on the communist propaganda flick. The title actually refers to the revival of this blog. The Golden Rock has been away for a while due to various issues (mainly time-related) and the shift to Twitter. For that I can only offer an apology to Boss Kozo and people who read on a regular basis, and I hope that this revival will last more than a few entries.

With that, the blog will not be updated on a daily basis. I will be tightening the focus back to Hong Kong and China, since there’s already plenty of news to cover in these two regions. Rather than line-by-line links, the blog entries will be more focused on analysis of each story. You will see that new format below.

As always, there will be no gossip, because whether Lucas Tse is changing his last name is none of my concern, and it probably isn’t yours, either (unless you’re a member of the family or Lucas’ school). On the other hand, if Cecilia Cheung causes production on THE LION ROARS 2 to stop because of her divorce, then it’ll be covered here.

For broader coverage of Asian cinema, please visit Film Business Asia. They are where I go to most for English-language Asian cinema coverage, and I recommend all to do the same.

So here we go:

- First story today is on Jacob Cheung’s REST ON YOUR SHOULDER. The Chinese media has been covering this film intensely ever since its premiere at the Shanghai Film Festival (it played in competition). It’s hard to dig through all the rumors and speculation, but here are what appear to have happened:

Cheung’s investors have spent RMB 60-70 million (a fairly high budget for its genre) on a special effects-filled fantasy starring Aloys Chen, Guey Lun Mei, and Gigi Leung. However, Cheung’s absence at the festival screening has sparked rumors that Cheung is perhaps not happy with how the film is being presented. Also, the distributor took many steps, including heavy security and playing it at a small auditorium, to make sure the film is not shown to a large audience, which also points to possible nervousness on the part of the distributors that the film isn’t very good.

At the festival, the head of the production company stated to the press that the theatrical version of the film will be cut to 90 minutes (from 120), which further fueled the “Cheung not happy” rumors. Two weeks ago, the production company gave in and said that the full 120-minute cut will be the theatrical version (especially ironic, given Derek Elley’s review).

Just when things seem to be settling, Cheung wrote on his Sina Weibo this past weekend that he has been waiting in Beijing to be contacted about promotion for the film, but no one has asked him to do so. It’s even messier because the production company has canceled promotional events with “talent unavailability” as an excuse (after Chen and Guey publicly stated they are fully behind the film). Now the talk is that the production company are simply giving up for some reason. Meanwhile, Cheung has taken to Weibo to promote the film on his own, with Charlie Yeung and other celebrities passing the word. The distributor has been contacted, and they said they are shocked by Cheung’s weibo entry. They also pointed out that the stars are all currently tied up on other projects (Aloys on PAINTED SKIN 2, Jian Yi Yan is doing a play, and the others as well).

Opening just four days after Peter Chan’s WU XIA, what will happen to REST ON YOUR SHOULDER this weekend? I’ll be watching the film this weekend on opening day in Shenzhen, and we’ll know whether Cheung’s efforts worked next week when the box office numbers are out.

Story is mostly from this article (and other articles) at mtime

- Speaking of WU XIA, the film opened on July 4^th in China. However, a controversy has already brewed up before the day ended, as netizens uploaded pictures of their handwritten tickets from China’s Jinyi Cinemas chain on Weibo. Those posts were deleted several hours later.

Here’s how it works: You walk up to the box office, and you buy a ticket to WU XIA. However, the theater hands you a ticket to BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL instead and writes down your WU XIA showing information by hand. Yes, you can still watch WU XIA with your ticket, but the computer marks down that your money went to BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL. This happened reportedly in several cities.

Damage control was quickly initiated, with the cinema chain’s spokesperson explaining that the ticket buyers changed their mind, and their staff hadn’t followed proper procedure by printing new tickets and canceling the other ones. China Film Group denies that they have any hand in it, and WU XIA’s distributors have also said that they’ve spoken to the cinema chain and that the matter is “settled”. WU XIA’s distributor is also now offering a RMB 1,000 reward for any reports of such box office gouging, so if you get a handwritten ticket for WU XIA in China, be sure to send it in to Stellar.

This is not the first time “box office gouging” has happened. Back in December, netizens discovered that people were buying tickets to MY NAME IS NOBODY and ended up getting a printed ticket to SACRIFICE. Netizens are wising up to the practice, and it’s likely this will only be a temporary fad.

- And now, China box office:

As expected, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL led the box office chart again, but the weeklong gross was not as high as I had predicted, given that the party would want to score on the big CCP anniversary. Between June 27^th and July 3^rd, BEGINNING OF THE GREAT REVIVAL made RMB 92.15 million for a 19-day total of RMB 317.15 million. This is not close to the final gross of FOUNDING OF A REPUBLIC, and nowhere near the 30 million admissions / RMB 800 million gross that China Film Group is targeting.

So, what happened? The film had a significantly reduced number of showings this week (from 88,000 shows to 64,000), and the film faced competition from new entries TREASURE INN (which made an impressive RMB 54.5 million), THE DEVIL INSIDE ME (RMB 8.15 million), and the dubbed French flick COURSIER (RMB 8.1 million), as well as stayovers THE PRETENDING LOVERS (RMB 28.1 million after 10 days), SNOW FLOWER AND SECRET FAN (RMB32.75 million after 10 days), and ANIMALS UNITED (RMB39.95 million after 10 days). KUNG FU PANDA has also now passed the RMB600 million mark.

I had two reactions to this news (in order): Why didn’t the party/China Film Group do something to rig the numbers, and why am I surprised that China Film Group ISN’T rigging the numbers (especially with 80 million communist party members in China alone)? We were so bombarded in foreign media about how hard the party is pushing this film that we’re surprised when they follow the rules, and now the film seems to be performing beneath expectations. Shouldn’t we be ashamed of the assumptions and distrust we’re putting into this system, especially when they’re (appearing to be) proving us wrong?

China Film Group’s response to the current box office performance of BEGINNING OF GREAT REVIVAL? “When there’s a big film, shows will be cut accordingly. Everything will operate as the market dictates.” They have also said they’re ready for the release of TRANSFORMERS 3 on July 21^st.

By the way, no one has confirmed there’s a cap that stops all foreign films from being released until REVIVAL hits 800 million. If China Film Group is going ahead with the July 21^st release for TRANSFORMERS, then the quote in this New York Times story is wrong. Want to know why I kind of believe CFG? Because they’re distributing TRANSFORMERS, too.

- Short bits of production news:

• Daniel Lee has officially wrapped the shoot for WHITE VENGEANCE, starring Leon Lai, Zhang Hanyu, Anthony Wong, and Jordan Chan. The film will reportedly now aim for a late November release. This now locks down the films coming in the year-end slot: WHITE VENGEANCE, Derek Yee’s THE GREAT MAGICIAN, Zhang Yimou’s HEROES OF NANJING, Tsui Hark’s FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE, and (supposedly) Wong Kar Wai’s GRANDMASTER. Sure they don’t want to shuffle that a little bit?

• Zhou Dongyu, Richie Ren, Gigi Leung, Aarif Lee, and Teddy Robin will be starring in QIN CHENG ZHI LIAN (no English title yet), a tearjerker directed by Barbara Wong. The film began shooting on July 21^st, and it’s aiming to open at the end of December. I’m afraid. Very afraid.

Next time: “How much did they pay them”?! / Stephen Fung starts on Tai Chi / SEX AND ZEN boosts Hong Kong box office in first half of 2011.

There have been a couple of outspoken interviews recently - one from a Hong Kong filmmaker, and one about Hong Kong films. Over these two posts, I present translations of these two opinions as a taste of what I’m picking up day-to-day reading Chinese film media.

The first post is excerpts from an interview originally done in Shanghai’s Dong Fang Daily reprinted on www.entgroup.cn with Hong Kong New Wave director Patrick Tam, whose last film was AFTER THIS, OUR EXILE and serves as faculty at the multimedia department of Hong Kong’s City University. The interview deals with his thoughts on Chinese-language films in 2010 and his view on the future.

Q=Reporter
T=Patrick Tam

Q: Let’s talk about Chinese-language films from the last year, especially those from Hong Kong. Were there any films that surprised you?

T: Last year was a low period for Hong Kong films. You can tell from the Hong Kong Film Award nominations that there weren’t many special works. As a jury member for the Golden Horse Awards last year, I watched 30-plus films in 10-plus days. You can probably say those are the most representative works of Chinese-language cinema, right? There were some pleasant surprises from Taiwan and China, while Hong Kong films were the weakest. I think that’s a worrisome situation.

Q: In recent years, many Hong Kong directors have gone up north to make films. How does this affect the creativity of local Hong Kong films?

T: After the handover, the relationship between the Mainland and Hong Kong has grown closer. Maybe they were only technical collaborations in the past, but in recent years, many Hong Kong film professionals have moved to Beijing to work on co-productions. These North-bound Hong Kong filmmakers have lost much of their uniqueness in order to consider the Mainland market, but do they really understand what the Mainland audience needs to see?

Q: What attracts Hong Kong director north-bound?

T: It’s the appeal of the money, the appeal of the market. That’s why I think their focus isn’t quite right. Johnnie To is fairly late in becoming a North-bound director. His local Hong Kong works have a lot of unique appeal. I’m not sure how much of his personality will he be able to keep, since i haven’t seen his latest co-production (That’s DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART). Take John Woo as an example, I personally think that the BETTER TOMORROW period was his creative peak, and even though his production and creative environment became more professional after he went to Hollywood, the creative restrictions in turn prevented a creator from being faithful to his art. Among all the current Chinese-language directors, I think only Ang Lee has done fairly well at integrating into foreign cultures. He’s the only successful example in Hollywood. This is the same dilemma that Mainland-bound Hong Kong directors are facing today.

Q: Last year, it seems like some Hong Kong director kept the focus local. Some made films with nostalgic themes, and some had urban themes.

Translator’s note: Note that he did not name any specific films, though at least one is pretty obvious.

T: They weren’t very good. Some films talked about nostalgia, but it doesn’t mean using the same old way to tell stories. Plus, the stories were very false, so I was very disappointed. Some films expressed young urbanite romances, but you can only see the director is trying to play clever in a trivial way, and it looked smart-ass to me. I didn’t see the director’s concern for the target nor his/her stance towards the incidents. Some of these films exploited women in the way they were coded. I think a director’s character, temperament, and nurture are very important. Do you really have concern for your target, or are you using serious societal issues to sell sex and violence? If you’re out to explore the problem of real estate prices, then certain films didn’t explore them as deeply as DWELLING NARROWNESS (Translator’s note: A controversial Mainland TV drama) did. Films cannot be used to fool audiences.

One Hong Kong film from last year was OK, it’s GALLANTS by Derek Kwok (translator’s note: Plus Clement Cheng). Even though it was a little rough, one can see the author’s creativity.

After some discussion about Mainland and Taiwanese films, the reporter asked him about his thoughts on films again. 
Q: How do you feel about some of the Mainland films that were successful at the box office last year. Say, AFTERSHOCK?

T: I don’t really like that film. The common folks’ ethics are simple, they won’t think too much. They’ll think they’ve been touched once they’ve cried. I wasn’t touched because I don’t just watch a film’s content. I’d also watch how this film was produced in the cultural space. It’d be very sad if one only uses box office to measure a film’s achievement.

Q: Did you see LET THE BULLETS FLY?

T: I quite liked LET THE BULLETS FLY. Jiang Wen is a very smart person, but I think he’s sometimes too smart. Jiang gave the best character to himself (laughs). Ge You was great. His character is very tough to do. The film has a message for sure, but I don’t think the director’s motivation was to bury all kinds of obscure meanings for audiences to decipher. Those “horse pulling train” explanations (translator’s note: those that speculate the meaning of the horses pulling the steam train at he beginning of the film) on the internet kind of went too far. This film was quite loose [in censorship standards], which is very rare compared to films that played by the book. [Jiang] was following a certain style in THE SUN ALWAYS RISES, but the finished product was incomplete. However, if you want to talk about a director’s “heart”, I think Jiang Wen’s “heart” is in his first film IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN.

Q: Have you been following THE GRANDMASTER? (translator’s note: Patrick Tam edited DAYS OF BEING WILD and is Wong Kar Wai’s mentor)

T: The poster is quite good. I hope the film will be as good as the poster. Wong Kar-Wai is someone who can tell stories, but the style he developed later on is relatively loose (Wong was the scriptwriter for Tam’s FINAL VICTORY). I personally think Wong Kar-Wai’s best film to date is DAYS OF BEING WILD. He captures the 1960s Hong Kong spirit very well.

Q: Have you noticed that many directors have began making martial art films? Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Wong Kar Wai will have martial art films in 2011.

T: Maybe they’re looking for change. Take Hou, I guess that he feels modern Taiwan society stories are finished being told, so he wants to try new challenges. Wong has wanted to make a martial arts film for a long time, he’s just hasn’t been able to do so. Maybe his individual style being matched with this type of films will produce a different result.

Q: Are you looking forward to their change?

T: I don’t have much expectations for filmmakers that have already matured. Say Wong, even when he used foreign actors for MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, I can still identify his trademarks. That’s why my expectations are for the young people only.

Q: Do you think this is the best of times or the worst of times for films?

T: We’re in the worst of times, not just in film. In terms of film, the global golden age of film is over. Masters are dying one by one.

Q: Are you planning to make any more films after AFTER THIS, OUR EXILE?

T: I won’t give up film production. I’m preparing a new film now. It’ll use Hong Kong as background, and it’s a story about young people. I can’t reveal too much. I think it’ll be an interesting film.

Part 2 - A Chinese editorial about the Hong Kong Film Awards.