The Hollywood Sheen Continues to Dull

[fuzzynormal]

I find this stuff fascinating:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mermaid-stephen-chow-comedy-about-human-impact-earth-becomes-chinas-biggest-film-ever-1545558

As is pretty obvious, filmmaking is a global biz.  Sony and Disney are trying hard to figure it out.  Ultimately, I think that the system will continually fracture a bit. Smaller more niche stuff will thrive to fill the gap as studios continue to try and prop up their tent-pole franchises.  And, by necessity of having to strive for broad appeal, ignore the more artistic and narratively challenging side of cinema.

Those smaller/better ideas are migrating to prestige TV and the internet.  Which is perfectly fine for an aspiring-late-career-documentarian like me.  It's hopeful. 

In the meantime, that goofy Chinese flick is outperforming (per screen) Deadpool by double.

[DPStewart]

Well Hollywood needs to learn the lesson everyone else has - that America is not the world.
China and India both turn out some great films, as does South Korea, and many European countries.
Welcome to Earth, Hollywood.

[Cinegain]

Talking about the Chinese film industry, I was surprised to see that the Alibaba Group, which I know very well for its ecommerce dealings (mainly AliExpress/Alibaba/Tmall & Taobao), has recently stepped up to be a major player in the film industry. It was brought to my attention when I recently watched the latest Mission Impossible...

Dang China!

[Liam]

that's really awesome. Stephen Chow deserves it

[Ed_David]

I love it - a non-sequel non-action movie franchaise about the environment is the number one movie in China.  There is hope for the world.

[Hans Punk]

3 hours ago, Cinegain said:

Talking about the Chinese film industry, I was surprised to see that the Alibaba Group, which I know very well for its ecommerce dealings (mainly AliExpress/Alibaba/Tmall & Taobao), has recently stepped up to be a major player in the film industry. It was brought to my attention when I recently watched the latest Mission Impossible...

Dang China!

Hopefully China's upturn in cinema attendance and this new film to top the box office will spur more of it's own talent to shine through.

But it seems to be commonplace now that the biggest Hollywood blockbusters are literally writing themselves to be more palatable to the chinese market, or at least for their government to approve....and for a sh*t load of money to be made to all parties concerned.

Rouge Nation was the first time Alibaba invested in a Hollywood movie (with Paramount).

Alibaba and it's ecosystem of sister companies handled the online games, merchandising in the c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶  exclusive deal. But China only allow a limited number of foreign releases into the country each year, and a desire for preferable release dates and wider openings has led studios to court distributors by filming on location in China (highlighting only favorable chinese locations), spotlighting Chinese talent, and accepting government censorship. 

Hooray for Hollywood.

 

Iron Man 3 cast Chinese screen icon Wang Xueqi as Dr. Wu — who is on screen for 10 seconds in the international version and several minutes in the Chinese version...along with some awkward product placement. 

When movies, no matter how big and stupid start to bow to censorship, state controlled filming and editorial conditions and all for the box office returns from a single country - you have to ask yourself who are these movies actually made for?

But fear not, Trump will no doubt work wonders for Chinese/ Hollywood relations if he is elected. I wonder if he'll build a wall with Blu-ray cases to keep American movies from leaving and appealing to the chinese market...making Hollywood great again™

[Ed_David]

2 hours ago, Hans Punk said:

Hopefully China's upturn in cinema attendance and this new film to top the box office will spur more of it's own talent to shine through.

But it seems to be commonplace now that the biggest Hollywood blockbusters are literally writing themselves to be more palatable to the chinese market, or at least for their government to approve....and for a sh*t load of money to be made to all parties concerned.

Rouge Nation was the first time Alibaba invested in a Hollywood movie (with Paramount).

Alibaba and it's ecosystem of sister companies handled the online games, merchandising in the c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶  exclusive deal. But China only allow a limited number of foreign releases into the country each year, and a desire for preferable release dates and wider openings has led studios to court distributors by filming on location in China (highlighting only favorable chinese locations), spotlighting Chinese talent, and accepting government censorship. 

Hooray for Hollywood.

 

Iron Man 3 cast Chinese screen icon Wang Xueqi as Dr. Wu — who is on screen for 10 seconds in the international version and several minutes in the Chinese version...along with some awkward product placement. 

When movies, no matter how big and stupid start to bow to censorship, state controlled filming and editorial conditions and all for the box office returns from a single country - you have to ask yourself who are these movies actually made for?

But fear not, Trump will no doubt work wonders for Chinese/ Hollywood relations if he is elected. I wonder if he'll build a wall with Blu-ray cases to keep American movies from leaving and appealing to the chinese market...making Hollywood great again™

ha.  that was good

[squig]

Hollywood and the Australian government have almost completely destroyed the Australian film industry. The govt pours millions of dollars into subsidizing Hollywood films while Aus filmmakers struggle to fund their projects. Local talent has to emigrate to survive. Australian audiences are weened on Hollywood films, and good Australian films are largely ignored. Countries like France, Germany, Norway, and the UK value their filmmakers and give them the support needed for their local industries to thrive. If the current policy doesn't change soon Aus will be nothing more than just another Hollywood backlot.