Pangu Trips Up ‘Transformers’ China Debut
Everyone loves to talk about the huge potential of the China box office, but equally noteworthy are behind-the-scenes risks due to the market’s many unique uncertainties. Regulation is one of the biggest risks due to Beijing’s strict censorship policies. Now legal issues are also coming into the spotlight with news that a company is trying to delay the Chinese premier of the new “Transformers” movie due to a business dispute. We’ll have to wait and see if the complaint by a company that paid for promotional space in the film wins its request for the delay, which could translate to big headaches for US film studio Paramount.
This kind of delay may seem like a minor thing to average film goers, who might have to wait a few extra days or even weeks to see their favorite movies. But the reality is much more complex for film companies, since theaters typically book their movies months in advance to maximize their ticket revenue. Thus this kind of scheduling change for a blockbuster like “Transformers” could suddenly leave theater operators with a big hole in their schedule, and also headaches when they try to reschedule the film for a later time.
According to the latest headlines, a Chinese company that owns the Pangu Plaza shopping mall in Beijing has requested a delay for the domestic premier of “Transformers 4: Age of Extinction” until Paramount edits out some scenes featuring the property. (English article) In this case the request has nothing to do with censorship, and instead centers around a commercial dispute between Paramount and Pangu’s owner.
There’s not any explanation of the actual dispute in the reports, but this looks like a typical case involving product placement in a movie. Such deals see the creator of a product, or in this case the owner of a property, pay money to have that product embedded in scenes of a movie. Thus, for example, Coke might pay millions of dollars to have the main character in a movie consume one of its drinks on screen.
In this case, the reports simply cite Pangu’s owner saying it wants the mall removed from the new “Transformers” film because Paramount failed to deliver what it promised under a sponsorship deal. The dispute may stem from differences in the Chinese and English language versions of the contract, spotlighting another potential risk in this kind of cross-border deal. Paramount said it is working to settle the dispute, and the matter shouldn’t delay the release of the new “Transformers” movie that is expected to be one of the world’s biggest money-earning films this year.
“Transformers” has already made lots of headlines in China these past year, as it was one of the first blockbuster franchises to bring aboard Chinese investors and features several well-known local actors. (previous post) That move should help the film win strong support in China, which has risen rapidly to become the world’s second largest box office after the US.
Movie fans might be getting a sense of deja vu from this latest stumble, which looks a bit like a snag that delayed the release last year of Quentin Tarentino’s film “Django Unchained”. That movie was set for release last spring but got delayed by the regulator for unexplained reasons. It was ultimately released later, causing headaches for theater operators and the film’s producer. In this case I suspect “Transformers” will work out its differences with Pangu before the movie’s premier this week. But the scuffle is almost certainly causing headaches for Paramount at a time when it would prefer to be focused on promoting the film.
Bottom line: A business dispute is unlikely to delay the Chinese premier of the new “Transformers” film, but underscores the growing risk of such disputes for filmmakers in China.
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