Hollywood studios, salivating over China\u2019s booming movie market, are falling over themselves to sew up cooperation deals on the mainland. But just days before its global launch of \u201cTransformers 4,\u201d Paramount Pictures got a crash course this weekend in how fraught such tie-ups can be.<\/p>\n
The studio had been hit with a sudden punch: Pangu Plaza, a Beijing luxury hotel, mall and office complex, was livid over what it claimed was a product-placement deal gone sour. Pangu said it was cutting off cooperation with the film, launching a lawsuit and asking Chinese regulators to postpone the movie\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
Any delay of this Friday\u2019s opening could potentially have cost Paramount millions — the first three installments of the franchise have done increasingly massive box office on the mainland: 2007\u2019s original grossed $45 million, the 2009 sequel took in $72 million and the third film hauled in $172 million in 2011.<\/p>\n
So Paramount sprung into action. On Sunday night, a giant replica of the Bumblebee Transformer was moved from another part of Beijing to the entry of the dragon-shaped Pangu hotel. Around noon, reporters started getting calls that a big press conference was set for 4 p.m. at the hotel.<\/p>\n
FTA can act as your Hollywood Celebrity Agency and help you contact book any Hollywood\u00a0Celebrities.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore, director Michael Bay, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and star Jack Reynor jetted up from Shanghai, where \u201cTransformers 4\u201d had just closed the city\u2019s film festival Sunday night.\u00a0 A Beijing premiere was also arranged — never mind that the film\u2019s official unveiling had happened in Hong Kong last week and its Shanghai debut was on Sunday.<\/p>\n The whirlwind of activity shows the lengths Hollywood is willing to go to keep its Chinese partnerships on track, lest an L.A. studio be branded — by Chinese business partners or regulators — as an unreliable partner in the world\u2019s No. 2 movie market.<\/p>\n The press conference was delayed by more than 90 minutes because flights from Shanghai to Beijing were backed up. But finally, Moore and the others took to the stage in a massive ballroom in front of a giant screen reading “Celebration Before the Premiere.”<\/p>\n “It was unfortunate that we had this misunderstanding,” Moore told the assembled press corps, who ate canap\u00e9s, drank wine and pocketed $50 “transportation fees” for attending the event on four hours\u2019 notice. “Pangu has been a great partner for us. We\u2019ve taken steps to put this behind us, we\u2019ve worked through all of the issues, and we\u2019re excited that Pangu is now excited to support us.”<\/p>\n Bay and others autographed a giant poster, posed for photos in front of Bumblebee, and then decamped for the Beijing premiere. But tensions were still palpable after the 13-minute ceremony.<\/p>\n In the hotel\u2019s driveway, Moore haggled over the wording of a joint English and Chinese press statement that was supposed to go out to the media; a Pangu executive puffed on a cigarette and yelled at an interpreter that he was dissatisfied; several Americans affiliated with the Paramount entourage huddled in hotel hallways making phone calls and saying things like, “This is crazy,” and “I don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on.”<\/p>\n FTA can act as your Chinese Celebrity Agency and help you contact book any\u00a0Chinese Celebrity<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Beijing Pangu Investment Co. chief executive Lu Tao then called his own media briefing and said the company had dropped its request to block the movie\u2019s release but was still moving ahead with a lawsuit against two companies, Jiaflix China and Chengxin, with whom it had signed its original product-placement contract. That contract, Lu said, was written in Chinese.<\/p>\n Jiaflix was founded by former Paramount president Sid Ganis, his cousin Marc and Kenneth Huang. Chengxin is run by Zhou Ning, a former soccer star. Calls to the Beijing offices of Jiaflix and Chengxin were not answered.<\/p>\n At the 2013 Shanghai film festival, the Ganis brothers, along with Zhou, appeared alongside Paramount executive LeeAnne Stables and touted the Pangu Plaza product placement deal.<\/p>\n Stables, in charge of marketing partnerships and brand integration, told Chinese reporters then that the new Transformers film would be \u201ca wonderful opportunity to bring the wonderful culture and the beauty of your country to theater audiences around the world,” adding, “We\u2019re thrilled to be showcasing China within the film.”<\/p>\n Zhou appeared to be representing Pangu at the event; a report from the state-run China Daily newspaper identified him as an official representative of Beijing Pangu Investment Co.<\/p>\n Details of the deal were not discussed then. But Lu said on Monday that Pangu\u2019s contract with Jiaflix and Zhou\u2019s company included a fee of at least 10 million renminbi, or $1.6 million.<\/p>\n In exchange, Lu said his company was to benefit in five ways: It would appear in the film for at least 20 seconds; host an exhibit of “Transformer” props at hotel at least eight months; be allowed to license “Transformers” imagery for consumer products and retain all income from their sales; appear in all promotional materials; and host a \u201cVIP celebration\u201d with cast, director and Paramount leaders ahead of a premiere.<\/p>\n