In need of cash, Hollywood looks to China
and India
(LOS ANGELES) Disney's
US$4 billion purchase of Iron Man movie-maker Marvel Entertainment signals a
possible wave of media industry consolidation, but the cash to do deals may
come from India or China, not Hollywood or Wall Street.
Even before Walt Disney Co and Marvel
Entertainment Inc made their announcement on Monday, Hollywood watchers said
that Indian firm Reliance ADA Group's recent US$325 million investment in
Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks movie studio was a sign that opportunity exists
for similar deals.
As the recession took hold in late 2007,
Hollywood saw financing from US hedge funds and banks dry up, and analysts say
Indian and Chinese firms are now in a better position to invest.
For its part, Hollywood needs overseas cash
to continue expanding globally where growth opportunities are strongest.
'If you have capital to invest, you can
probably cut a better deal now than any time in the last 10 years,' said Larry
Gerbrandt, principal at consultancy Media Valuation Partners.
'A lot of Indian and Chinese companies have
excess capital these days and Hollywood, aside from the fact there's a certain
glamour factor, those (Indian and Chinese) markets also need content, so
there's interesting deals to be made.'
Sky Moore, an attorney who worked with
Reliance as it put together the DreamWorks financing package, said that a
bigger deal could be in the offing within two years.
'I think the bigger move is buying a
studio, and I don't know if it will be (a company from) India or China, but I
think somebody is going to buy a studio,' Mr Moore said.
The Disney/Marvel deal fuelled speculation
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, maker of the Shrek movies and a separate company
from DreamWorks Studios, could be next on the acquisition target list, because
of its solid position in the marketplace and focus on the lucrative family
market.
Mr Moore and Mr Gerbrandt also named Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Inc as a potential acquisition target, although they said that they had no
specific information of any deal in the works.
Rumours of MGM's potential sale have
surfaced for years. The storied Hollywood studio faces looming payments on
US$3.7 billion of debt from a 2005 buyout of the firm, and earlier this week
it replaced its CEO and hired a turnaround specialist.
Chinese film studios are strengthening ties
with their peers across the Pacific. The Huayi group, which Morgan Stanley
called 'China's Warner Bros for tomorrow', has said that it is seeking capital
to expand and has developed movies with Hollywood majors such as Sony
Pictures. Its larger rival, The China Film Group, is reportedly keen on
developing projects in the US as well.
India's expanding reach into Hollywood has
included Reliance's purchase of about 50 US theatres and Indian entertainment
company UTV's investment of tens of millions of dollars over the last three
years in several movies, including The Happening and The Namesake, Mr Moore
said.
'It's not about bringing Bollywood to
Hollywood, it's about mainstream worldwide English-language entertainment,' he
said.
Hollywood studios have also made big
investments in India.
Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner Inc,
has signed multi-picture deals with Indian companies People Tree Films and
Ocher Studios.
Twentieth Century Fox, a division of News
Corp, has started a joint venture with Asian broadcaster Star to create films
for India under the name Fox Star Studios.
Foreign investment in Hollywood is nothing
new, of course. In the 1990s, German tax credits spurred production of US
movies, and before that Japan's Sony Co in 1989 bought Columbia Pictures. Sony
also has a stake in MGM.
David Molner, managing director of Screen
Capital International, a media and entertainment financing firm, said that
without foreign investment, Hollywood could simply have to endure a slowdown
due to lack of capital.
'Either the Asians lead the pack or we have
a lull,' he said.
'Mostly because they're probably going to
be the fastest out of the blocks as the economy recovers.' -
2009 September 3 Reuters
SHANGHAI, - Snow White
and the seven ... monks?
Like the rest of American industry, Hollywood has seen
the future, and it is China. Some of the biggest movie studios are now
scrambling onto the mainland and planning to invest more than $150 million over
the next few years in China's burgeoning film industry.
Walt Disney Pictures may even spend part of its
legacy, with a plan for what some people involved say is a live-action
martial-arts remake of "Snow White" that would be shot in China and
replace the dwarves with Shaolin monks. The director is expected to be Yuen
Woo-Ping, the Chinese director and choreographer who arranged the fight scenes
for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" series, as well as "Kung Fu
Hustle" and the "Matrix" movies.
Other studios intent on China include Sony's
Columbia Tristar Pictures unit, which is already producing and financing feature
films here. Time-Warner's Warner Brothers studio recently formed joint ventures
to make films in China. And Merchant Ivory Productions' latest film, "The
White Countess," set in 1930's Shanghai and starring Ralph Fiennes, was
filmed on location here last year.
A few weeks ago, Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder of
Miramax Films and one of Hollywood's biggest producers, told a gathering at the
Shanghai International Film Festival that the company he will run once he leaves
Disney's Miramax will also produce and finance feature films in China.
Drawn by China's fast-growing economy, inexpensive
film production sites and its increasingly popular martial arts and feature
films - most notably "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000 -
Western studios are stepping up their presence here and looking to eventually
turn China into a major film production base.
"China is going to grow, so a lot of companies
want to come in here and produce films," said Li Chow, the general manager
of Columbia Tristar Film Distributors, a division of Sony Pictures
Entertainment. "Chinese films have done well internationally, ever since
'Crouching Tiger' came out. So this is a trend."
The moves come as Hollywood officials are still
fighting to get their own American-made movies shown here. And they are also
putting greater pressure on the Chinese government to crack down on rampant film
and DVD piracy, which costs Hollywood millions of dollars every year. But
Hollywood executives also say they are making plans to produce and invest in
movies with a Chinese theme or Chinese language movies that could later be
exported to the rest of the world. And American studios are laying the
foundation to produce movies solely for China's domestic film market.
China's box office receipts are still small compared
with ticket sales in the United States, where box office revenues were a record
$9.4 billion in 2004, according to Exhibitor Relations. But analysts here say
affluent Chinese are becoming avid movie-goers, particularly in big cities like
Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The domestic market is expected to grow to $1.2
billion by 2007, from about $500 million in 2004, according to China E-Capital,
a private investment bank in Beijing.
Hollywood is also coming here to tap into China's
growing television, Internet, gaming and mobile phone markets, which producers
see as new and potentially lucrative outlets. A few weeks ago, Warner Brothers
Online announced that it would team with Tom Online, an online and wireless
service based in Beijing, to distribute Warner Brothers film content on the
Internet and to mobile phone users across China.
Perhaps more significantly, Hollywood executives
recognize that China now has a collection of talented film directors who are
breaking box office records at home and selling well overseas.
Over the last year, for instance, two movies from the
acclaimed director Zhang Yimou - "Hero" and "House of Flying
Daggers" - have together grossed more than $190 million outside China.
And this year's "Kung Fu Hustle," a comedy
produced by the Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow, has already pulled in
more than $54 million overseas.
The biggest Chinese language hit so far was Ang Lee's
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which in 2000 introduced American
audiences to the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and went on to earn $128 million,
making it the highest-grossing foreign language film ever shown in the United
States.
But Chinese directors are doing far more than martial
arts pictures these days. Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine"), Feng
Xiaogang ("Cell Phone") and Wong Kar Wai ("In the Mood for
Love") are considered established storytellers who can appeal to broad
audiences.
"We now have a group of world-class actors and
directors," said Ren Zhonglun, president of the Shanghai Film Group, which
produces movies and has also formed a joint venture to operate cinemas in this
country with Time-Warner. "These people can attract investment from all
over the world."
Disney's "Snow White" remake, which is still
in development and subject to change, will be in English. But the Hollywood
studios hope to produce a mix of Chinese and English-language films.
"There are going to be a lot of American films
with a Chinese component," said Dede Nickerson, a producer who has handled
Miramax's Asia operations for the last four years.
So far, Sony Pictures' Columbia TriStar film division
is probably the most aggressive Western film company operating in China. It has
already financed, produced and distributed Chinese-language films that include
"Kung Fu Hustle," and "House of Flying Daggers" and the
"Road Home." In August, the company will release Wong Kar Wai's latest
film, "2046," a Chinese-language feature starring Zhang Ziyi, in the
United States. TriStar is also planning to finance a Chinese-language sequel to
"Kung Fu Hustle."
Time-Warner is investing in China as well. Through
various joint ventures, the company is putting money into more than 70 cinemas
around the country in preparation for a potential theater-going boom.
And its Warner Brothers unit has said it will form a
partnership with the state-owned China Film Group of Beijing and the privately
owned Hengdian Group, one of China's largest film companies, to co-produce
mostly Chinese language movies here. One advantage in forming such a venture is
that any film produced in China is exempt from the country's quota of 20 foreign
films a year.
Then there is the powerful producing tandem, Harvey
and Bob Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films.
Last month, at the Cannes Film Festival, the
Weinsteins said that their new business, the Weinstein Company, had already
acquired the distribution rights to Chen Kaige's next film, "The
Promise," which at $35 million is one of the most expensive Chinese
language films yet made in China. The Weinsteins and the IDG New Media Fund, an
investment vehicle controlled by the giant technology publisher, the
International Data Group, purchased the North American, England, Australia and
South African distribution rights to the film, which is expected to be released
in December.
It is not Mr. Weinstein's first foray into China.
During his time at Miramax, Mr. Weinstein signed deals that brought Chinese
language films to the United States, including "Farewell My
Concubine," "Chungking Express" and "Hero."
And Miramax produced Quentin Tarantino's "Kill
Bill" series, much of which was shot in Beijing, as well as the forthcoming
"The Great Raid," which was also shot largely in China.
In June, Harvey Weinstein appeared at the Shanghai
International Film Festival with a group of financial advisors from Goldman
Sachs and a team from IDG Films. The group is believed to be looking to
produce or acquire the rights to additional Chinese films.
"This can be a major production base," said
Steven Squillante, a former Miramax executive and independent producer who is
now a partner at IDG Films. "L.A. has doubled for everywhere in the world.
And so can China. They have high-quality crews, stunt men and good facilities.
Backlots are backlots, and sound stages are sound stages. And the construction
costs are manageable."
Hugo Shong, a senior vice president at IDG who grew up
in China and invests heavily in technology companies here, recently set up the
company's New Media Fund with $150 million in startup capital. IDG also formed a
film and content production unit, and hired several film executives including
Mr. Squillante and David Lee, a former Sony executive.
Perhaps the most telling sign of the movie world's
interest in this country has been the appearance of a Chinese language version
of Variety magazine, published here by IDG, and the opening of a new Beijing
bureau of The Hollywood Reporter.
"Why am I here?" Jonathan S. Landreth, the
new Beijing bureau chief of the Hollywood Reporter, asked rhetorically.
"Because everyone else in Hollywood is." - by David
Barboza NEW
YORK TIMES 4 July 2005
How China is changing Hollywood
Hollywood films are increasingly showing the influences of Chinese
cinema, says director Zhang Yimou
House Of Flying Daggers received widespread acclaim
Thanks to his two international hits, Hero and House
Of Flying Daggers, Zhang is one of China's most high-profile directors.
The particular style of martial art in these pictures,
termed wushu, has cropped up in a number of US movies - most notably in Quentin
Tarantino's Kill Bill films, he says.
"Because of the influence of Chinese martial arts
films, Hollywood movies are changing," Zhang told the BBC's The Culture
Show.
"The actions in the films are more beautiful,
more rhythmic, and use some enhanced special effects. I think it's a great
thing."
'Refreshing'
Martial arts epic Hero tells the story of Emperor Qin
Shihuang's campaign to unify China more than 2,000 years ago.
The film went to the top of the US box office chart
and has so far taken more than $50m (£26m) - a relatively large amount for a
foreign film in the US.
House Of Flying Daggers has done less well, managing
around $10m (£5m).
Zhang says he had already noticed aspects of Asian
films in Western cinema, particularly since the success of Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon in 2000.
"To Western audiences, Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon, for example, is seen as something very refreshing - to see man-powered
flight.
"But now there are more and more of these kinds
of films, American movies have also begun to adopt these kinds of scenes with
people flying.
"So after watching lots of these films, people
will get used to seeing this exaggerated artistic style, and it won't be so
strange any more."
Zhang says he believes appreciation for a film can be
"universal", pointing out that people who had "no idea"
about Emperor Qin had enjoyed Hero.
"What attracts them, I believe, is the movie's
form, the use of colour, its music," he says. "They are attracted by
the mood of the movie."
Universal appeal
Zhang says film-goers can also gain "cultural and
historical information" from his work.
"Western audiences can gain an impression of
China from my films. This is an excellent channel for promoting China's
culture," he says.
But he adds: "Many things, feelings especially,
are common to all human beings.
"As long as the film appeals to universal human
feelings, all audiences will enjoy it."
Before Hero and House Of Flying Daggers, Zhang did not
have the budget to make large-scale, epic pictures.
His previous films included the low-budget, though
critically-acclaimed, Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern.
However, he says Hero's success does not mean he will
now become solely interested in major productions.
"When I look back at the times I shot artistic
movies, I found I learnt quite a lot from them.
"So in the future, I hope to do both - make more
personal films which I prefer; and in certain circumstances, I will shoot some
other commercial movies like these two." - BBC
NEWS 10 March, 2005
RESTAURANTS
Our good friend and international gourmand BENJAMIN
LUNG invited us to the opening of yet another one of his another winning
restaurants in Asia. 
has saved a few invitations.
Here's the one from opening Va Bene Hangchow in
December 2003.
Ben who some remember when he lived in Vancouver in the 80's and
used to ski at Whistler with us already has fabulous Gaia Restaurant
in the Western District of Hong Kong with chef-
partner from Ritz Carlton's Toscana, as well Va Bene in
Lan Kwai Fong, Hangchow and Shanghai. He is one of the few Asians
who has a 'balanced' life and which could be attributed to his partnership in
life with wife Kit-May, who was raised in Ottawa. Can
you believe she's living in Hong Kong now, land one of city's chi-chi Tai Tai
set! A vivacious and kind person, she makes Tai Tai's visits a joy.
She is great mom too.
