Western film companies in Asia

Stephen Cremin asianfilmlibrary
Fri Feb 23 17:25:52 EST 2001


I'm specifically talking about production and acquisition, not distribution.
 Sony Columbia TriStar set up in Hong Kong with high ambitions, bought up
two Zhang Yimou films, put money into CTHD and now have several other
Chinese projects in various stages of production.  This is the strategy that
Warner and Miramax are following in the region and why Paramount are so keen
to get their foot in.  Of course, a large part of the interest here is in
getting Western films into China: hence Warner's sponsorship of Chinese film
festival events in London, etc.  But CTHD - which I think is over the
US$100m mark internationally - is going to make US studios and mini-majors
take Asia more seriously on the production side.  And I think recent moves
by Miramax in the last week highlight this change: acquiring Tsui Hark's THE
LEGEND OF ZU (starring Zhang Ziyi), chasing King Hu's library (another CTHD
connection) for remake or acquisition, bringing in Dede from Warner who
specifically has a production brief.

So, what I'm interested in is how Western film companies in Asia is directly
influencing the kind of Asian films being made through financing and
secondarily through acquisition, specifically following CTHD.  But however
big or small the impact will be, I don't feel that - BROTHER notwithstanding
- anybody is seriously considering Japan as a viable talent pool.  There's
long been the argument that the festival market has distorted the Asian film
stylistically (whether you agree or not) but the fact that Wong Kar-wai,
Tsai Ming-liang, Chen Kaige, Park Kwang-su, etc, have international
financing - primarily from Japan and France - certainly dictates casting if
nothing else.  And Japanese and French financing of Taiwanes film - out in
full force in Berlin - has certainly had a huge impact, if only that it
allows Hou, Tsai and Lin to keep working.  I'm not judging whether this is
healthy or unhealthy because its not such a simple issue.

Mark's recent review of BROTHER in The Japan Times - link below - came to
the conclusion that Kitano's film is extremely unlikely to have the CTHD
effect.  And apart from Nakata Hideo and Miike Takashi's next projects,
funded from Hong Kong and Korea respectively, and Mirovision in Korea
stepping in as sales agent for a couple of Japanese films from Nakahara Shun
and Kurosawa Kiyoshi, I don't see external funding entering the Japanese
industry.  So what kind of Japanese films are we going to see distributed in
the west in the next five years?  How is Western and Asian funding entering
the Japanese industry going to affect the kind of films produced?  You can
still see Japanese film in Hong Kong but the RING days are over; and in
Korea NAAUSICA and AVALON missed expectations by a mile; SWALLOWTAIL
BUTTERFLY is around the corner with an April release in Korea but I really
don't know if it will find an audience.

AUDITION is coming out in London soon.  BATTLE ROYALE in a few months. 
TOKYO DECADENCE in perhaps June.  Korean film THE ISLE too.  But all of
these films have something in common: they're all famous for their shock
value.  I'm just concerned that a couple of years from now that's all we'll
see: Japanese Cannes/Venice winners or films that send the audiences out to
beat up the projectionists.  Well, my thoughts haven't really been thought
through yet and still half-formed.  But that's why I'm curious about Western
film companies in Asia.

Stephen


PS: Miike is in London doing press interviews for AUDITION.  Seven in a row
yesterday and more today which is remarkable, and suggests that there could
be a lot of press coverage.  Fingers crossed.

>JAPAN TIMES
Mark Schilling reviews Kitano Takeshi's BROTHER which, in contrast to
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, is "about as non-Hollywood as you can get"
and whose "attempts at crowd-pleasing sensationalism are almost touchingly
old-fashioned" compared to BATTLE ROYALE: "American mall rats ... may buy
the severed digits, but not the chopped-up narrative or chopped-down
performances."  While BROTHER "has its moments of lyricism and pathos", "it
never develops momentum either as a thriller or an essay on East-West
friendship".  Schilling concludes that "Kitano may have gone to America, but
he clearly needed to get out more."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ff20010220a3.htm


----------
>From: Lori Hitchcock <lohitchc at indiana.edu>
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: Re: Western film companies in Asia
>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 16:15:51 -0500 (EST)
>

>MPAA also has a substantial presence in Japan, under the auspices of its
>global branch, MPA, which recently relocated its headquarters to Hong Kong
>from Singapore.  Represented under MPA are Buena Vista, MGM, Paramount,
>Sony Pics, 20C Fox, Universal, and Time Warner (MPA is primarily engaged
>in copyright protection for US films overseas, but is a pretty tough
>negotiator for market share in general - with China, as Stephen says,
>representing the Promised Land - as Jack Valenti's trip to China awhile
>back suggests).
>
>These are the lovely people we have to thank for DVD region encoding, btw.
>
>Lori
>
>On Fri, 23 Feb 2001, Shoji Yumiko wrote:
>
>> As far as I know, of course, major Western film companies have their 
>> offices in Tokyo, such as Warner Brothers Japan, Universal Pictures, Buena 
>> Visa, etc. 
>> 
>> (this is a Japanese site, but pls. take a look at 
>> http://www.nazuna.com/~bun/.  This is a list of major 
>> distributing/production companies in Japan.  Japanese local companies are 
>> also included.)
>> 
>> However, I am not sure whether these subsiriaries in Tokyo are also 
>> controlling over Asian market and responsible for merger and acquisition or 
>> not.  
>> 
>> 
>> >From: "Stephen Cremin" <asianfilmlibrary at mac.com>
>> >Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> >To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> >Subject: Western film companies in Asia
>> >Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 16:03:59 +0000
>> >
>> >Miramax have relocated their Asian office to Beijing.  Sony Columbia 
>> TriStar
>> >is based in Hong Kong.  Buena Vista (Disney) have their main setup in
>> >Singapore.  Peppermint (German sales agent with new focus on Asian film)
>> >have offices in Kuala Lumpur.  Does any major Western film company have
>> >their main Asian offices for acquisition and development in Tokyo?
>> >
>> >This is quite an important issue.  Because everyone is coming - with the
>> >exception of Paramount who for a long time have been rumoured to be 
>> looking
>> >for an executive in Asia - but basing themselves around China to look for
>> >stories, new directors, literary properties, etc.  Although Barbara 
>> Robinson
>> >at Columbia has "spies" all over the region, does the success of CTHD mean
>> >that China will be the only cultural gateway to Asia?
>> >
>> >Stephen
>> 
>> _________________________________________________________________________
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>> 
>> 
>
>




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