Recently in China Dream Category
United Press International - NewsTrack - Entertainment - 'Spider-Man 3' opens in China before U.S. Annotated
As international day-and-date releases have become more popular, the openings for U.S. films released in China, instead of trailing U.S. opening dates by months, have moved steadily closer to simultaneous release.
Hollywood studios are choosing to open anticipated blockbuster films in China on or near their worldwide premiere dates to thwart piracy efforts, Yuan said. Despite government crackdowns, pirated DVDs of first-run movies are widely available on China's streets for less than $1 a copy.
According to the Financial Times, Fox News Corp is looking to establish a social networking site for the mainland Chinese market with local partners.
Here are excerpts from related articles:
MySpace China planned by Murdoch's News Corp
The local partners - which could own up to 50 per cent - would help make the content suitable for a Chinese audience, Murdoch said, though it was unclear whether any particular aspects of the site might have to be curtailed due to government restrictions.
"MySpace is expanding beyond the United States market to Europe and Asia, and is investigating and assessing opportunities in various markets including China," said Chen Yonghong, public relation director for News Corp's Beijing representative office. "It is still at a very preliminary stage."
MySpace in China is likely to have local partners, who would own around 50 percent of the Chinese version, deal with complaints and ensure suitable content for Chinese audience, reported the Financial Times. MySpace is adding about 1.5 million users globally a week and has more than 100 million registered subscribers.
Before News Corp, Paris-based meetic.com, Europe's largest social networking Website, set up its Chinese version in July by working with YeeYoo.com, one of China's leading social networking service providers.
YeeYoo has more than 6.5 million registered users in China.
In the same article Wallace goes on to say:
Rupert Murdoch, who in early 2004 gave a speech proclaiming that "the potential for China to become a new global center for media and entertainment is slowly becoming more real." By last September, one month after Beijing's decision to re-tighten regulatory controls on foreign media, Murdoch was publicly lamenting that News Corp.'s China business had hit a "brick wall." When it came to foreign media, he complained, China's political leadership was "quite paranoid about what gets through."All this reminds me of what Simon Cowell remarked to Larry King in March this year when asked about the prohibition of "American Idol" like shows in China. Says Cowell:
"Well, because it's a democracy, isn't it? You know, I mean, it's the public voting. So you can understand why they're getting slightly nervous about it. Because it wasn't our show in China, it was the laughing cow, so-and-so, so-and-so competition. And the public got to vote. And suddenly there were demos, and it was democracy. And I think the government went, we don't want this. So then they put out a stupid comment like that. You know? It's that we must control the public. Crazy.
I am not a China believer, yet. AP reports on Chinese TV stations rampant piracy.
Chinese filmmakers accuse TV stations of film piracyExcerpts:
BEIJING — Chinese moviemakers are accusing Chinese TV stations of becoming part of the nation's thriving movie piracy industry.The Chinese Movie Copyright Association says TV stations here air up to 1,500 pirated Chinese movies a year, costing studios up to $9.4 million in lost revenues, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION HOSTS LANDMARK FILMMAKING WORKSHOP IN CHINA [PDF]
Excerpt:
"Beginning, Sunday, March 19, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) will host an intensive filmmaking workshop aimed at helping encourage and refine the sills of 40 Chinese producers and screenwriters...'Our goal in organizing these workshops in Beijing is to work with SARFT to help the local film industry work toward realizing the potential of a successful, legitimate film market that to date, has largely remained untapped."
