BEIJING - As trade tariffs and tweets by President Donald Trump hammer some of China's biggest companies, the country's movie business is taking a hit - from its own government.
The chill has spread to some of China's most globally recognised filmmakers, bankable names that cinema operators have relied on for hits. The film was anticipated to be a crowd-puller and a critical success that could help restore momentum for local fare. With the US-China trade tensions in the backdrop, the department overseeing films in China is widening the window for overseas pictures as a way to help cinema owners fill seats.Prime movie-going periods like big national holidays and summer are usually reserved for local fare.
Studios have lobbied China to raise that number and to sweeten the revenue-sharing arrangement under which they take in about 25 per cent of box-office sales, significantly less than in North America and other markets. In the previous year, the top four films were all Chinese, led by action film Operation Red Sea and the comedy Detective Chinatown 2".
She re-emerged with an apology published on social media and an agreement to repay more than US$100 million in tax and penalties.