On September 20, Hollywood giant Warner Bros. Entertainment and China Media Capital (CMC) announced a groundbreaking team-up. The two consortiums said they have entered into an agreement to form a joint venture, the “Flagship Entertainment Group”, to strike the global film market with high-quality Chinese-language movies. The new entity will be headquartered in Hong Kong. Two additional offices will also open in Los Angeles and Beijing. With the support of Warner Bros.’ global market expertise, Flagship Entertainment hopes to be able to distribute a wide-range of films on a global scale. The first projects under the new company could be released as early as 2016. According to official statements, Warner Bros. holds 49 percent of Flagship Entertainment’s stake, while CMC holds the rest. Ten percent of CMC’s stakes are held by Hong Kong’s largest broadcaster, TVB. TVB chairman Charles Chan (陳國強) stated that he hopes the new collaboration will give Hong Kong’s entertainment industry a boost of creativity. He said, “China Media Capital is one of China’s most outstanding media and entertainment firms. Warner Bros. is one of the world’s leading entertainment and film companies. [TVB] is very excited to be able to collaborate with both of them, and I believe that through this collaboration, we can gain brand new creative ideas and bring our productions to another level.” TVB CEO Mark Lee (李寶安) expressed that TVB is very honored to be able to take part of such a big project. He hopes that through Flagship Entertainment, TVB will be able to learn more about the ways of the film industry. As investments on film are usually very flexible, he is unsure how much TVB will be investing on Flagship’s upcoming movies, but he promises that the amount “will be huge.” As for whether or not TVB artistes will also be part of Flagship’s upcoming films, Mark Lee said it depends on whether the roles will be suitable for them. Because CMC and Warner Bros. only recently announced their joint venture, details about Flagship’s upcoming film, including casting information, will not be revealed until later. Hong Kong filmmaker Andrew Lau (劉偉強), president of Hong Kong’s Directors’ Guild, said he looks forward to see new talents developing in Hong Kong. He expressed, “The Hong Kong film industry really needs new talents. We need more architects, lighting technicians, makeup artists, costume artists. The Hong Kong film industry has been on a downhill trip these past few years because we are short on people. If the new headquarters will be stationed at Hong Kong, that can convince investors and other directors to return to Hong Kong to do more local movies.” Actor Louis Koo (古天樂) is very excited about the new company. “First off, this could really help bring Asian films to a more global scale. With this venture, I hope more audiences would be able to appreciate Asian films. I hope that this new collaboration can bring more originality and comprehensiveness to Asian and Hong Kong movies.” Creds: ihktv
I wonder if it's because they pay them crap?? The bad more money laundry for China.... The good bring out the spot light on HK talent and hopefully some better movies will start to come out again.
mmmm.... hope there's some variety in the movies... i'm over the cop/police/investigation theme ones already....
Just because the joint venture is headquarters in HK does not necessarily mean any of the movie production will be located in HK and or movie production related resources and jobs will be generated in HK. I suspect because it is a joint venture between a Mainland company and a US company, HK is a neutral legal jurisdiction and the laws are more transparent and established unlike that in the Mainland. I would suspect the tax structure is also more favourable in HK.
This is going to be a sad day for Chinese downloaders in the US. If WB is involved, that puts it into the realm of the MPAA, such that even a dedicated server for Chinese material (like Pserve) wouldn't be safe anymore.
