According to the Associated Press article "Chinese Company Demands Edits to 'Transformers'"

at https://www.yahoo.com/movies/chinese-company-demands-edits-to-transformers-89470539152.html

The hotel was promised that they would hold the premiere and that

It was also said that it is unclear if Paramount was in on this deal or if it was done through Chinese partners only.

If this indeed was part of the contract then I can see why they are disappointed, but if Paramount wasn't involved then they probably should deal with it with the Chinese partners only.

It would seem that the premiere, merchandise, and exhibit was written in a contract somewhere. Possibly they advertised the movie exhibit and are seeing it as a loss if people don't want to stay there because there won't actually be an exhibit.

 

Interesting, a revision has been made to one report:
Chinese hotel suspends cooperation for new 'Transformers' movie*-*Los Angeles Times
"1:34 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the investment company behind the Pangu Plaza hotel is suing Paramount Pictures. The investment company's complaint names Chengxin and Jia Fu China Limited, not Paramount."

Now it's starting to become clear what their actual complaint was. Earlier the complaint was supposedly that the buildings didn't receive enough promotion and "full value" of their investment in the film, but if they were promised a Premiere + 8 months of marketing by one of the Chinese partners and didn't receive it, then hell yes that's an issue.

Also explains why some reports said the lawsuit was extended to Paramount's other Chinese partners. And why they would count it as a financial loss, as their compensation for funding the project wasn't the hotel being seen in the movie, it was what would happen after the movie was released.

That looks a lot less like a money grab and more like a legitimate complaint.

 

if that's the case then the hotel has legit complaints, i guess exhibition is the contention point, merchandizing is super easy, it's not like paramount/hasbro couldn't allocate some stocks from their chinese factories. the middleman sponsorship agency over promised the hotel and now can't deliver, telling paramount to edit out their building/logo still seems like a stupid move though.

 

This is kind of the reasoning I don't like product placement this much.

 

I rather say unstable product placements. Product placements are good in promoting the movie and the product itself, but problems like this arise when there are culture boundaries, which brings mass confusion.

 

That's actually a pretty interesting update!

 

feels like a tentative to riping off money from the production in my opinion....
sort of blackmailing, whatever happens, they wont see another blockbuster coming to make shots in china for some time given all the problems they seems to do....

 

True, now that the reports are being clarified it does look like they have a legitimate complaint. It looks like the Chinese partners did not live up to their end of the deal.

It seems a bit harsh calling for SARTF to suspend or stop the Chinese release of the film though. Chengxin and Jia Fu China Limited should be held accountable to Pangu Plaza hotel, but to keep the movie from the rest of China wanting to see the film seems a bit much.

Also, would the CGI edits cost much money? I am guessing Chengxin and Jia Fu China Limited might need to foot that bill as well if Paramount is sufficiently pissed off at the whole situation.

I wonder if Chengxin and Jia Fu China Limited agrees on compensating Pangu immediately if they would want to stay in the film. This whole thing is a shame but being in the film would be good publicity.

 

No, China's government is not a meritocracy. It's a single-party post-communist combination of communism and capitalism. It doesn't fit neatly into any one "class" of governmental type.

 

Well, this new update is interesting!

So basically, the hotel is suing another Chinese entity who made promises that they had no legal right to make....so the hotel does indeed have a legitimate complaint, just not against Paramount.

Very interesting. Totally different situation than any of us thought.

Sadly, due to the history that China has with theft, lawsuits, etc, I jumped to conclusions about what was going on here.....should have waited for more information, though that initial report seemed pretty concrete.

I guess it shows two things: "The first report is always wrong" is totally accurate (it's a military saying that's been around forever), and....well...China's reputation is already pretty badly tarnished.

Hopefully China can slowly turn public perception around, but it'll take decades. South Korea managed to do it (30 years ago their vehicles were basically crap, but now they're competitive with the best in the world), and I'm sure China will eventually too. They just need to stop stealing everybody elses stuff and come up with something of their own....which won't happen until the Chinese government stops funding programs that make it easier to steal than invest in R&D. They'll get there eventually I'm sure.

 

Hard to know if it'd cost money, since we don't know how the hotel's image was used in the film yet. :/ Perhaps they hope they can get a mini Premiere if the film's release date in China is extended?

Dunno why this situation is so interesting- guess it just sheds more light on who/what Chinese partners invested in AOE.

I do hope they get their filming/prop memorabilia like promised. That would be a fantastic display to have inside a hotel.

 

The Update clears things up.

It sounds like the Chinese companies made promises to the hotels owners it likely knew would never be kept to secure the hotel to appear in the movie.

I hope they get some manner of satisfaction in this mess.

 

Nice random caps. Also, seems this isn't true at all, eh? But it is a nice thought.

 

Opportunistic cretins.

 

Thanks for the update Waffles. And I agree, it does sound more like a legitimate complaint than a money grab. I certainly hope everything can be worked out between them.

 

This is stupid. It'd be nice to hear more details, but either way, it's stupid. No surprise that this sort of company is feeling entitled. Pathetic. Although I'm sure Paramount have their fair share of the blame, too, but I don't care. I

f this affects the movie in any way, I'm going to be pissed. People may think it's not a big deal to have a few seconds of a scene cut out, but I disagree. I want to see the film in its entirety. I don't want ANY missing content. That's stupid. It's like how the ROTF IMAX content was exclusive to one of the retailers (I forgot who - was it Wal-Mart or Best Buy or someone like that? I dunno), and only watchable in cinemas if you went to IMAX. I don't care what anyone says - that few seconds is still part of the experience, good or bad.

 

Bay should send them an apology letter laced in his own feces.

 

It's amazing how many of you are so quick to condemn this Hotel without even hearing specific details.

There used to be a time when a big movie company wasn't seen as innocent or beyond sin, but I guess we're a lot more misty eyed today?  

Seriously, if I read one more, "They better not take away my Transformers! Nuh-UH!" comments...  

Personally, I'm leaning toward the, "they portrayed the hotel as a villain base" theory, since so many car manufacturers were dead set against their cars being villains. But the report about the premier being promised to them is pretty intriguing, too, so I'd love to hear EXACTLY what Paramount promised and what they failed to deliver on.

Without specifics, one does have to wonder if this group isn't trying to extort money or offers from Paramount... but then again, spilling everything to the media all at once like that would eradicate a lot of their bargaining power.

 

One of the morals of this story is that many of us, including me, are fast to jump to conclusions.

The other is that Paramount should watch out who they deal with in the future in China.
The next movie there should be Marco Polo, so i hope they learned from this one.