Hidden Costs of Transformers 4 Chinese Success Story

An article from The Hollywood Reporter look at the hidden costs of Transformers: Age of Extinction's success in the China market. The movie ended its three week run (limited by law in China for foreign films) at a record breaking $317 million. On paper that sounds great but it turns out that Paramount might be lucky to recover even 25% of that total ($79.25M). Part of that is because around 50% of the gross is split between the studio and China. Another reason is what sounds like a system designed with graft and payouts in mind. "In China, there are often multiple parties involved [in film projects]," says one executive, citing as an example director Zhang Yimou's upcoming film Coming Home. "There must be 20 different companies involved in the movie, though it's all financed by one company," he adds. "It's incredibly labyrinthian and impossible to understand."
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