When someone mentioned skyscraper, it would definitely associate with Hong Kong. Skyscraper is an important signature of Hong Kong, a city with huge population on very scarce land. One of a famous movie Skyscraper (2018) was co-produced in both Hong Kong and US. As co-production brought actors from different nations together and created multinational masterpieces in global film market, it was large opportunities for film makers, directors and the actors. Dwayne Johnson is one of my favourite actors who played a significant role in Skyscraper, the co-production movie. Johnson’s action extravaganza, Skyscraper, represents Hollywood’s clearest attempt yet to capitalise on his massive appeal in the Middle Kingdom. There’s no doubt that he is the biggest movie star on the planet and a dying breed that can practically guarantee certain box office success!
Why did the movie Skyscraper set the background in Hong Kong? The architectural rendering of the 225-storey tall skyscraper was based on Chinese inspirations. According to the New York Post, “tasked with envisioning the architectural wonder at the centre of the Hong Kong-set Skyscraper, production designer Jim Bissell and his team researched local myths for inspiration and came upon a Chinese fable they could work with”. In the movie, some Chinese actors would speak Cantonese like Byron Mann, who was born in Hong Kong. The audience of Hong Kong local people would feel surprised when they heard about their own language in the US movie. Co-production treaties help embracing cultural differences in different countries which could surely attract the audience in global market and access to third-country market.
China has numerous formal co-production treaties, such as ‘The Agreement on Sino-Italy Film Co-Production’ (2004) and ‘The Agreement on Sino-South Korea Film Co-Production’ (2014). These agreements encourage co-production between Chinese film makers and the producers from other nations to ensure the profit and the projects treated as local content.
However, there isn’t all roses.
Every country has their own cultural background. Creating a co-production film is not that simple. As not to offend the local culture of the other nation, the film makers from different countries should do many searches and cultural analyse of those nation. For instance, Muslims don’t eat pork due to their belief. If the movie actor ate pork in that country while shooting, it would blamed by their government seriously and lost the audience from different country quickly. Also, the costs of co-ordinating co-productions seem to be larger the greater the cultural distance between the partners. The shooting costs would be increased if both partners were involved in the shooting with recording locations in both countries.
Loss of control and cultural specificity are large drawbacks. Some film makers may be concerned that the cultural integrity of the movie produced is ruined. It leads to the destroy of financial problem or artistic aspects. Take Mulan (2020) as an example, it isn’t a successful Chinese co-production movie. China Film Insider reported that their examination of the China Film Bureau had been revealed that the live-action Mulan film would be a “Chines-assisted production” instead of a “Chinese co-production”. The biggest distinction sees films receive only a 25% return on box office revenue while the latter can return up to 50%.
What’s more, language preference is one likely example that can absorb or disgust the audience in different countries. The Chinese main character Liu Yifei, acted as Mulan, who spoke English in whole movie. The plot of the film took place in China during the Han dynasty but none of the Chinese characters spoke Cantonese or PuTongHua. I feel greatly disappointed as a Chinese audience since I don’t have the sense of belonging of listening Chinese language from that movie.
At last, film co-production is huge opportunities for the government, film makers and the actors. It can gather plenty of talented people from different cultural backgrounds to finish co-production movies and achieve the goal of embracing cultural differences. Although there’re some drawbacks or risks, film co-production is still a potential method for stepping in the global market.
Reference:
- Julian, M. (2018, July 5). Runtime Error. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://toonado.com/movies/disneys-live-action-mulan-wont-be-a-chinese-co-production-a265
- 2018 film by Rawson Marshall Thurber. (2019, October 13). Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper_(2018_film)
- Katz, B. (2018, June 27). Nothing Can Stop Dwayne Johnson—Not Even the Chinese Government. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://observer.com/2018/06/dwayne-johnson-box-office-skyscraper-china-release/
- Lee, J. (2018, July 13). How Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson rules the Chinese box office. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/how-dwayne-rock-johnson-rules-chinese-box-office-n890916
- CHINAFILMINSIDER. (2018, July 3). Headlines from China: Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Won’t Be A China Co-production. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from http://chinafilminsider.com/headlines-from-china-disneys-mulan-wont-be-a-china-co-production/
- 2020 film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. (2019, October 14). Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(2020_film)
- China Co-Production Treaties | China Hollywood Society. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2019, from http://www.chinahollywood.org/china-co-production-treaties
- China Film Co-Production Corporation. (n.d.). China-International Film Co-Production Handbook. Retrieved from https://www.mpa-apac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Co-Production_Handbook_English.pdf
- Birsin, S. (2016, February 8). Risks And Advantages Of Co-Production Agreements – Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment – Turkey. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from http://www.mondaq.com/turkey/x/464396/broadcasting+film+television+radio/Risks+And+Advantages+Of+CoProduction+Agreements
- McFadyen, S. (1970, January 1). The Effect of Cultural Differences on the International Co-production of Television Programs and Feature Films | McFadyen | Canadian Journal of Communication. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1063/969>
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