The Hollywood Reporter has released its third and final Hong Kong Filmart daily issue, including a look at Wanda’s road to recovery, an analysis of how the conflict between South Korea and China is affecting the film market, and an explainer on how the Philippines president is dividing the local film sector.
Wanda’s Next Moves
After breaking ground on the world’s biggest film studio, assembling the world’s largest movie theater chain and pledging to invest billions more in all six of the major Hollywood studios, Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group walked back a $1 billion takeover of Dick Clark Productions, which follows widespread industry skepticism over the steep $3.5 billion Wanda paid for Legendary Entertainment (Warcraft, The Great Wall). THR takes a look at the company’s next moves, as one exec says: “Wanda has a longterm stake in this business and one project or deal, up or down, will not affect that.”
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South Korea’s Stop
Entertainment companies have been caught in the crossfire of China and South Korea’s escalating political tensions, buyers and sellers at Hong Kong Filmart say. After Seoul pushed ahead with a recent decision to install a U.S.-made missile defense system — known as THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Areas Defense) — on the Korean peninsula, Beijing authorities retaliated by discretely signaling to local media companies that they should stop buying and broadcasting all South Korean content.
Divided by Duterte
Since taking office as the 16th president of the Philippines in June 2016, Rodrigo Duterte quickly became one of the most divisive leaders on the world stage. The film industry is as split as the country at large. Some are horrified by the killings, which many believe have included numerous innocent victims, and fear the country is in danger of becoming a pariah in the international community. But he’s also received surprising support from some of the most respected figures in the local film sector.
Click here to download the Day 3 PDF.
Click here to download the Day 2 PDF.
Click here to download the Day 1 PDF.
