'Age of Extinction' crisis resolved

The legal crisis over Michael Bay's latest sci-fi action film Transformers: Age of Extinction (Transformers: AoE) took a dramatic turn Monday afternoon as Paramount Pictures and Beijing Pangu Investment Inc held a joint press conference in Beijing titled "Celebration before the Premiere."

Only 15 minutes long, the event, however, indicated a mend in the relationship between Paramount, one of the major production companies behind Transformers: AoE, and the Chinese investment consultant, management and real estate company Pangu.

Last Friday, Pangu held a press conference announcing that it was ending its cooperation with Transformers: AoE due to what it referred to as "contract fraud." The company demanded scenes featuring Pangu be deleted from the movie, wrote to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) asking for the film to be delayed or prevented from being shown in the Chinese mainland and announced they were taking the dispute to domestic courts (See also: Monday's issue of the Global Times page 17).

Before the conference there were already signs that relations between the two sides had taken a turn for the better; trailers for Transformers: AoE could be seen on the big screens at Pangu Plaza, a hotel and shopping complex located in Beijing, and on Sunday night a giant model of the Transformer Bumblebee was moved from another exhibition located at Beijing's Qianmen area to the entry of the Pangu 7 Star Hotel located at the plaza.

Reporters began getting calls Monday morning that there would be a "Celebration" at the Pangu 7 Star Hotel that afternoon at 4 pm. However, it was not until around 6 pm that the conference actually began.

A group of four of the Transformers: AoE crew made an appearance: Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, one of the producers of the movie, director Michael Bay and lead actor Jack Reynor, together with Norman Song, general manager of the Pangu 7 Star Hotel Beijing.

"We did have some misunderstandings before due to a third party," Song said in his opening statement. "After close communication and discussion over these past few days, we have reached an accord with Paramount. Both of us expect Transformers to be released on time on June 27."

He also stressed that Pangu and Paramount will deepen their cooperation, and that both sides hope their joint efforts can stimulate more cooperation between private Chinese companies and Hollywood.

Agreeing that this was a "misunderstanding," both Bay and Moore explained that they were happy with their previous cooperation with Pangu and that they wished to move forward together.

"I want to put all this misunderstanding aside and just celebrate the great movie that we shot in China. I hope everyone enjoys it," Bay said, after sharing his experiences shooting in China.

In a later explanation to the media, Lü Tao, CEO of Pangu, further explained that the previous misunderstanding was caused by two inconsistent three-party contracts - a Chinese one signed by Pangu, Jia Fu China and Beijing Chengxin Shengshi Sports and Culture Development Company, and an English one that Zhou Ning, founder of Chengxin Shengshi, signed with Paramount and Jiaflix in Pangu's name without authorization.

Considering both sides "victims," Lü said Pangu was moved by Paramount's proactive attitude in rectifying the misunderstanding and was now willing to "make some compromises," such as canceling their application to the SAPPRFT and not insisting that the Pangu Plaza be featured in the movie for a specific amount of time.

As for the company's relationship with Zhou, Lü stated that Pangu still reserves the right to take the issue to court as they still believe what he has done falls under "contract fraud."