- How China is changing Hollywood.
Do you know the last time you watched one of those
blockbuster movies, blockbuster Hollywood movies?
They were probably funded by China.
So, what is going on and what's happening to Hollywood?
- All right.
Dan, Jennie.
So we went to watch Transformers 4 together.
It was a great movie.
It was a blockbuster.
- Yes.
- Had a lot of audience watching it.
Gotta ask you a question.
What was one of the things that you noticed about the movie
that really stood out for you?
- More than one, multiple things.
(laughing)
When there was a UFO and then drinking the Schupan milk
- [Jennie] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Very awkward, kind of, commercial advertising there.
And what else?
There were a few different scenes.
- I think one is about the car.
- The car, yep.
- And then, another one, is they were fighting in the park.
- Yeah the park, yes, in the park.
and, also, there was a jewelry store.
Lukfook, right?
I saw the Lukfook.
(laughing)
- You saw that?
- I remember that, yep, that was pretty interesting.
It's a jewelry company from Hong Kong, right?
And, also, there was a little
Not a bus, a train.
Where the Transformers was going through it
and then it was like, Victoria's Secret.
(laughing)
Right?
It's there for like a split of a second.
- [Jennie] You think they paid money for that?
- I think they paid money for that.
No, hell.
I'm sure they paid money for that.
(laughing)
- Most definitely.
- So what is happening?
You notice in Hollywood, even now
from before we're talking about back in the Bruce Lee days
and now we have Jackie Chan and then Chow Yun-Fat.
We have Jett Li.
We have now Donnie Yen.
They're all going to Hollywood.
And you notice in Hollywood, maybe it's a stereotype
somehow that the actors who made it big in Hollywood
they're all action stars, right?
They're all action fighters so not just actors, but action.
Why is that though?
- [Jennie] I think it starts with Bruce Lee, right?
- [Dan] Yes, yeah.
- The vision always western people have this thing
about the Chinese Kung-fu.
- Yes, that's true.
- So they're really good at fighting.
- It is true, it is true.
- Somehow.
- I think also the Chinese culture
the Chinese people, they take a lot of pride
into being good at martial arts.
- Yes.
- So that's something that they know
that they can contribute
and always brings a high level of entertainment in movies.
- Yes and it's also, I think
it's funny, when I was going through high school
at the time I didn't know Chinese Kung-fu yet
but people thought I know Kung-fu because I'm Chinese.
You eat rice and you know Kung-fu.
That kind of stuff right
it's just the way they think of you.
Good and bad because sometimes they don't mess you around.
- It's funny because I remember
when I was in Elementary school
and I think I was one of the three asian kids in the school.
- Yes.
- I was the only one with one other friend
who spoke a little bit of Chinese, right?
So I remember going to school and one of the kids said
"Hey, do you have nunchucks?
"Can you bring some nunchucks to school tomorrow?
(laughing)
- You want some chopsticks with that too?
- Honestly at the time
I didn't even know what nunchucks are.
Like what are nunchucks?
Are they like chopsticks?
He's like no, these kind of things
where you twirl them around.
I'm like I don't have those.
(laughing)
I just remember being like this is so awkward.
- Yes, yes.
- As a girl, right?
- As a girl.
That's how they think.
But in terms of what is happening in Hollywood
you notice maybe a lot of blockbuster movies
we're talking Transformers, Mission Impossible
we're talking Fast & The Furious.
You notice in the beginning of the credit
it shows a few companies from China.
Now what is happening in terms of why
Chinese companies or corporations from China
they're funding these big blockbuster movies.
Why is that?
- I think for start with, right now the
real estate industry has become really hard
and I wouldn't say it's dying but
- More difficult to make money.
- Really, really difficult
because the land, they're very limited
and then they cannot afford more land
and the price has gone up so much
and a lot of companies they cannot do this by themselves.
They have to work together.
So for the big companies like Wanda Group
- The largest in China.
- The largest in China, they're basically
start selling their expertise other than buying more land
so with companies where I do the management
but you guys provide the land so we do this together.
And then in a way I think the policy
of the government changing right now
they are looking for the next generation
kind of the future business industry
which is probably not going to be real estate any more
it's gonna be entertainment.
- And I can also see because the whole retail
the way people shop and buy has changed
so before they go in their shops
but now a lot buy Alibaba online, eBay
- Oh yeah it's crazy.
- It's Amazon, obviously.
But I think in China they notice that
that's why they build these mega malls
which really is around food and entertainment.
So massive theater, right?
- Which is Wanda.
- Wanda group, he kind of came up with that concept.
- They all have a small, there is a huge huge theater.
- Theater, yeah.
And then Wanda group also bought, which company?
- AMC.
- AMC, all the theaters in the US
and also they bought the Legendary entertainment
which is a big production company
you've seen it produced the Dark Knight trilogy
Inception-
- Jurassic World.
- Yeah Jurassic World I believe
so you've seen their films obviously.
So they're doing that but I think from
a business model point of view it's kind of interesting
because they know
I don't know if you know this if you're watching this
unlike North America, in China the types of film
being allowed to play in theaters are very limited.
I think every year they only allow certain amount
I forgot the exact number.
- I think it was around 50 - 60.
- 50 - 60.
- Less than 100 for sure.
- 50/60 foreign films.
- I think maybe five years ago it was only 20-30.
- Yeah foreign films being played in China.
- That's including US, include Europe
all the countries.
- All the countries.
- Japan, Korea, all the countries.
- Yes, so just imagine if you are in Hollywood
you're making movies and you know
okay this new movie is gonna make X $200 million
in North America but probably they're gonna make another
$200/$300 million or more from China.
So that becomes a very important model.
- Yeah I think also goes back to why, you know
I think ten years ago Chinese was known for watching
what's that, the movie?
They're watching at home basically.
- Dramas.
- Dramas?
- No they can download the source.
- Like illegal download, torrent type, yeah.
- But now the newer generation now
they have more money.
- They don't mind going out there, spending money.
- So it's more become kind of like a routine.
- It's a social thing.
- Dating, social.
- Hang out with friends, let's go watch a movie.
So that's why those kind of movie theater
just start booming and they they're building the big ones
very, very nice theaters in every city
and the young generation go support a movie.
So it's very, very easy with that population
they make a lot of money with the movie.
That's why everything has to start it and of course
Hollywood sees big potential there
they're gonna take a piece.
- But also goes back to Wanda Group
and also Alibaba, right?
They went from even say more traditional industries
products or real estate, right?
- But Alibaba is not.
- Yeah Alibaba's not, but now more e-commerce
and now intellectual property, right?
It's a different industry.
I think it's also a way for them
to diversify their portfolio
and know that they need to think about it
from their point of view.
If they control all this from Wanda
control all the theaters in the US
and they can produce a movie
that they know is gonna sell
they know it will sell well in the US
and it will sell well in China
but if they can get some kind of sponsorship
advertising money, it's guaranteed to make money.
It's almost guaranteed to make money right?
- From a westerners point of view
let's say somebody in Canada or United States or Australia
they're watching these blockbusters
and to some degree I think there are some people
that really want to preserve and protect the art of film
so when they see sponsorships and all these models.
- Like awkward sponsorships.
- It's a bit of a turn off, right?
Especially some scenes where it's just not done tactfully.
Not tactfully at all.
- Come on Michael Bay you can do better than that.
- This drink and drink it slowly for about five seconds
it's very obvious so for some people
they're like oh man that really ruined that film for me
but at the same time, if you want to see a big blockbuster
you want to see the effects, you want to see
all this cool stuff, where is the money gonna come from?
- Yeah, yeah.
- And all these Chinese companies
they're willing to fund these movies, right?
So then there's your trade off.
- Yes, and I think also not just the money aspect
but I think from a culture perspective
many, many years ago, you don't see as much influence
but now you can see even directors, right?
- Yes.
- Life of Pie, right?
- Yeah, yeah, Ang Lee.
Ang Lee, right?
So you have amazing directors from Hong Kong
maybe from China, there's a lot of collaboration to be done.
- There's a lot of second generation Chinese now
movie directors.
- I do think long-term it's better for the industry
because everybody gets to share the culture
and just make better movies, better entertainment
for everybody.
Not just big picture, even YouTube.
Smaller production.
- Yes.
Wong Fu productions very popular.
- Wong Fu Production.
I'm a Chinese too, I'm making YouTube video, right?
- Yes and Wong Fu recently produced their parody version
of The Bachelorette so this is the funny version.
- Funny as hell.
- They made every single contestant on the show
the woman, the female, the one single
bachelorette is Caucasian but all the other contestants
are Asians and it's funny because it would start out
the girl would say, "I notice something is very different
"About these contestants"
(laughing)
- They're all fricking Chinese, yes.
- I believe there was one Caucasian guy
and they made it really funny
and he would complain like, hey guys
I don't feel like I'm getting any air time
and when he says air, he gets cut off.
(laughing)
So then they just kind of made him more non-existent
and it's just really another way to poke fun
at the current industry, the status it's at right now.
There isn't a lot of asian actors and actresses
in the industry, right?
For them to make something like that
to create some entertainment for us as viewers
but also at the same time to make a statement about that
in a funny way.
- Yes.
So what's your point of view?
Maybe when was the last time you watched a movie
and you saw the China influence?
Maybe the last movie you watched
maybe the movie you watched a month ago
maybe even on Netflix.
Comment below and share with us.
And also share with us where you think this is going
this is just our perspectives
this is where we see it is happening
how Chinese is influencing Hollywood
but share with us your perspective.
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