Top grossing 'Transformers 4' hit by lawsuit
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 8, 2014
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A snapshot of "Transformers 4" |
Hubei Zhou Heiya Food Co. Ltd., which makes and sells duck food products, was also dissatisfied when it only appeared in the film for several seconds on top of a rooftop refrigerator.
"Our company is not happy," said Hao Lixiao, the deputy general manager of Zhou Heiya. "They promised that our products would make an impressive appearance, like an actor holding it. But it didn't happen, audience will not notice it easily and it wasn't worth the seven-figure dollar sum we paid." He told Chongqing Morning Post that they are also consulting with lawyers.
More than 10 Chinese brands have their placements in "Transformers 4," as the robot franchise was often ridiculed by critics as the longest commercial advertisement ever for cars, Hasbro toys and U.S. military forces.
Developed by the Hasbro toy company, "Transformers" have a huge fan base in China since its cartoon series was introduced to the country in the 1980s. All three "Transformers" movies saw impressive box office returns in China, and "Transformers 3" even grossed 1.01 billion yuan (US$175.79 million) alone in Chinese mainland, the biggest overseas market for the installment.
"Transformers 4" went even further. It debuted on June 27 and had smashed all of China's previous box office records, including the biggest opening day, the biggest single day and the biggest opening weekend. The moneymaking machine shows no sign of slowing down, and continues to set the biggest second weekend record and all-time record, while observers in the film industry said it is on its way to pull in a haul of 2 billion yuan (US$320 million) in China.
Nevertheless, the film was met with negative reviews and didn't gross as well in the rest of the world as it did in China. In its homeland of the United States, "Transformers 4" only grossed US$37.1 million in its second weekend, a 63 percent drop from previous weekend, which made the whole U.S. movie market the worst Independence Day weekend since 1999.
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