Yahoo Movies Ip Man 3 Distributor Exposed For Manipulating Chinese Box Office
Beijing Max Screen have been punished by Chinese authorities for faking the box office takings for their latest cinema release, ‘Ip Man 3′.
According to Variety, the distribution company will be banned from releasing any films for an entire month as punishment, which will surely have a knock-on effect further down the line, especially for filmmakers themselves.
A special panel was set up to investigate the initial figures for the third ‘Ip Man’ movie after it was reported to have taken $70 million in its first three day. It was only after these figures were announced that other distributors became suspicious and an investigation was launched.
Apparently, Max Screen have now admitted to buying up $8.61 million of tickets to its own movie to give false stats that bumped the number of screenings by an additional 7,600, referred to as ‘ghost screenings’.
SAPPRFT, the investigating body behind the fraudulent activity, say three online agencies and 73 cinemas were involved in the deception, and will all be subsequently named and shamed in their report that’ll publish shortly.
State news agency Xinhua say that “Dozens of cinemas received punishment, ranging from warnings to removal of funding support and business suspension, for box office fraud in 2015.”
“Earlier this year, authorities launched a campaign targeting box office misconduct, unlicensed copying and recording of films as well as poor screening quality,” they go on to say.
It’s surprising that not only were the distribution company prepared to inflate their figures, but that ticket sellers and, indeed, the cinemas would be involved with fixing numbers for the Donnie Yen sequel.
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Picture credit: Dreams Salon Entertainment Culture
