Teo Cheng Wee

China Correspondent

BEIJING • If moviegoers arewondering what new offeringsHollywood studio LegendaryEntertainment might have in theworks now that it has been boughtby a Chinese corporation, theyneed not wait long.

Come Thanksgiving, audiencesworldwide will be treated to MattDamon and Andy Lau battlingmonsters on the Great Wall ofChina, in a fantasy flick whichLegendary mooted years before itsrecent acquisition by Dalian Wanda.

Although much of the plot hasbeen kept under wraps, we knowthat Oscar nominee Damon playsEuropean mercenary WilliamGarin, while Hong Kong

heart- throb Lau is StrategistWang, an alchemist andtechnological innovator.

With an army of Chinese warriorssplit into divisions such as Cranes,Bears, Deer and Eagles, theytransform the Great Wall into aweapon and defend humankindagainst the “other- worldly creatureshell- bent on devouring humanity”.

Despite the bizarre plot, industrywatchers are expecting it to be a hitin China, where films with localcultural elements, big- nameChinese stars and Hollywood- gradespecial effects often do well. It isalso the first English- language filmby celebrated Chinese directorZhang Yimou.

What observers are less certainabout is its reception abroad.

Therein lies the rub for sceptics,who believe Chinese tycoon WangJianlin’s US$3.5 billion (S$5 billion)purchase of Legendary is a flagrantattempt at boosting his country’ssoft power around the world.

Mr Wang has denied thischarge by pointing out that“government soft power belongs toanother sphere” and that his mainfocus is business.

Indeed, there are plenty ofcommercial reasons for Legendaryand Wanda to come together,without having to wade into therealm of geopolitical influence.

Wanda has the financial musclethat Legendary – which producedthe hugely successful JurassicWorld and the Dark Knight trilogy –needs in the risky film industry.

Meanwhile, Legendary providesfilm- making expertise, audienceknowledge and marketing savvy forthe Chinese conglomerate, which isthe biggest cinema operator in theworld. Furthermore, the new entitywould circumvent the quota thatChina’s government imposes onforeign studios and their films, withonly 34 of them allowed to bescreened every year to protectdomestic productions.

Chinese politics and film expertStan Rosen noted: “For the mostpart, I take Wang at his word.

“You don’t become China’srichest man by making badbusiness decisions.”

Yet, Mr Wang is also unlikely tobe oblivious to the call of hiscountry’s leaders, who highlightedin 2011 the “urgency for China to

strengthen its cultural soft powerand global cultural influence”.

How China sells on celluloidis the question. Domestically, itsmost concerted attempts wereamong its clumsiest, such asstuffing 150 local stars into theBeginning Of The Great Revival, anunwieldy 2011 film made tocelebrate the Communist Party’s90th birthday.

Faced with an unenthusiasticpublic, the Party reportedly bookedentire theatres to boost box- officefigures for the widely- panned film.

With its growing financial cloutand film market, which is set tobecome the world’s biggest in 2018,China now dangles incentives toHollywood through itsco- production scheme.

This allows studios to keep ahigher portion of box- officereceipts and have the film classifiedas non- foreign, if there are positive“Chinese elements”.

But from Iron Man 3 to Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation, muchof the results have beensuperfluous. Part of the film couldbe set in China, or a Chinese starmay be roped in for a short,

benevolent, non- speaking role,hardly a great leap forward.

As co- productions are notallowed to portray the country in abad light, China will feel it getsgreater control over externalrepresentations of the country.

Yet, if this is China’s vision of softpower through film, it is unlikely toget far. As its name suggests, softpower, unlike hardware, cannot bebought and purposed.

Whether it is Bruce Lee, JackieChan or Crouching Tiger, HiddenDragon, the most successful“Chinese” films and icons so farhave no official hand in them.

But the problem most experts seewith China’s overall push for softpower so far is that it has beenlimited by its belief that theauthorities are the main source ofit. On the contrary, soft powerusually comes from individuals, theprivate sector or civil society.

The more the governmentcontrols the projection of softpower, the less appeal it has.

Forget about propaganda films,even odd plot points are easilysniffed out by audienceseverywhere. Just ask the

unimpressed Chinese moviegoerswho watched Tony Stark receiveacupuncture in China’s version ofIron Man 3.

Said media expert Terry Flew ofQueensland University ofTechnology: “It’s hard to advanceChina’s soft power withoutcompelling media content.

“This is the area where the US stillpossesses a considerable edge.”

So while it may go against instinct,China would be better served notcapitalising too obviously on theopportunities that will come froma major Chinese companycontrolling a major Hollywoodstudio, instead leaving it free toproduce popular films worthy ofacclaim and prestige.

The good news is that Mr Wangseems aware of this. He has takencare to retain the experiencedhands in the companies he bought.

When he took over majorAmerican theatre operator AMC in2012, he kept its managementteam. Similarly, Legendary’sfounder and chief executiveThomas Tull will continue runningthe studio.

These moves present preciousopportunities for Chinese filmexecutives and crew to learnfrom some of Hollywood’s best,as they pick up skills that mighteventually help Chinese filmscompete regularly withHollywood flicks internationally.

The resulting expertise mightthen create the best soft powerexports for China – its own Kung FuPanda, if you will. Doraemon andJames Bond have no overt messagesto peddle, yet they have becomepowerful symbols of Japanese andBritish soft power respectively.

Said Prof Rosen: “If Wandasucceeds with Legendary, Mr Wangwould have built an internationalbrand name, which is another goalof Chinese soft power.

“So while he’s not using filmcontent directly to promote softpower, he’s promoting it in otherways.”

Legendary’s first film underWanda has not arrived yet.

But if China’s leaders want to helpthe cause, they should loosen theirgrip on narrative- making and letthe film industry grow organically.

For a government notaccustomed to giving up control,that might be harder than fightingmonsters on the Great Wall.

chengwee@sph.com.sg

Sceptics say Mr Wang’s US$3.5 billion (S$5 billion) purchase of Legendary Entertainment is a flagrant bid to boost hiscountry’s soft power around the world, but the tycoon has insisted his main focus is business, not politics. PHOTO: REUTERS

Dalian Wanda’s purchase of Hollywoodstudio Legendary Entertainment might bea boost for Chinese film- making, butnot necessarily for Chinese soft power.

Wanda’sLegendaryopening actin Hollywood

| SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2016 | THE STRAITS TIMES | OPINION A47