Paramount Pictures and Chinese studio 1905 have been ordered by the Chongqing No.3 Intermediate People’s Court to pay the Chongqing Wulong Scenic Area 2 million yuan ($295,000) for failing to feature a logo for the tourist attraction in the fourth film of the Transformers film franchise.

The settlement entails 1.8 million yuan in compensation for financial losses as well as another 209,000 yuan as compensation for copyright fees.

As the Chongqing Morning Post reported, a recent survey revealed that 87 percent of 551 people surveyed from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province said they did not know where in China the scenes had been shot.

Besides the Chongqing Wulong Scenic area, the third Transformers sequel was also shot on location in Hong Kong.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, Li Chu from Wulong’s Tourism Marketing Center said the film is presented in such a way that the Hong Kong and Wulong scenes run together, which may lead the audience to believe they are the same place.

Chongqing Wulong Scenic Area was seeking termination of the original contract and a return of its six million yuan payment. Paramount and 1905 counterclaimed for 12 million yuan for a final payment and 11 million in late fees, claiming that Chongqing Wulong’s delay in payment was the reason its name wasn’t added in the film’s post-production.

The film was also involved in litigation with Zhou Hei Ya in another product placement dispute.

Transformers: Age of Extinction raked in US $225.1 million in its first 12 days of release, and remains the fourth highest-grossing film in China two years after its release.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to take on the leading role in a $200 million Chinese blockbuster about a long-lost Chinese civilization, recently rediscovered in the 80s.

Tentatively titled The Guest of Sanxingdui, the project is expected to start filming next year and has a 2019 release date. In addition to producing the film, Schwarzenegger will as serve as an overseas spokesperson for Sanxingdui, which also happens to be a tourist site in Sichuan containing the ruins to the remnant of the Shu Kingdom.

Film investment company Beijing Ajimo describes the film as “a 3D production featuring Hollywood technology and oriental culture.”

Schwarzenegger was seen at the Sanxingdui museum on October 24 where he viewed many of its Bronze Age relics.

Even though the former governor and 80s action star doesn’t have the draw he once had, Schwarzenegger’s Terminator Genisys was well received by Chinese audiences. The latest Terminator offering is also one of the top 50 highest grossing movies in China.

Schwarzenegger is the latest of a long line of Hollywood stars that have been courted to take part in Chinese films. Matt Damon is set to take part in Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall next year, while Christian Bale was cast in a previous Zhang film about the Nanjing Massacre, The Flowers of War.

Last year’s Dragon Blade featured John Cusack and Adrien Brody as dueling English-speaking Roman generals, while another Jackie Chan film The Myth was a historical mash-up that featured a movie star from India, Mallika Sherawat.

Meanwhile, Brandon Routh appeared as a Chinese chef with deadly fighting skills in Lost in the Pacific while Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai cast Norah Jones as his lead actor in his only English-speaking film, My Blueberry Nights.

But audiences won’t have to wait long to see Schwarzenegger in a Chinese film. The Terminator wrapped shooting a scene with Jackie Chan in the upcoming Chinese Travelogue (shown below).

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Although Chinese theaters won’t be screening the Ghostbusters re-make or the motley anti-heroes of Suicide Squad, film fans in China will be treated to seven big Hollywood movies over the next few weeks; that’s more Hollywood movies than was offered this past summer between July and September.

Just 34 foreign films are allowed into Chinese theaters each year, but this fall’s bountiful crop of Hollywood popcorn flicks may just be the beginning. A WTO agreement is up for renewal next February, so we could be looking at even more Hollywood movies as China opens up its film market to foreign competition.

Here’s what you can find at the theaters in China over the next few weeks:

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – October 21

Tom Cruise proves he is up to the task of portraying Lee Child’s infallible ex-military police officer for a second outing on the silver screen. This time, our hero Jack Reacher confronts accusations of a 16 year-old murder when he goes back to his old army unit headquarters.

Like Cruise’s blockbuster hit Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, this film is backed by Chinese investors. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a joint venture between Paramount Pictures, Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media, who were also responsible for Star Trek: Beyond.

Mechanic: Resurrection – October 21

Jason Statham plays the same character in this sequel about a deadly assassin with a penchant for faking his own death. Statham is joined by Jessica Alba and Tommy Lee Jones as he attempts to perform “one last job” while receiving assistance and expository dialog from Michelle Yeoh.

Mechanic: Resurrection was released in the West this past summer where it has received middling reviews.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ – October 21

The only non-Hollywood movie on our list, this long-running Japanese anime series finally makes its way to Chinese theaters after its worldwide release 18-months ago.

The Super Saiyans must do battle against an invading force of aliens in this well-received animated feature.

Inferno – October 28

After a long gestation, Tom Hanks is back in the third part of Dan Brown’s wildly successful series kicked off by The Da Vinci Code. This time, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon must race against time as a deadly virus threatens the globe.

Doctor Strange – November 4

The latest installment in the lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe features the titular character travelling around the world to the exotic far east where he learns a lost art from a person who looks just like himself.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton, Doctor Strange has been criticized for deviating from its source material, but that’s not entirely true: Doctor Strange’s Chinese title, 奇怪博士, translates back into English as “Doctor Strange”.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – November 11

Celebrated Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee continues to push the boundaries of film-making with this latest movie about a 19 year-old American soldier’s recollections of the Iraq war. Extraordinary lengths were made to make the film, which was shot in 3D with 4K resolution.

Unfortunately, Chinese audiences wanting to see the film as the director intended will have limited options; only two theaters in China, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai, have projectors capable of showing the film at its optimal resolution.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – November 18

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise gets a spin-off that takes the audience to 1920s New York in what is to be the first in a five-part series.

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Ruffalo posted updates to his Facebook page, including a photo of a trip on a Beijing subway train:

Ruffalo brought his family along because his son’s birthday fell in the middle of the scheduled trip. “I love Beijing, so I must bring him along,” he wrote.

Father and son both delighted Chinese crowds by speaking in Chinese. Ruffalo’s son appeared during a press conference for the film to say “I love you, father”, while Ruffalo translated “Now I See You 2” into Chinese.

Ruffalo even dressed up in a traditional Chinese tunic and posed in a kung-fu fighting stance on stage (shown above).

Ruffalo finished his visit to China with a visit to the Great Wall and Forbidden City, practicing some tai chi, and eating Peking duck and barbecue skewers.

Hollywood stars have often praised China during visits to the mainland to promote their movies.

During a visit to promote The Revenant after his Academy Award for Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio complimented China for its contributions towards protecting the environment. DiCaprio said he believed China could one day become “the hero of the environmental movement.”

Michael Bay, director of the Transformers movies, has admitted to having a deep appreciation of Chinese culture. During a promotional tour in China for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Bay said, “One of my best memories is when I was a kid, I spent four months studying Chinese history,” adding that “China has such a rich and amazing culture, as well as a great history.”

At a Chinese news conference to promote the Chinese co-production of Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr said he was “fascinated with Chinese culture and loves Chinese movies.” Downey was also seen eating a traditional Chinese snack, candied crabapples, at a news conference (shown below).

Now You See Me 2 is the sequel to the 2013 sleeper hit that saw Ruffalo’s FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes, outwitted by a group of magicians led by fast-talking Jesse Eisenberg. The film features Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou, who contributes a song to the film’s soundtrack.

Other Hollywood films to feature Chinese actors as part of its line-up this summer include Warcraft with Daniel Wu, and Independence Day: Resurgence with Angelababy. Meanwhile, the Chinese marketing for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel included the re-imagining of the film’s characters as Chinese scholars, and were painted using Chinese watercolor techniques.

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Warcraft is now China’s highest-grossing movie on a Thursday, coming in at $46 million. The movie has also broken records by opening on 67.5 percent of mainland China’s 39,000 screens.

The film had the benefit of opening at the beginning of China’s three-day Dragon Boat Festival as well as having been heavily promoted with a national tour exhibiting many of the film’s props and art design.

Based upon the online role-playing game World of Warcraft, the film has been eagerly awaited by Chinese fans. Interest in Warcraft is so high in China that a non-licensed theme park based upon the video game continues to operate five years after opening.

Warcraft has a high approval rating from Chinese fans, gaining a 8.1 rating out of ten on the Douban review site by some 74,000 users.

Nostalgia plays an important part for many Warcraft viewers who played the video game in their youth and gave it positive reviews. However, the film seems to be lost upon non-players who don’t understand its story.

One Douban user who rated the movie a maximum five stars is a massive fan of the video game, and wrote, “I don’t care about the plot of the movie because I’ve played the video game. I don’t care about the quality of the visual effects because that amazing technology can’t appear in my memories. I don’t care about the movie’s music because the background music of the video game is always playing in my mind. All I care about is whether or not characters that I have battled with (in the video game) will be appearing on the screen…”

Meanwhile, a four-star user review enjoyed the film’s blockbuster qualities, writing: “The portrayal of the characters is very full. The visuals are amazing! Much of the close-up scenes are immensely immersive and emotional. The magic scenes are especially good, and emphasize its use better than other fantasy movies. The animation and special effects aren’t floaty, but have a real weightiness to them. This is the best video game movie ever made. A great beginning by (director) Duncan (Jones).”

However, not all Chinese audience members enjoyed Warcraft. One user gave the movie two stars and wrote, “I was dragged into the theater by my friends. I wanted to fall asleep while watching it. It’s likely that only fans of the video game will enjoy watching it.” Another user also gave the movie two stars and asked, “Your world is hard to understand… Why is the leader of humanity so weak? …Why doesn’t he do magic? …Why is a magic user that was hidden away then brought out to fight? …Ay.“

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Ninja turtles Leonardo, Rafael, Michelangelo and Donatello are depicted sporting flowing Chinese robes. However, they are also eating pizza, riding skateboards, and playing electric instruments (albeit a traditional Chinese pipa).The biggest Chinese reference is a poster depicting the ninja turtles as the four main characters from the beloved Journey to the West. Elements of both “franchises” fuse together to show green-skinned Tripikata riding a white horse while eating a pizza.

It’s a jarring mash-up, but it already seems to be working. Chinese media are reporting that the promotional material demonstrates how these “Western characters” (who are themselves partly based upon Japanese folklore) have adopted Chinese characteristics.

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The summer blockbuster season has already started in China. This month saw the release of Captain America: Civil War, a movie so popular that it has already cracked the top 20 of the highest grossing films in China, earning over one billion yuan in the domestic box office so far.

But despite the success of Captain America: Civil War as well as animated hit Zootopia, a number of Hollywood films haven’t lived up to expectations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to attract audiences despite massive hype, such as having Chinese popstar Lu Han as a celebrity endorser.

As expectations still remain high for Hollywood movies to do well in China, it seems like producers are looking to cater to Chinese audiences by prominently featuring Chinese actors in their movies.

With that in mind, here are the Hollywood blockbusters you’ll be watching in China this June and July:

X-Men: Apocalypse – June 3

The newest installment of Marvel’s angst-ridden mutant heroes have them battling against world-wide extinction. The previous X-Men sequel did very well in China by earning 723 million yuan, so it’s likely this film will do so as well.

Western audiences may have regarded 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past as a return to form by using time travel to distance itself from earlier missteps made in the franchise. On the other hand, Chinese audiences will likely most remember it for featuring China’s biggest star Fan Bingbing in a non-speaking role.

We haven’t found any proof that Fan Bingbing is slated to re-appear in X-Men: Apocalypse, but we’re confident she’ll show up. Fan signed a deal in which she would appear in the next four X-Men movies, indicating she’ll more than likely appear as the mutant Blink once again.

Warcraft – June 8

Even though it may have been beaten to mainland theaters by its Chinese knock-off, Warcraft will more than likely make a significant impact at the Chinese box office. The video game from which the movie is inspired has been a cultural touchstone in China for almost a decade.

Although movies based upon video games have never been known to do well at the box office, Warcraft producers have made one decision that may endear it to Chinese audiences: playing the role of orc warlock Gul’an is Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu (pictured at top).

Finding Dory – June 16

Thirteen years later, Pixar’s follow-up to Finding Nemo finally hits the screens, catapulting Ellen DeGeneres’ forgetful side-kick into a starring role.

Finding Dory is the only movie on this list not to feature a Chinese actor. While this may not matter as much in an animated movie, Chinese actors have been featured in other cases. This past January, Kung Fu Panda 3 featured Jackie Chan reprising his role as Monkey.

Independence Day: Resurgence – June 24

Another sequel long in the making, Independence Day: Resurgence continues the story of aliens who don’t know how to stop invading earth against humans who don’t know how to stop being scrappy and full of moxy.

But while most of the focus in the West has been over director Roland Emmerich’s decision to tone down the original film’s patriotic elements, Chinese netizens have been buzzing over the film’s Chinese casting. As early as last December, Chinese Internet talk over the film have centered on the film’s casting of Hong Kong actress Angelababy as “Rain” when she was seen in a screenshot from the movie (seen above).

Now You See Me 2 – June 24

This sequel to the 2013 sleeper hit features an ensemble cast of top stars that will no doubt be shouting more witty banter across rooftops and through glass walls at each other.

While we’re sure someone will double-cross another character in this caper flick, we’re most interested in the Hollywood return of Taiwan superstar Jay Chou, who was last seen in the underwhelming 2011 superhero flick The Green Hornet. We don’t know if Chou will again be providing his kung fu expertise to the camera, but Chinese promotional posters show Chou to be top billed in the cast, beating out stars like Morgan Freeman and some guy named Dave Franco.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – July 2

There isn’t anything else to say about this sequel once it’s was known that star Megan Fox appears in a sexy schoolgirl outfit in this movie. This film may finally appeal to nay-saying nostalgia hoarders as the Renaissance’s finest will be joined by other characters from the Saturday morning cartoon version of the comic.

Unlike the other films on this list, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows features a Chinese actor that isn’t famous – yet.  Jane Wu stars as “Jade” in this film, but even though you may not recognize her name, it’s likely you’ve already seen her before. Wu doesn’t have many films on her resume, but she has already starred in China’s current top-grossing movie, Captain America: Civil War.

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But if there’s an area of Chinese film that shows how low and depraved domestic filmmakers are willing to stoop, it’s the knock-off. Some filmmakers liberally borrow from popular overseas films.

People in China were quick to criticize the marketing for Chinese film Crazy Toy City, whose Chinese name and movie poster are next to identical to that of recent Disney animated hit, Zootopia. As well, last year’s animated film The Autobots drew scorn when its character models were revealed to be the same as those from Pixar’s Cars franchise, including the dubious anthromorphic choice to depict a car’s eyes using its windshield instead of its headlights.

And now, this summer, audiences will get a chance to enjoy the latest knock-off from the Chinese film industry: My Wow, a movie whose Chinese title (我的魔兽世界) literally means “My World of Warcraft”.

The story details of My Wow have not been revealed, so in all fairness we can’t fully say if this is a knock-off of the long-running, extremely popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft that has undeniably impacted Chinese culture, and more than a few desktop wallpapers.

So far, all that we know is that the story will involve disparate elements of love, fantasy, and time travel. And if we’re staying true to the Chinese title, the tagline to the movie is translated to English as: “A man gets transported to a fantasy world of warcraft, where the impossible occurs…”

The movie’s promotional event had venerable Hong Kong character actor Jatfei Wong (seen above) posing with two people dressed up in the unmistakable armor aesthetic of World of Warcraft.

The promotional press conference for My Wow took place last month, revealing that the movie will hit theaters this month, coincidentally just weeks ahead of the expected summer release of World of Warcraft, another movie that has been influenced by the video game of the same name.

Even though its already the middle of May, we have yet to see a release date for My Wow, or even any promotional video or materials that didn’t debut at the April 15 press conference in Shijiazhuang. All that we have is the earnest words of director Zhang Wei:

I have injected the entirety of my fervor and passion into this movie, completely depleting the whole of my efforts to show a spectacle that is both sensible to a logical mind and yet remains an unceasing marvel for the eyes to behold.

Movie fans in China weren’t as charitable with their words.

One person was nothing short of straightforward in what he thought of the movie. “It’s clear what you want to do: have your fake ‘World of Warcraft’ movie play in theaters before it the real one does. I don’t care what you think. No one is going to see your movie, or at the very least, I won’t,” he wrote.

Another person wrote “Never before have I ever seen such a shameless dog,” while another said, “Guessing that ‘Father’ Blizzard (makers of the World of Warcraft video game) will sue them for copyright infringement!!”

All the same, even before seeing the film My Wow or even its slower-by-a-hair doppleganger companion piece World of Warcraft, we know that “fantasy” or “time travel” content will come under scrutiny by state censors for the same reason that World of Warcraft (the video game) underwent years before.

Even though the World of Warcraft video game (popularly shortened to “WoW”) has catered to their its Chinese fan base by devoting an expansion pack to them that featured a playable race called ”the Pandaren” (seen above), WoW still had much of its content cut by Chinese censors. Because supernatural elements are shunned and disavowed by state authorities, Chinese WoW players never got to see their defeated foes represented by skeletons. Instead, dead enemies simply turned into boxes of loot, inspiring Chinese players to rename the game as “World of Boxes”.

It may turn out that My Wow will be an enjoyable film with nothing at all to do with World of Warcraft. After all, Jatfei Wong is in it, and he was great in 2001’s Shaolin Soccer as the chain smoking steel-headed eldest brother of a band of monks. On the other hand, Wong is no stranger to knock-offs. He also appeared in Jay Chou’s Kung Fu Dunk, yet another film about misfits who use mystical kung fu skills to win sports competitions.

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The actor was in Beijing over the weekend to promote the Chinese opening of his film, The Revenant, which has already earned RMB 100 million since opening on March 18. Called “Wilderness Hunter” in Chinese, The Revenant contains scenes of brutal violence despite being edited by Chinese censors.

During a promotional event, DiCaprio was seen handwriting his Chinese name “小李(子)”. Then during a press conference, DiCaprio lauded Chinese authorities for their advancements towards adopting new energy resources: “As we all know, the United States and China are the two biggest contributors, and I think that China has made radical movements forward as far as alternative energy and ways to be sustainable,” said DiCaprio.

“I really think that China can be the hero of the environmental movement, they can be the hero of the climate change movement. They have an opportunity to change the world and I have all the confidence in the world that that is their intention.”

DiCaprio is beloved by Chinese audience for his starring role in Titanic, a long-time box office champion in China, with his line “You jump, I jump,” one of the most-often quoted movie lines in the country.

Chinese fans were ecstatic to learn DiCaprio had finally won the Oscar for Best Actor at last month’s Academy Awards. Some fans attributed his win to a strange red string seen tied around the actor’s wrist, a traditional Chinese practice believed to ward off evil spirits and improve one’s luck. However, the red string was noticeably absent during the actor’s promotional tour.

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Joe and Anthony Russo, the directing duo famous for their work on the Captain America franchise, are turning their talents to Chinese-language films.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Russo brothers have partnered with Beijing based United Entertainment Partners, and Chinese private-equity fund, HDQH, to finance a startup studio, Anthem & Song. Quoting an unidentified source, the story claims the Chinese financiers are prepared to spend $200 to $300 million to co-finance the studio’s initial run of films.

The Russo brothers say they have no plans to direct Chinese-language films, but instead hope to develop and produce two Chinese films through Anthem & Song by the end of 2017.

The Russo’s developed their business venture through the nurturing of relationships, called guanxi (关系) in Chinese. “We made a lot of friends on that trip and just fell in love with Chinese cinema,” said Joe Russo. “We made a bunch of personal trips back to Beijing to nurture and grow those relationships in the film business there.”

The Russo’s were quick to praise the merits of Chinese culture. “China has such a rich cultural history and tradition of storytelling, and also this huge domestic market that is undergoing explosive growth,” said Anthony Russo. “So they’re at this really interesting moment of exploring what their domestic cinema is, and how it relates to international cinema.”

The Russo’s already have a short list of collaborators they want to work with. “We’re trying to engage Jiang Wen,” said Joe Russo. “We love what he did with Gone With the Bullets. We’ve also sat down with Ning Hao (Breakup Buddies) and we’re talking with Wu Jing (The Breakup Guru) about a couple of projects.”

“What Joe and I get excited by, creatively, is exploring all of the different forms of filmmaking,” explained Anthony Russo. “So this is sort of like a new venue for us to explore Chinese cinema and see where it takes us. It’s a very fun creative thing, and it’s made possible by the fact the industry is growing so fast there.”

China’s booming box office has been making headlines around the world, having grown by an amazing 49 percent last year. However, ticket sales have long been mired by accusations of box office tampering that tend to hurt foreign ticket sales. Last year’s box office champion, Monster Hunt, was accused of running “ghost screenings” in which films are shown to an empty theater of seats purchased by the distributor. Recently released Ip Man 3 faced similar accusations.

Another contentious aspect of Chinese filmmaking is that all films released in China must abide by state censor regulations. As authorized by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), not only can a censor remove scenes from a film to be released in China, but they have the authority to change it at will.

As reported by the Global Times, Chinese film censor Liu Huizhong took offense to a scene from Gasp (2009) that dared to depict Tiananmen Square during an overcast day:

Even though the square only appeared in the background of the movie, Liu could not allow it to pass…
Presenting his worry that it might have some political implications, he convinced the other censors that the tone was too gloomy and that the scene needed to show the prosperity of modern society. The movie was sent back so the studio could make changes.

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