CHINA’S $1.27-BILLION FILM HUB TO LURE HOLLYWOOD

Posing what could amount to the greatest threat of runaway production for the U.S. film industry ever, China is reportedly planning to build a $1.27 billion film and media hub aimed at attracting Hollywood and other foreign studios for co-productions that would be exempt from Chinese import quotas, Daily Variety reported today (Monday). The 8.6-million-square-foot facility, dubbed Chinawood, according to Variety, is already being constructed in Tianjin, a major airport hub near Beijing, with the first phase of the project set to open in October. The project is reportedly being spearheaded by Bruno Wu’s Harvest Seven Stars Entertainment, with 35 percent of the investment — or $450 million — earmarked for film financing. Variety quoted Wu as predicting that the East Asian film market will be worth $10 billion in less than three years and that China will make up half of that market.