In the last few days before the Chinese premiere of Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, the Beijing Pangu Investment Company has revoked its sponsorship contract with the producers of the film under the claim that the producers have breached the promotional aspects contract.
The investment group owns the Pangu Plaza Hotel – which, according to Variety , is featured in the film – and is asserting that Paramount did not abide by the terms of the promotional agreement and is now refusing to allow use of its logos or buildings in any future promotional materials of the film.
“This has caused huge financial loss and damage to the reputation of our company,” the group stated in a public statement.
In their own statement in response, a Paramount executive stated the following: “Pangu Plaza has a prominent placement in Transformers 4 and it looks beautiful onscreen…We regret that Pangu is not currently satisfied with certain aspects of our collaboration and are working to resolve its concerns.”
According to the The Hollywood Reporter , the film and its producers have tried to heavily promote the film in China, including many Chinese elements (such as the Beijing National Stadium and Beijing National Aquatics Center) in order to woo the Chinese movie market. The last installment of the Transformers franchise, Dark of the Moon, earned $177.9 million in China, and it is clear that Paramount will try to surpass this figure.
Credit: Roger Wong/INFphoto.com