Chinese tourism company sues Paramount over Transformers 4 scenes

A model of the Transformers character Bumblebee is displayed in front of Qianmen Gate in central Beijing

A Chinese tourism company is suing Paramount Pictures and a producer of the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction saying they had failed to show the company’s logo in the movie. Like other Hollywood film-makers, Paramount has been eager to cash in on robust box-office revenues in the world’s second largest film market. Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Group, which manages the Wulong Scenic Area in southwest China, said it had lodged a lawsuit seeking 20.8 million yuan ($3.36 million), against Paramount and the 1905 Internet Technology production company, in a court in Chongqing city for reneging on their contract.
The court had accepted the case, the Xinhua state news agency said. Some of the film’s scenes were shot at the scenic area and an official of the company that manages it said earlier members of the audience were confused about where the scenes were shot as the firm’s logo did not appear on screen.
“We had already communicated with the other parties but they couldn’t fulfill our requests. It wasn’t possible to speak further so we could only sue and if they’re not able to remedy the situation we may just have to go to court,” a spokesman for the company told Reuters. A spokeswoman for Paramount, a unit of Viacom, declined to comment.
Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth in a series about form-changing robots that save the world, has raked in more than 1.38 billion yuan in China to become its highest-grossing movie ever, Xinhua reported. Xinhua reported recently that the tourism firm wanted Paramount to show the logo “China Wulong” in all DVDs, TV and digital platforms on which the movie will be shown, and had asked producers to return 4.8 million yuan in contract payments.