Internet video claims box-office ticket scam
By Xu Chi |
December 14, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FILM companies of two popular Chinese mainland movies are investigating a short video on the Internet showing one of them "stealing" box office takings from another by cheating on the movie tickets.
In the video, a customer tells a clerk at a cinema in Shijiazhuang of Hebei Province that he wants to buy a ticket for Zhao Benshan's movie "Just Call Me Nobody," but the clerk gives him a ticket for Chen Kaige's movie "Sacrifice" and tells him he can use the ticket to watch Zhao's movie.
In this way, a cinema would be able to get more publicity for a less popular film and thus get a larger cash share from the production company.
The video immediately caught media attention across the country, with some people raising the question about whether the scam actually happens in the Chinese movie industry.
An official surnamed Zhou with Xingmei Group, which was the producer of "Sacrifice," told Shanghai Daily that the company had sent officials to investigate the cinema in the video.
Zhou denied that the company was stealing box-office takings from their competitor and said they hadn't ruled out the possibility that someone made the video to publicize their business somehow.
The validity of the video has been questioned by some who wondered why the customer was shooting a video when he was buying a movie ticket.
Wu Hehu, deputy manager with Shanghai United Circuit - the supervisory body for the city's cinemas - said although some local small private cinemas might use the scam to increase takings, big cinemas in the city would not do anything like it.
"If they were caught cheating in such a way, they would be fined - 10 times the amount they earn from the stolen takings," said Wu.
Wu said big cinemas don't have to cheat in such a way as they usually earn 50 to 52 percent of the total income of a movie; and if they were found operating the scam, the circuit could stop supplying them with movies.
In the video, a customer tells a clerk at a cinema in Shijiazhuang of Hebei Province that he wants to buy a ticket for Zhao Benshan's movie "Just Call Me Nobody," but the clerk gives him a ticket for Chen Kaige's movie "Sacrifice" and tells him he can use the ticket to watch Zhao's movie.
In this way, a cinema would be able to get more publicity for a less popular film and thus get a larger cash share from the production company.
The video immediately caught media attention across the country, with some people raising the question about whether the scam actually happens in the Chinese movie industry.
An official surnamed Zhou with Xingmei Group, which was the producer of "Sacrifice," told Shanghai Daily that the company had sent officials to investigate the cinema in the video.
Zhou denied that the company was stealing box-office takings from their competitor and said they hadn't ruled out the possibility that someone made the video to publicize their business somehow.
The validity of the video has been questioned by some who wondered why the customer was shooting a video when he was buying a movie ticket.
Wu Hehu, deputy manager with Shanghai United Circuit - the supervisory body for the city's cinemas - said although some local small private cinemas might use the scam to increase takings, big cinemas in the city would not do anything like it.
"If they were caught cheating in such a way, they would be fined - 10 times the amount they earn from the stolen takings," said Wu.
Wu said big cinemas don't have to cheat in such a way as they usually earn 50 to 52 percent of the total income of a movie; and if they were found operating the scam, the circuit could stop supplying them with movies.
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