2019-10-16 The Hollywood Reporter

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 17 OCTOBER 16, 2019

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↑ Moguls

Shari’s Plan

Redstone mulls

a Fox News rival p. 18

TV

NFL’s Score

Behind the league’s ratings

comeback p. 20

$7.90 (+6%)

TIVO (TIVO)

The DVR pioneer says it will

soon debut TiVo+ and TiVo

Edge, a network and device,

respectively, for aggregating

multiple streaming services.

$39.78 (-3%)

TWITTER (TWTR)

Pivotal Research lowers its

target price on the belief

that U.S. advertising will be

lackluster in the third and

fourth quarters.

earned $3.2 billion in China in

2018, with Disney accounting

for nearly a quarter of that with

$700 million. This year, the

studio’s Avengers: Endgame

pulled in $614 million from

China alone. Perhaps it

should come as no sur-

prise that Disney stayed

silent in the wake of Liu

posting on social media

platform Weibo in August:

“I support Hong Kong’s

police, you can beat me up

now,” adding the hashtag

#IAlsoSupportTheHongKong

Police.

“Disney has certainly enjoyed

major success in China, but I’d

hesitate to say that any single stu-

dio has the luxury of provoking

China because it’s a very impor-

tant relationship for the industry

at large,” says Shawn Robbins,

chief analyst at BoxOffice Media.

“Virtually all of the majors

have appealed to Chinese audi-

ences with blockbuster tentpole

releases and occasionally in a big-

ger way than some films played

with domestic moviegoers.”

James’ courtship of Chinese

consumers extends well beyond

basketball and sneakers and

into film thanks to his upcom-

ing Warner Bros. tentpole Space

T

wo days after South Park

was banned in China,

creators Tr ey P a r ke r and

Matt Stone served up Hollywood’s

most defiant rebuke of the com-

munist government in decades

with their Oct. 9 episode. When

the Comedy Central series’

geologist turned pot dealer

Randy Marsh — voiced by Parker

— shouted, “Fuck the Chinese

government!” it marked the

most incendiary words from an

actor since Richard Gere dubbed

China’s occupation of Tibet “hor-

rendous” at the 1993 Oscars.

While South Park’s “Shots!!!”

episode provided fodder for Hong

Kong’s pro-democracy protesters,

who are battling mainland-

backed police forces, don’t expect

many other high-profile enter-

tainment figures to follow suit.

When it comes to China and its

vast moneymaking potential, the

prevailing wisdom is: Get woke,

go broke.

The practice of self-censorship

is common now, say top produc-

ers. “With China, nothing is

transparent,” says one who has

released films there. “No one

knows what the ground rules are.

And that’s by design. It leaves

everyone on edge.”

From Mulan actress Crystal Liu

to the Lakers’ LeBron James, most

top stars are taking no chances

and are lining up to either side

with the Chinese regime or

denounce any criticism of

its authoritarian tactics.

Similarly, companies like

ESPN (which used a contro-

versial map on SportsCenter

that indicated the self-

ruled island of Taiwan was

part of China) and Apple

(which removed from its

online stores the so-called

Hong Kong protest app and

quietly dropped the Gere series

Bastards despite picking it up

straight to series late last year)

appear to be toeing the party line.

All the while, observers say an

overt self-censorship has begun

to creep into the entertainment

industry. Inside Hollywood, the

film industry faces the greatest

risk in rocking the China boat.

Consider that American movies

Kevin Feige

The Marvel Studios president

takes on new responsibility

in the Disney empire, adding

the chief creative officer title

and expanding oversight to

TV, animation and publishing.

Jennifer Aniston

The Morning Show star

garners 4.1 million Instagram

followers within 10 hours

of joining as she takes

her lucrative endorsement

business online.

Ang Lee

The director’s $140 million

bet on de-aging tech fizzles

as Gemini Man opens to

just $20.6 million stateside,

another misfire after Billy

Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.

James Goldston

The ABC News president takes

fire from President Trump after

the network mistakenly airs

Kentucky gun range video as

explosive Syria footage.

Pro-democracy protesters demonstrated

on the streets of Hong Kong on Oct. 13.

Oct. 7-

With pro-democracy marches gaining steam in Hong Kong and billions

at stake in the country’s film market, studios may look to speak out just enough that it

‘doesn’t embarrass you so much that people say you’re a toady or kowtowing’ BY TATIANA SIEGEL

South Park, LeBron, Hollywood

and the New Self-Censorship Mess

Parker

Stone