Transformers movie-makers hit with $300,000 court bill in row over park logo

The Hollywood studio that made the latest Transformer blockbuster must pay more than two million yuan ($300,000) to a Chinese park because it failed to include its logo in the finished film. Paramount Pictures and its Chinese production partner 1905 Internet Technology were told by a court to pay the compensation to Wulong Karst Tourism. It comes at the end of a long-running product placement dispute with the park, which was used as a setting for Transformers: Age of Extinction.

It is a valuable lesson for us and other Chinese companies

Li Jianguo, deputy general manager of Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Group

The Transformer films are wildly popular in China, with Chinese companies from milk producers to banks flocking to link their products to them. Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth film in the franchise, was the country’s highest ever grossing movie. But the film-makers admitted they reneged on an agreement to include the logo in the final cut. However, they argued they left behind sets for the park to use as a tourist attraction and director Michael Bey made a promotional film by way of compensation. The settlement was finalised in a court in Chongqing.

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