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NEWS in brief PRODUCTION
NEWS FROM AROUND
THE WORLD
ADvertisers reveAl globAl inClusion ChAllenges The first ever global census of the marketing industry has identified key challenges around family status, age and gender as well as ethnicity and disability. The World Federation of Advertisers’ DEI Census found that women and ethnic minorities in the marketing industry report poorer lived experiences than men and ethnic majorities, but concluded that marketing still outperforms many other industries globally. The most common forms of discrimination identified by the survey globally were family status and age, with 27% agreeing that their company does not treat all employees fairly regardless of family status and 27% agreeing that their company does not treat all employees equally regardless of age.
Image: © HBO Max.
HBO Max has begun production on adult animation series Poor Devil, its first animation series commissioned in Spain. Produced by Buendía Estudios, the story centres around Stan, who is just an ordinary boy … except for the fact that he is the Antichrist and is just one month away from turning 666 months old.
36% of respondents agreed that age can hinder one’s career while 40% of women agreed that family status can hinder one’s career.
There is also strong evidence of a gender pay gap in some markets. In the US and Canada, for example, the gap is worst among industry starters with a 13% gap in the US and a 20% gap in Canada. There were similar findings for ethnic minorities, who score lower on key questions such as “feel like I belong at my company” than ethnic majority groups in nearly all markets. In the US, 17% say they have faced discrimination based on their racial background. In a number of markets this is also reflected by a pay gap. Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA, said: “There are significant minorities in all countries saying they witness negative behaviours and discrimination on account of their age, family status, gender, ethnicity, race, disability, mental health, sexuality… such that one in seven considers leaving the industry. No company or industry can ignore this.”
Disney+ greenlights 50 AsiAn-PACiFiC titles The Walt Disney Company is undertaking a major commissioning new shows from South Korea, Japan, expansion into Asian-Pacific content, with plans to Australia, Taiwan and Indonesia. Many of the greenlight more than 50 original titles from the programmes will be presented in local languages, region by 2023 for its Disney+ platform. Disney is from Bahasa Indonesia to Mandarin.
ChinA Proves A heADAChe For hollywooD Hollywood has spent years cultivating China, but amid tightening censorship and unpredictable regulation, studios are finding it increasingly difficult to get their biggest blockbusters into the market. Chinese movie-goers have not seen any Marvel film since Spider-Man: Far from Home in 2019. None of its recent big releases – Black Widow (pictured), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals – have secured release dates in mainland China even though they have made splashes overseas. Some suspect Eternals has faced difficulty securing a release date because its director, Oscar-winning China native Chloe Zhao, was criticised for making an unflattering comment about her homeland during an interview several years ago. 2021 is turning into a disappointment for movie companies in China, which passed the US last year to become the world’s largest film market. US films have grabbed about 15% of the box office, on par with pandemic-impaired sales in 2020 and far less than the 32% they claimed in 2019.
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Image: Black Widow © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Instead, Chinese movie-goers have flocked to see local releases. The result is that Chinese movies are now among the top five films at the global box office, according to Box Office Mojo figures. Battle at Lake Changjin, an epic film about the Chinese army in the Korean war, is the highest grossing film in the world so far this year, just above
Hi, Mom, a heartwarming Chinese movie about a woman going back in time in an attempt to make her mother’s life better. China allows 34 foreign films to be released in the mainland per year. Foreign films are also subject to blackout dates such as the National Day holiday week, when the authorities require that audiences be served only domestic productions.
