China Media Monitor Headlines Archives

CCTV plans to increase its 2010 budget for TV drama acquisitions by 30% year-on-year to RMB1 billion (US$146.41 million), according to a Sohu report citing Film and TV Drama Director Wang Guohui. He said CCTV plans to gain the first broadcast rights to more than 2,000 TV drama episodes in 2010. The national broadcaster also plans to start co-producing and producing more TV drama series in order to secure first broadcast rights.

Mainland production Bodyguards and Assassins (Shi Yue Wei Cheng) topped the Christmas box office with accumulated takings of RMB208 million (US$30 million) by December 29, according to film distributor Polybona. The period martial arts thriller tells the story of a group of bodyguards who protected Sun Yat-Sen from assassins when he visited the British Colony of Hong Kong in 1905. It was co-produced by China Film Group, Cinema Popular and Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group.

Shooting has started on Mermaid Island (Renyu Diguo), a new co-production from mainland China's Fontelysee Pictures and the United States' Emagine Studio. Johnathan Lawrence will direct the film, which will follow the romance that unfolds between a mermaid and a man. The film's working title in the US is Empires of the Deep.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 15 announced plans to launch a fresh crack-down on WAP sites in 2010, reports People's Daily. MIIT will launch the initiative in three phases, which will last until the end of the year. In addition to shutting down all WAP sites with pornographic content, MIIT will work to block all possible channels of distribution and strengthen its anti-porn propaganda.

Xinhua News Agency launched a new Chinese language business and finance magazine called Economy & Nation Weekly (Caijing Guojia Zhoukan), on December 28. Xinhua plans to target foreign and mainland government officials, business leaders and academics with the new title, which will carry investigative features and analysis. The magazine's HQ is based in Beijing but it plans to set up branch offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, the US and Europe.