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| Women marching in NYC for suffrage |
'Suffragette' is Meryle Streep's movie-of-the-month. The film is a feminist historical drama which screened this past weekend at the Telluride Film Festival. To get buzz going for the movie, Streep sent a letter to all 535 members of the U.S. Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators) calling on them to introduce new, nation-wide equality legislation but gave no specifics as to what that meant. It should be no surprise that Streep's letter received virtually a zero response for two reasons: first, it was too close to the opening on her new movie, and second, there is no way any member of Congress will react to a letter which has no political juice behind it.
Of the 535 letters, which were accompanied by a book by Jessica Neuwirth entitled 'Equal Means Equal', only 5 members of Congress responded. Three of which said they couldn't help and that current laws on equality already exist and two which stated they agreed with her and would 'look into the matter'.
In her letter, Streep stated, "I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality". Having no political clout coupled with the fact that the letter coincided with her movie's release was a little hard for the members of Congress to swallow. Streep should know that with Congress she is dealing with real PR pros and not Hollywood film-pitchers. With Congressional members you need to give before you ask.
'Suffragette' received guarded and so-so reviews at Telluride as it didn't play as a period piece but a current day drama, for example World War 1 wasn't mentioned during the film but which had a profound impact on the suffragette movement. The suffragette movement started in Great Britain in the late 19th Century and carried over into the United States in the early 20th Century, where in 1920 the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted right before the 1920 Presidential election giving women the right to vote.
Hollywood is currently struggling with wage equality between male and female actors and Streep should stick with that fight which is equivalent to pro athletics battling team owners for more money.
Lesson learned: concentrate on what you can achieve and don't push a self-serving agenda. Streep tasted reality in the non-response from her Congressional note. Hollywood types may lend an hear to one another but the real world is very different and in that world Meryle Streep learned she has no juice.
Chinese Gov Fudges Box Office Tallies
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| Movie poster for 'Hundred Regiments Offensive' |
Accusations ran rampant regarding Chinese government officials offering cinemas financial incentives to report bogus box office results for the home-grown, patriotic epic movie, 'The Hundred Regiments Offensive' - a film about China's triumph over the Japanese 70 years ago.
Rumors started to whirl when 'The Hundred Regiments Offensive' outperformed several Hollywood blockbusters and evidence emerged that Communist Party officials ordered cinemas to produce fake box office tallies for the epic movie.
A widely circulated online study cited that cinemas exhibiting 'The Hundred Regiments Offensive' could keep 100% of the revenue generated by the movie provided they reported hitting specific box office targets. The cinemas were instructed to tell their staffs to work the scam by issuing moviegoers tickets for the Chinese-made film even when they had paid to view other movies. Many moviegoers posted pictures and videos of the altered tickets on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
The heads of two major Chinese film companies also aired their displeasure saying that 'The Hundred Regiments Offensive' stole box office revenue from their own Chinese-made films. So far, there has been no response from Chinese officials about the scam.
The Hollywood Reporter indicated that Paramount Studios, which released 'Terminator Genisys' the same weekend as 'The Hundred Regiments Offensive', lost upwards of $11m due to the box office con. But, what can Paramount do? Just swallow it and move on, as complaining is of no use and may cause future retribution. China is the world's second-largest box office generator and the government controls the annual quota system whereby only 34 foreign films are allowed to be screened each year - and Paramount wants its future films to be included in the quota.
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