17 days after it was released in cinemas, Stephen Chow's "Journey To The West" has accumulated a record box office income of RMB 1.1 billion, and is on the verge of overtaking "Avatar" as the highest grossing movie in China.
However, according to Jayne Stars, his company, Bingo Group is currently in dispute with its Chinese partner, Huayi Brothers over the distribution of the movie's profits.
The signs of conflict began to surface when Huayi Brothers' CEO, Wang Zhonglei recently announced on his Weibo, "Journey To The West is Huayi's first production, distributed in China. And the highest grossing film ever!", continued by another official notice, stating the filming studio is not only the mainland Chinese distributor of the film, but also an investor.
However, the statement contradicts Bingo's announcement made last November, which did not name Huayi as one of the film's financiers.
On 3 March, Huayi released another notice stating that the company should be receiving pre-tax profits of RMB 196 million from the film. The notice was countered by Stephen Chow's rep that stated, "Huayi would receive 12 percent of the film's net profits as the distributor as well as an additional share of box-office dividends while the investors (which do not include Huayi) will obtain about 70 percent of the net income calculated from distribution of the film in mainland China."
Huayi retaliated by posting another statement on 4 March declaring Huayi and Bingo have already signed an agreement stating that Huayi should receive the 70 percent of the net income from its earnings in China.
During a tele-interview, Stephen Chow was asked to elaborate on the issue. However, the actor only stated, "The matter is too complicated for me to explain within a few words. Anyway, the company is already looking into it. As of now, I have nothing much to add."
If a mutual understanding could not be reached, the matter might be settled in court.