Transformers face new dispute from China

Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager, and TJ Miller as Lucas Flannery, in Transformers: Age of Extinction. AP Photo / Paramount Pictures

A Chinese location, where scenes in Paramount Pictures' Transformers: Age of Extinction were filmed, has threatened to sue the film's producers for failing to display its logo on-screen, reported China Daily.

The product placement complaint was made by the Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Group, which operates the Wulong Scenic Area in south-west China. It marks the second dispute the movie has faced in the world’s second-largest film market where buoyant box office revenues is drawing Hollywood filmmakers.

China Daily quoted Li Chu, a marketing manager for the location, as saying the company was in talks with 1905 Internet Technology and Paramount Pictures after they failed to show the area's logo which confused some audiences about where the scenes were shot. The Beijing-based 1905 Internet Technology is the movie channel arm of China Central Television.

“If we fail to compromise on a proposal that could remedy our loss, we will resort to legal procedures,” Li told the newspaper.

Officials with Paramount Pictures were not immediately available to comment.

In June, a Chinese company demanded changes to the film because it said Paramount did not meet its obligations to feature its property in the movie. The dispute has since been resolved between the parties without any edits to the film.

The special effects-laden movie, the fourth in the series of films about form-changing Autobot robots that save the planet, has generated more than US$212 million in China alone since it opened a week ago, close to its takings in the United States, illustrating China’s growing importance to Hollywood.