Representatives of the scenic area said the film is presented in a way that Hong Kong and Wulong scenes run together, and as Hong Kong is prominently featured in the movie, audiences will think all the scenes are in Hong Kong.
According to the court decision, the makers of the popular film franchise were ordered to pay a compensation of more than two million yuan (around 297 thousand US dollars) to the Wulong Scenic Area. The court also rejected the counterclaim of the film makers.
According to a signed agreement, "Transformers: Age of Extinction", released in the summer of 2014, was to prominently feature a product placement that showed the Chinese characters that mean
"Wulong, China". This product placement was to have taken place during the taming of Dinobot leader Grimlock by fan-favorite Optimus Prime.
The Wulong Karst Company announced their plans to sue Paramount Pictures and 1905 Internet Technology for breach of contract in July of 2014.
In a court hearing in April this year, lawyers of the defendants claimed that the movie had sufficiently shown the landscape and views of the Wulong Scenic Area and set the most important turning point of the plot at the scenic area, which had already promoted Wuling well to the audience.
In addition, although there was no product placement for the scenic area when the movie was screened, the filmmakers remedied their mistake by adding the product placement in the editions for DVDs, television and digital broadcasting platforms, thus they didn't breach the contract, said the lawyers.
The filmmakers also filed a counterclaim and demanded the scenic area to pay over 12 million yuan for the balance due for their product placement and late payment penalties.
Source: CRI
