It is not just American legislators who are alarmed at the growing investment and influence of Chinese conglomerates. A new crowdfunding effort is battling how China’s influence and ownership in the American entertainment industry has become so monopolistic.
The Kickstarter project, called Wolverine Entertainment, wants to raise $1.6 billion to defend against Chinese invasion of the American movie industry by fighting like wolverines. The group got its name from a classic film in the 1980s, “Red Dawn” by John Milius, a conservative filmmaker, Lifezette reported.
Inspired by Guerilla Group
In the movie, teens created a guerilla group, Wolverines, when Russian forces invaded the U.S. In 2012, there was a remake of the film, but the invaders were Chinese later changed to North Koreans during post-production because of concern the movie might not earn in China.
Even then, Hollywood producers were aware of the growing strength of the Chinese film market which is expected to be the world’s largest by the end of 2017. The growing Chinese influence over Hollywood would mean America would export the entertainment industry, one of the largest industries in the country, as well as thousands of good-paying union jobs, Wolverine Entertainment said on its Kickstarter video.
Wolverine Entertainment aims to come up with an American production company that would create content for American viewers. People behind the group, backed by conservatives such as Mike Huckabee, “Justified” actor Nick Searcy and “Hercules” star Kevin Sorbo, combine 200 years of experience in the entertainment industry to produce, market and distribute the movie. The group believes that Chinese investors, specifically the Dalian Wanda Group, are out of touch with the nature of the entertainment industry.
Since China is a communist country, an entertainment industry controlled by the government have raised concern because of the limited free speech. Wolverine Entertainment stressed the reason why America is the number 1 provider of entertainment in the world is due to its unprecedented freedom of speech and expression. By people investing in Wolverine, it is one way of taking the entertainment industry back from China.
Creator Cancels Project
Wolverine’s Kickstarter page said 22 people are supporting the project from different parts of the U.S. Of the 22, nine are returning backers and 13 new backers. So far, the 22 pledged only $4,865 out of the project’s $5 million goal, resulting in the creator of the funding project cancelling it on Feb. 10.