It was just days ago that audiences, albeit small audiences, were watching the Olympics in Beijing, China. During the Olympics, the Russian dictator and the Chinese ruler (that would be Putin and Xi) met in a sign of solidarity. They have similar ambitions: one is currently waging a full-blown war in Europe, the other wants a democratic island that controls the world’s most powerful computer chips.
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https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIF.ATMVHkfiWbTtDz7nZHaBdQ?pid=ImgDet&rs=1
And yet there were all those American corporations and media outlets shilling for China. But with a new alignment taking place before our eyes, those same corporations are about to be in a very hard place. China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran… these are the nations which clearly wish to establish a new world hierarchy. Though our Wall Street benefactors have groveled at the authoritarian feet of these dictatorial nations, the invasion of Ukraine may finally signal that those days are coming to an end. The threat of war across the globe has come once more.
For far too long, companies have enjoyed the fruits of slave labor. Instead of taking place in the American deep south, the modern slave labor industry happens in China. It’s mixed in with genocide and torture, because apparently the Chinese Communist Party enjoys ramping up the evil of slavery into new disastrous concoctions. For far too long, American corporations have coddled communism in order to sweeten the pockets of their executives. Is Disney done thanking governments that run concentration camps now? And who can forget all the video game companies that have stripped their products of western influence or culture just so they can hope that China will approve their requests. Chinese kids get to enjoy video games for a tiny amount of time each day you know!
In case you missed it, @Blizzard_Ent responded to the Hearthstone / China / Censorship / Hypocrisy controversy and wow… it's something 👉https://t.co/CTXT2uXMEm 😬 pic.twitter.com/yltIsv5giI
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) October 12, 2019
As Ukraine is being destroyed by Russia, so too is China sending more war planes towards Taiwan. And as they do, think about the media companies in the United States who are about to face a hard future where the Beijing box office industry is cut off from them. Many of our movie companies designed their futures on the belief that the Chinese market would be bigger than any other movie market out there. Now, the real possibility exists that Russia and China may be part of an alliance deemed an existential threat to western nations. Why does The Walt Disney Company do if China seizes their multi-billion dollar theme park assets? What will happen to their stock? What happens to so many video game companies in bed with the Chinese gaming company Tencent, which could steal their intellectual properties at any moment?
The partnership between companies, born out of entrepreneurship and free economies, with the evils of authoritarianism is a short-sided miscalculation by dolts that placed brief chances at increased profits over the integral dangers that could destroy their own societies. Now our entertainment companies must deal with their horrible ethics that placed them in the position they now hold.
They made a deal with the devil, but they failed to give the devil its due.
Disney’s theme parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong and Universal’s in Beijing will soon feel the wrath of the China’s CCP. China’s economic decline already happened a few years ago with the pandemic and China’s treatment of dissenting countries like Australia and Lithuania. Many countries are encouraging decoupling from China’s supply chain. Unfortunately, it’ll take a much larger effort to make the divorce more material.
Spiderman’s box office shows how Sony can do it. Make movies American, not Chinese.
Disneyland Moscow, confirmed!
What would happen if Disney was forced/booted out of Shanghai and Hong Kong parks? If CCP’s just like “ya thanks for the park we got it from here no more percentage split buh bye!” What would that mean or even look like? It’s not like suing the ccp would remotely mean anything right (Lol)? Does Disney currently receive their ccp checks on the regular as it is?
If you were CEO of Disney, how would you detangle the theme parks in China? If not completely possible, what would be the best/ideal situation?
(Big picture, apart from Disney, I am very concerned for Taiwan. They are definitely in my positive thoughts).
I think they had looked at the possibility of selling their part of the property while retaining IP rights and creative control (similar to the Tokyo Disney situation). I’m sure they have contingency plans in the event of relations going very south with China. If I were them, I’d be exploring those options.