China Film Group Set to Shake Up Management
HONG KONG — The state-run Chinese film giant China Film Group is set to shake up its management, according to media reports.
La Peikang, who is currently deputy head of CFG, is expected to replace Han Sanping (pictured with director James Cameron) as chairman of the company at the end of the month.
Fu Ruoqing, who is a VP at CFG, will replace Gu Guoqing as the chairman of film distributor Huaxia Film, and Cao Yin will replace Yan Xiaoming as the head of the CCTV6 China Movie Channel.
CFG is both the largest state-controlled production entity in China and the official distributor for all films imported through the revenue-sharing quota system, under which most Hollywood titles are released.
Han is a veteran who has overseen the group throughout the period of modernization of the Chinese film industry.
La, a younger man with stronger international credentials — he lived nine years in France –, may be the man to take the group forward as the wider industry reaches maturity and as CFG enters its own significant next phase.
As far back as 2006 CFG announced that it was preparing itself for privatization. That was delayed first by questions over the choice of stock market, and later by the global financial crisis. It seems likely too that internal restructuring and a dash for growth on the exhibition side may also have held up the flotation process.
However, the chances of the flotation going ahead now seem greater, given that CFG has a new internal structure and that it has settled the tax dispute that held up rental payments on the Hollywood films it handled.
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