CATDOLL: Disney responds to the "Cars" plagiarism incident: I am worried

Not long ago, a Chinese animated film called "Cars" was released. Soon, some netizens pointed out that the film was a copy of Pixar's "Cars". From the comparison pictures made by netizens, it can be seen that the animation style, title and poster of the two films are the same. The "Cars" poster also uses tires to cover the word "人", which is misleading. Some netizens shouted: "I thought "Cars" was re-released in the mainland, and I was almost fooled by this crappy copycat!". After that, it caused quite a lot of discussion on the Internet. We have also made relevant reports on this before.

A reporter from Mtime.com contacted the "Cars" producer Disney about this matter. The company subsequently issued an official statement through Mtime.com, saying: "Like many Chinese netizens and movie fans, we are concerned about such incidents. Apart from this, we currently have no other comments on the matter."

Zhuo Jianrong, the director of "Cars", said confidently in an interview: "We didn't break the law!" He also explained to the media that the name of the film was "Cars" before it was approved by the radio and television bureau, and it was changed to the current name to avoid misunderstanding by netizens. "We can use the names of foreign films that are not registered, which is not illegal, and the plots of the two films are not related. We have received a lawyer's letter from Disney before, and we replied, but Disney did not pursue it further." As for the "plagiarism" of the poster, Zhuo Jianrong did not admit it, saying "It only shows that our poster looks like a celebrity face."

War of words: Those who question are "traitors of the new era"

Long before the film was released, rumors of plagiarism had spread online. Lu Hengyu, the director of "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes," once accused "Transformers" on Weibo of being "the most scheming bitch in domestic animation." Zhuo Jianrong responded by saying that director Lu Hengyu's work was "purely to cater to the curiosity of a certain group of people," and that his own work was "simple and pure" and only suitable for children with childlike innocence. He also asked the audience to "understand the educational ideas of the film for children," and "Please don't compare the production scenes with domestic and foreign blockbusters. We are competing on the ideological content of the story.

Some netizens also revealed that when the film participated in the Hangzhou Animation Festival, it was directly called "Cars". In addition, Japanese TV stations have also questioned "Cars" for plagiarism, believing that the appearance of the three cars in the film is similar to Lightning McQueen, Master Chief and Francesco from "Cars". The TV station also called director Zhuo Jianrong to verify, but the director said that he was just learning, not plagiarizing. Zhuo Jianrong responded on Weibo that netizens who used the Japanese TV report to make a fuss were "new-age traitors."

After the counterfeiting incident was exposed, Zhuo Jianrong frequently engaged in verbal battles with netizens on Weibo, believing that the attacks from netizens had seriously affected the box office of "Transformers". "We had high expectations originally, but because of this incident, our box office is very poor. Now it has only grossed over 4.3 million after three days of release."

Revealed: Are animations made to earn government subsidies?　

"Cars" is produced by Xiamen Blue Flame Film and Television Company, and Zhuo Jianrong is the chairman and chief director of Xiamen Blue Flame Film and Television. He also produced a 26-episode 3D animation "K Era" in 2013. "K Era" has almost the same storyline as "Cars", both telling the story of a genius boy Kaka, who through continuous efforts developed the most advanced intelligent car control system in the future society - the K system. "Cars" adapted "K Era" into a movie, but the picture quality is still at the beginner level, the city background looks like an unfinished model, and the characters only have four fingers. Will anyone watch such low-level cartoons and animated movies? Will they make money?

In this regard, some netizens pointed out that Zhuo Jianrong established Blue Flame and entered the animation industry because he was attracted by government subsidies. The company address shown on the Blue Flame Film and Television website is in Xiamen Software Park. In 2013, the Xiamen government introduced seven preferential policies for local animation companies. Among them, the first one is the original animation broadcast reward - original film and television animation works broadcast on CCTV will receive a subsidy of 1,500 yuan per minute; broadcast on sub-provincial and above TV stations, a subsidy of 750 yuan per minute. Original film animations broadcast in national theaters and CCTV movie channels will receive a subsidy of 3,000 yuan per minute; broadcast in regional theaters will receive a subsidy of 1,500 yuan per minute; recommended by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television as an excellent animation for priority broadcasting, a one-time reward of 200,000 yuan. According to public information, the film is 85 minutes long and has been released in national theaters. According to the policy, it should be able to get 255,000 yuan. In addition, Blue Flame can also benefit from the other two "talent training subsidies" and "rent subsidies".

However, the incident has not subsided. Yesterday (July 7), another Weibo user @Chris橡小米 broke the news that the background promotional image of the "Autobots" poster was also plagiarized, with only the characters photoshopped out and replaced with cars: "The recently criticized animation "Autobots" plagiarized my image as the background image in the promotional image, although the characters were photoshopped out... I am also drunk! I feel sad to be caught by such an animation stealing my image. (PS: Just don't think of it as my drawing). The promotional image that stole my image and used it as the background."

On July 7, CNN also reported the "Cars" incident: the director said he had heard of "Cars" but had not seen it, and insisted that his film was original and denied plagiarizing Pixar. "Cars on the street all look alike. Is it illegal if someone looks like you?" Disney has sent a lawyer's letter to the director, but refused to explain why it sent the letter.