Veteran film producer and distributor Jeffrey Chan is being accused of fraud and of going into hiding in a high-profile spat fuelled by blockbuster receipts to two of Taiwan’s most successful films of recent times.

The row has sparked lurid tabloid-style headlines in Taiwan media and a flurry of competing lawyer’s letters. It was kicked off when actress-turned-producer Lee Lieh accused Chan of absconding with the proceeds of The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon earned from its 2024 release in mainland China. 

The crime action film had gross revenues of some RMB650 million/US$95 million and is the second-best performing Taiwan film of all time in the PRC. 

Films from Taiwan may be imported into the PRC without quota restrictions (the opposite is not true and Taiwan authorities operate a once-per-year lottery to determine which 10 mainland films can access its theatres), but there are other complications, including the remittance of monies to a jurisdiction that the PRC does not recognise. In practice, few are released.

After Chan skipped a Taipei meeting of the film’s investors on 9 April, Lee issued a statement and an ultimatum requiring that he send payments within seven days or face legal action.

The “Pig” dispute caused investors in another film, Sunshine Women’s Choir, which released on 31 December and has broken the box office record for a local film in Taiwan, to make similar accusations against Chan, who is the film’s producer.  

Chan hit back with a statement issued through a Hong Kong law firm denying any irregularities and threatening to sue for defamation. 

“The recovery of film box office returns and cross-border distribution in Mainland China involve authorized contractual chains, box office reconciliation, financial processing, cash flow payment nodes, and related administrative review procedures. In practice, these are relatively complex,” the letter said. “Before the facts and accounts are confirmed, any arbitrary inference that any party has intentional delay, refusal to process, or other illegal circumstances is truly unfair.”

Lee was contacted by ContentAsia but declined to comment.

Speaking to ContentAsia, Chan offered further insight into the complications of releasing foreign films in PRC. 

A majority of China’s 34 annual revenue sharing import quota slots go to the biggest Hollywood studio titles. Most independent and foreign films, including “Pig”, are licensed on a flat-fee or one-time payment basis. Because of the film’s unexpected and outsize success, Chan says he has been retroactively negotiating with the film’s PRC distributors for a bonus. 

“We are dealing with grey areas and are discussing an amount that is flexible. [The distributors] have paid some, but not all”, Chan said.
Chan, who is normally based in Hong Kong and has longstanding business connections in the PRC, denied that he had gone into hiding.  
In the separate case of Sunshine, Chan said that the film is still playing in Taiwan theatres and that exhibitors have not paid all that is likely to be owed to the distributor or producer. 

It is currently unclear how the two separate disputes will be resolved, but next week’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, could be decisive. Chan confirms that he will be present as a member of the festival jury. Lee is expected to attend as producer of the Golden Horse Film Awards best narrative feature winner, A Foggy Tale.

By Patrick Frater