How Shanghai is becoming the new Hollywood

I was sweating on a treadmill in my local gym last week, when Scott Eastwood, son of Clint, appeared on the telly. He mentioned how he’d just wrapped up the sequel to Pacific Rim (2013), a film production that rocketed him most of the way around the world. ‘We shot four months in Australia, and then we shot for about a month in China,’ he explained to Lorraine. ‘I’ve never been to China before.’

He might not realise it yet, but Eastwood will go to China again. You don’t even need to read my article in the current issue of the magazine to find out why – although, naturally, you should. You can go to the cinema instead. Two films currently being shown, Ghost in the Shell and Kong: Skull Island, start with the logos of American production companies before moving on to the logos of Chinese production companies such as Shanghai Film Group and Legendary Entertainment.