In February Lee won his second best director Oscar for his 3D film Life of Pi, based on the Booker-winning novel about a shipwrecked boy and a Bengal tiger.
Bill Block, who purchased indie films The Blair Witch Project and Pi for Artisan, and now runs QED, a film financing and distribution company, says the strategy makes sense.
But at a meeting of U.S. film studios organized by the Motion Picture Association of America last week, a senior executive from Fox told other international distribution professionals in attendance that China Film was attempting to reduce its payment on "Life of Pi" released last year in China due to the new value-added tax.