Company Town

* Foreign: Hoping to develop the Chinese market for motion pictures, video and TV, Sony Pictures Entertainment is establishing an office in Beijing. Mishka Chen, who was recently named general manger of Sony Pictures Entertainment in China, was named to run the office. Sony’s decision is part of a growing movement by Hollywood studios to develop the Chinese market.

* Gump: More than 75% of the 16 million “Forrest Gump” videocassettes shipped by Paramount Home Video have been sold to consumers, Paramount Pictures said Monday. Paramount initially shipped 15 million “Forrest Gump” cassettes to retail stores, which put them on sale April 27. About 50% were sold to consumers within four days. Since then, reorders of about 1 million have been filled.