"How China Is Remaking the Global Film Industry"
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Posted On: 04/12/2017 3:31:57 PM
"How China Is Remaking the Global Film Industry"
Time Magazine
Hannah Beech / Hengdian
Jan 26, 2017
"...Looking to offload cash abroad as the yuan has devalued, Chinese companies have snapped up Hollywood studios, theaters and production companies. Last year Dalian Wanda Group, the Chinese real estate and entertainment conglomerate, announced it was buying Legendary Entertainment studio — producer of blockbusters like Jurassic World — for $3.5 billion, adding to an entertainment portfolio that includes AMC Entertainment, the U.S. theater-chain giant, and Odeon & UCI, the biggest in Europe. In the fall, Wang Jianlin, Wanda's founder and China's richest man, struck a deal with Sony Pictures to finance films and also agreed to a $1 billion acquisition of Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globes and American Music Awards.
Chinese e-commerce king Alibaba and online gaming giant Tencent, already among the world's biggest tech companies, have hunted for content in Hollywood, investing in small studios and bankrolling films like the latest Mission: Impossible and the summer's Star Trek Beyond and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. In October, Alibaba announced it was partnering with Steven Spielberg, Hollywood's top-grossing director, to produce, distribute and finance films globally — and in China. Even the state-owned broadcaster from Hunan province, Chairman Mao Zedong's birthplace, has poured money into Lionsgate, the studio behind the Hunger Games series.
Japanese, Middle Eastern and European companies have long spent big in Hollywood. But China is different. "We have both big pockets and a big stomach," says Li Ruigang, head of China Media Capital (CMC), a private-equity firm that has partnered with Warner Bros., DreamWorks and Imax, among others. "China has money to spend on Hollywood and this incredible market at home. The China-Hollywood connection will sustain itself for a very long time."
...
However, China's leaders, and its cash-rich companies, want more than just domestic success. After all, Bollywood has exported its schlocky, singing productions across the developing world. Tiny South Korea has managed to capture part of the global TV market with its gauzy costume dramas. Shouldn't the inheritor of a proud civilization that spans thousands of years be able to project its own soft power? Even as President Xi has restricted artistic freedom at home, he has urged China to export its values and promote a "global creative industry." Wanda's Wang, a former soldier in the People's Liberation Army and member of the Chinese Communist Party, has said he wants to use his U.S. theaters to showcase Chinese films. ... "
http://time.com/4649913/china-remaking-global-film-industry/
Time Magazine
Hannah Beech / Hengdian
Jan 26, 2017
"...Looking to offload cash abroad as the yuan has devalued, Chinese companies have snapped up Hollywood studios, theaters and production companies. Last year Dalian Wanda Group, the Chinese real estate and entertainment conglomerate, announced it was buying Legendary Entertainment studio — producer of blockbusters like Jurassic World — for $3.5 billion, adding to an entertainment portfolio that includes AMC Entertainment, the U.S. theater-chain giant, and Odeon & UCI, the biggest in Europe. In the fall, Wang Jianlin, Wanda's founder and China's richest man, struck a deal with Sony Pictures to finance films and also agreed to a $1 billion acquisition of Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globes and American Music Awards.
Chinese e-commerce king Alibaba and online gaming giant Tencent, already among the world's biggest tech companies, have hunted for content in Hollywood, investing in small studios and bankrolling films like the latest Mission: Impossible and the summer's Star Trek Beyond and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. In October, Alibaba announced it was partnering with Steven Spielberg, Hollywood's top-grossing director, to produce, distribute and finance films globally — and in China. Even the state-owned broadcaster from Hunan province, Chairman Mao Zedong's birthplace, has poured money into Lionsgate, the studio behind the Hunger Games series.
Japanese, Middle Eastern and European companies have long spent big in Hollywood. But China is different. "We have both big pockets and a big stomach," says Li Ruigang, head of China Media Capital (CMC), a private-equity firm that has partnered with Warner Bros., DreamWorks and Imax, among others. "China has money to spend on Hollywood and this incredible market at home. The China-Hollywood connection will sustain itself for a very long time."
...
However, China's leaders, and its cash-rich companies, want more than just domestic success. After all, Bollywood has exported its schlocky, singing productions across the developing world. Tiny South Korea has managed to capture part of the global TV market with its gauzy costume dramas. Shouldn't the inheritor of a proud civilization that spans thousands of years be able to project its own soft power? Even as President Xi has restricted artistic freedom at home, he has urged China to export its values and promote a "global creative industry." Wanda's Wang, a former soldier in the People's Liberation Army and member of the Chinese Communist Party, has said he wants to use his U.S. theaters to showcase Chinese films. ... "
http://time.com/4649913/china-remaking-global-film-industry/
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