Wanda & AMC

[GeneChing]

Good for Dolby. For years, one of my biggest complaints about China was that they had terrible sound systems. That was more with festivals and concerts as I don't recall ever seeing a movie in a theater there - at least not a normal one. I saw some films at Shaolin, but that was quite different. There was a great 360 degree theater there once, and then there was the rollercoaster simulator, plus I saw a few movies shown to the wushuguan kids shown on hung blankets in the training fields at night.

Dolby Plans 100 Theaters In China, Courtesy Of Wanda Cinemas
by Anita Busch
January 27, 2016 9:02am


Ed Jones/AFP/GettyImages



The exhibition arm of Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group, the Wanda Cinema Line, has opened the door for San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories to establish their system into 100 theaters over the next five years with the first location scheduled to open this spring. The theaters will be equipped with both what the company calls Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos which combines both image and sound technologies. By doing this, Wanda becomes the first cinema chain in China to do so. For Dolby, it continues their goal of global expansion.

RelatedChina's Largest Theater Group Enters Movie Merchandising Market
In just over a year, the company already has commitments to install their equipment in about 200 theaters overseas. Most recently, it opened two theaters with the digital equipment installed in The Netherlands and another in Spain. There are plans to open six locations via Cineplexx in Austria. In the states, AMC (owned by Wanda) said it will add 50 more Dolby Cinemas (as they are known) by year’s end with a total of 100 by 2024.

“We are thrilled to become the first cinema chain to bring the Dolby Cinema premium experience to moviegoers in China,” said John Zeng, President, Wanda Cinema Line in making the announcement. “I believe that Dolby Cinema, with its award-winning sound and imaging technologies and inspired design, will provide Wanda Cinema patrons a moviegoing experience that is unlike any other in China.”

“Dolby’s collaboration with Wanda Cinema Line marks a significant step in delivering the next-generation cinema experience on a global scale,” said Kevin Yeaman, President and CEO, Dolby Laboratories.

[GeneChing]

China's Wanda Deal for Legendary Gets U.S. Regulatory Approval


Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin

by Patrick Brzeski 2/2/2016 2:58am PST

Last month, the Chinese conglomorate announced plans to acquire the U.S. co-producer of 'Godzilla' and 'Jurassic World' for $3.5 billion, which would be the largest Chinese buyout of a U.S. media company ever.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has given Chinese real estate and investment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group the green light to go forward with its $3.5 billion acquisition of Thomas Tull's Legendary Entertainment.

The Chinese buyout of the U.S. film studio was announced by the two partners in January.

“It is quite a feat for an acquisition to be approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce in such a short time,” Wanda said in a statement on Tuesday. “This reflects the positive attitude that the U.S. government has towards Sino-U.S. cultural exchange."

The Legendary deal is Wanda's latest step toward its goal of becoming a global, vertically integrated film company. The Chinese conglomerate has been pushing to diversify from its core real estate business since August 2012, when it spent $2.6 billion to acquire AMC Entertainment, North America's second-largest cinema chain. Last year, Wanda paid more than $600 million for Hoyts, Australia’s second-largest multiplex group. Wanda also owns China's largest domestic exhibition circuit, Wanda Cinema Line, which has a market cap of $18.5 billion.

According to Wanda, once the Legendary deal goes through, it will be the highest-revenue-generating film company in the world (the Chinese giant is also rumored to be shopping for a pan-European movie theater network).

The Wanda-Legendary deal faces one final regulatory hurdle: approval by China's National Development and Reform Commission and the country's Ministry of Commerce. The agreement isn't expected to encounter any difficulty in receiving swift passage on the Chinese side, however, given the way the Chinese government has been supporting leading local businesses' efforts to go global.

Wanda's founder and chairman, Wang Jianlin, is one of China's wealthiest individuals, with a net worth estimated at $32.7 billion by Forbes.

The big budget, spectacle-heavy pictures Legendary specializes in have had a strong track record in China. Many of the titles the studio has co-produced — such as Godzilla, Inception, Jurassic World and Pacific Rim — have done particularly big business in the CGI-loving Chinese market, which is expected to surpass North America as the world's most valuable theatrical territory sometime next year.

At least this justifies our Pacific Rim coverage a little more.

[GeneChing]

China Box Office: Revenue Soars 47 Percent in Normally Quiet January


'Detective Chinatown'
YouTube screengrab

by Patrick Brzeski 2/3/2016 7:31pm PST

The market share for Hollywood movies, however, slipped to 29 percent for the first month of 2016.

While China's stock markets recently gave economists plenty of cause for concern, the country's movie box office showed no signs of slowing its historic expansion in the first month of 2016.

Box office revenue reached $583.4 million (3.839 billion yuan) in January, usually a relatively slow month for movie-going in the country. The haul represents a 47.2 percent increase over January 2015. The performance is roughly in line with the astonishing 48.7 percent full-year growth rate the Chinese theatrical market achieved in 2015 (the January growth figures were released by Beijing-based box office monitor, Ent Group).

The overall box office expansion means that Hollywood studios are making more money from China than ever, but their market share in the country has been on the wane — in 2015, Hollywood's share fell to 38.4 percent from 45.5 percent in 2014. China's regulators continue to employ selective scheduling to promote local fare. The Chinese film industry's output is becoming more diverse and professionally polished, too.

In January, that trend continued, with Hollywood titles representing approximately 29 percent, or $169.2 million, of the month's overall total (British movies took a little over 4 percent, thanks to Sherlock: The Abominable Bride's $24.4 million run).

The big Hollywood entry of the month was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened in China Jan. 9. Through Tuesday, Force Awakens had grossed $123 million, a little less than the $123.6 million earned to date by Detective Chinatown, a local action-comedy set in Thailand and produced by Wanda Media and Youku Tudou's Heyi Pictures. Force Awakens edged out Detective Chinatown as the highest-grossing movie of January, since the Chinese title opened on Dec. 31.

Other Western movies in the market for the first month of January were Vin Diesel's The Last Witch Hunter ($25.6 million), The Walk ($12.6 million), Solace ($5.3 million) and Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 ($5.7 million).

In February, Chinese films are expected to dominate more decisively, as local regulators institute a blackout period on foreign movie imports during the Chinese New Year holidays, spanning the first half of the month. Much anticipated Chinese titles — including Stephen Chow's Mermaid and From Vegas to Macau 2, starring Chow Yun-fat — are forecasted to make hay over the holidays.

Hollywood's big hope for February is Oriental DreamWork's Kung Fu Panda 3, which was allowed to open during the lucrative festive season thanks to its status as a co-production with China Film Group, and ODW's joint venture investment from China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group. The threequel opened in China on Jan. 29, earning a strong $73.6 million through Tuesday after scoring the largest debut of all time in China for an animated film. Since it's an official Chinese co-production, regulators count KFP3's grosses on the Chinese side of the revenue share equation.

The growth of China's movie industry has been fueled by the steady emergence of a modern consumerist lifestyle across the country's 1.3 billion population, and the concomitant expansion of movie exhibition infrastructure. In 2014, 8,035 movie screens were installed in China — a construction rate of 22 screens per day.

At the end of 2015, China's screen count sat at 31,627, according to state sources. North America is estimated to have about 39,000 movie screens. If the current rate of growth holds up, China will surpass North America as the world's largest movie market in early 2017.

This is sooner than earlier predictions. If this happens, I'll have to expand my Chollywood column in Kung Fu Tai Chi again.

[GeneChing]

The Chinese yuan may be worrying Wall Street, but Hollywood is betting on China.

Universal Finalizes $500M Slate Deal With China's Perfect World
6:26 AM PST 2/17/2016 by Patrick Brzeski


Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group
Alex J. Berliner

The partnership that begins in 2016 will last five years or cover the co-financing of 50 films, making the Chinese video game and TV production company a major player in global entertainment.

Universal Pictures and Chinese multi-media company Perfect World Pictures have entered into multi-year financing agreement, which will cover films across the entire Universal slate.

The partnership will begin in 2016 and last five years or cover the co-financing of 50 films, making the Chinese video game and TV production company a major investor in one of Hollywood's hottest studios. Thanks to three hits (Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Minions) that made more than $1 billion at the box office, Universal had its most profitable year ever in 2015.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but sources close to the deal told The Hollywood Reporter in January that Perfect World would be making an investment of $500 million in Universal's slate, with the financing split evenly between debt and equity contributions. Perfect World is understood to be getting a 25 percent share of most, but not all, of the films released by Universal. Specific film titles included in the deal will be announced at a later date, the partners said in a statement Wednesday.

The agreement will not alter Legendary Entertainment's financing of select Universal titles, the two companies added. In another instance of China's growing market sway in Hollywood, Legendary was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group for $3.5 billion in December.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Perfect World and appreciate the confidence it has in our film slates going forward after a record-breaking 2015,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. “With Perfect World’s history of success in the Chinese market, we look forward to exploring other opportunities to work together.”

Although it's still a relatively new name to Hollywood, Perfect World has been active in film distribution, as well as Chinese TV production. For example, it was the Chinese co-distributor on Lionsgate's Divergent, Insurgent and Ender’s Game, as well as Universal's Rush. It also served as a producer-distributor on romantic comedy Sophie’s Revenge (2009), with Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing. Perfect World Pictures currently has a market capitalization of $1.9 billion (12.5 billion Chinese yuan).

Michael Chi, chairman of Perfect World, added: “Building out our film business and expanding into international markets are two of the most important initiatives for Perfect World. Universal has had a stellar last few years, and with a slate that boasts many titles that we know will thrive in the marketplace, we are confident our partnership with them is a solid step in the right direction. Our partnership with Universal is not just about making movies together, but also about the opportunities that exist in the synergy across our multiple business lines to maximize strategic value for all involved.”

Perfect World was represented by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. Universal Pictures was advised on the transaction by The Raine Group and represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

[GeneChing]

China’s Film Industry: A Blockbuster In The Making
By Knowledge@Wharton on February 17, 2016 9:28 pm in Business

While stories about China’s economy centers on a slowdown, China’s passion for movies, at home and abroad, follows a much more optimistic plotline. Its growth has been phenomenal, outperforming China’s traditional industries, such as manufacturing. Many experts believe China is on track to have the largest film audience in the world –- and by one estimate as early as 2020.

“The entertainment industry is a sunrise industry in China, while the steel industry is a sunset industry. The growth potential for the entertainment industry is still huge, despite a high growth rate of 17% [per year] in the past five years,” says Z. John Zhang, Wharton marketing professor. Already, the media and entertainment industry is worth $180 billion in China, he adds, and the number is only expected to get larger.

“Many sectors of the Chinese entertainment industry are growing well into double digits on an annualized basis, despite the slowdown in the overall economy. China’s steel industry by contrast is operating at only 70% utilization, with roughly 400 million tons of excess capacity. Neither domestic nor international demand will fill that gap,” says Gordon Orr, senior advisor to McKinsey and Co. who is projecting that China’s film audience size will exceed that of the U.S. in four years.

Currently, China’s movie ticket sales is second only to the U.S. In 2015, box office revenue hit a record $6.8 billion, up 49% from the previous year, according to China’s regulator, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. That’s up from $1.51 billion a mere five years ago. North America also saw a record in 2015, hitting an estimated $11 billion for the first time even though it grew at a much slower rate of 7% year-over-year, reported media measurement and research firm Rentrak.

Moreover, China is expected to see a movie cross the $500 million threshold domestically in 2016, according to a McKinsey report. Some Chinese movies have already come close: Monster Hunt grossed $380 million to date while Lost in Hong Kong garnered more than $250 million. The record for an American film, Avatar, was $760 million on U.S. screens.

It wasn’t always this way. From 1979 to the early 1990s, Chinese movies were mainly propaganda films approved by the Communist government, according to an October 2015 report by the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission. As a result, the film market dwindled, with attendance falling by 79% from 1982 to 1991. To revive its movie business, China brought in its first foreign film in 1994 — Warner Bros.’ The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. The Chinese began importing more American films and today allows an annual quota of 34 a year.

Catalysts for Box Office Growth

At four times the size of the U.S., China’s population makes it the golden goose of the film industry. “China’s audience will one day be bigger than the U.S.,” predicts Qiaowei Shen, Wharton marketing professor. Moreover, the average Chinese citizen goes to the movies less than once a year while the average American goes almost four times a year. “There’s huge potential [for growth] if the average Chinese person [just] goes to the movies two times a year, then box office receipts will increase by two times,” she notes.

“Many sectors of the Chinese entertainment industry are growing well into double digits on an annualized basis, despite the slowdown in the overall economy. –Gordon Orr

Movies also are underpenetrated in China. Extending movie runs to second-, third- and fourth-tier cities should further propel box office receipts. “Big cities are very mature already, says Shen. “Now those smaller cities are becoming very important. [Studios are increasingly] marketing in those small cities. A few years ago, they would concentrate in Shanghai and Beijing,” Shen adds. Now they bring the movie stars to do promotional appearances in more than 20 cities, not just in major urban centers.

The infrastructure for movie-going is also on the rise. Adding movie screens and building cinemas, especially in the smaller cities, will spur growth of the entertainment industry in China, adds Shen. When a new shopping mall is built in China, it’s usually anchored by a theater.

China is building at a rapid rate of 15 new movie screens daily in new and existing cinemas, up from more than three screens a day in 2012, according to the U.S. commission’s report. China currently has 31,627 screens while North America has approximately 39,000 screens, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Orr predicts that the addition of screens will lead to growth of more than 20% in China’s box office in 2016. Bloomberg reports that China is expected to have 53,000 screens by 2017.

Rising disposable incomes among the growing ranks of the Chinese middle class also boosts the entertainment industry. According to EY, the disposable income per person jumped nearly five-fold to $3,440 from 2000 to 2011. Orr further adds, “The close to 50% year-on-year growth in the Chinese movie box office in 2015, continuing in 2016, indicates how, if you provide a higher quality service, the Chinese middle class will buy more of the service.”

As such, Hollywood studios with an eye to global box office gold know they cannot ignore the Chinese market — and have devised ways to get around the annual quotas set by the government. “There is not a big movie studio in the world that is not thinking about how to crack the China market from the start of making its movies,” says Zhang.

China Eyes Hollywood

China is also eyeing Hollywood to bolster its entertainment holdings and forge creative collaborations. “Many Chinese entertainment companies have a lot of capital; they may feel short of opportunities to deploy this capital in China and see easier opportunities to do so internationally,” notes Orr.

But China looks beyond financial reasons in inking deals. “There’s a concerted effort in China to move into the global entertainment and media industry to build China’s soft power,” adds Zhang. The cultural sector is one of the pillars of China’s Five-Year Plan, meaning the government makes an effort to support Chinese investment in entertainment. “Aside from being good business, it is a way to protect China’s influence in the world.”

“There’s a concerted effort in China to move into the global entertainment and media industry to build China’s soft power.” –Z. John Zhang

Recently, the Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate led by China’s richest man Wang Jianlan, paid $3.5 billion for Legendary Entertainment, a major Hollywood studio responsible for the Batman and Jurassic World franchises. It is the first Chinese company to buy a big U.S. studio; it is also Wanda’s largest foreign acquisition. According to Variety, Wang hasn’t ruled out more forays into entertainment, saying “we want to have a bigger position in the global movie industry.”

Wanda, the largest commercial real-estate developer in China, has become the largest movie theater operator in the world after acquiring AMC Entertainment Holdings in 2012 for $2.6 billion. Orr adds, “Chinese business leaders recognize that many elements of the entertainment business are fully global and if they are to maximize their revenues they need to be able to seamlessly access global markets. Making international acquisitions can accelerate their ability to do so.”

Wang is also developing one of the world’s largest movie-production facilities in Qingdao, China, which includes 30 soundstages, a permanent set featuring a New York City street, as well as a theme park and resort hotel to accommodate families and staff of cast and crew. The public announcement of the studio included appearances from actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman as well as movie studio executive Harvey Weinstein.

Zhang believes more deals will come. Orr concurs: “Early Chinese moves into investing in foreign entertainment are seen to be successful in China, encouraging more to follow.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

I copied all the posts above from our Chollywood-rising thread. That'll make them redundant but there were 35 and I didn't feel like going through and sorting them out. From now on, I'll post Wanda news here.

Chinese owner of AMC seeks $1.5 billion for stock sale


Dalian Wanda Group plans an IPO for Wanda Pictures

Dalian Wanda Group, the Chinese conglomerate planning an IPO for its film unit, is seeking to raise $1.5 billion from domestic Chinese investors for Wanda Pictures, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Wanda Pictures, which makes Chinese language films such as “Mojin: The Lost Legend,“ agreed in January to acquire Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion. Its chairman, Wang Jianlin, said in January that Wanda planned to package Legendary with some of its filmmaking and distribution assets for an initial public offering.

Wanda Group also controls Leawood-based AMC Entertainment Holdings, the second-largest movie theater chain.

Bloomberg News

[GeneChing]

Wanda for worldwide cinematic domination...

China’s Wanda in Bid Talk for Turkey’s Mars
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief


COURTESY OF DALIAN WANDA
FEBRUARY 26, 2016 | 04:18AM PT

China’s Wanda Group – widely expected to unveil a major investment in a Parisian property and entertainment complex and believed to be a possible suitor for Paramount – may also be preparing another acquisition.

The company’s name has been linked to a possible purchase of Mars Entertainment, Turkey’s largest cinema chain. So too is South Korea’s CJ-CGV.

“Mars is exploring strategic options through investment banks who are in touch with several international exhibition companies, including Wanda,” a source close to Mars told Variety. “Timing of the deal is this year, but we do not know the price.”

Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were appointed in December by Mars’ owners and that a formal sale process could kick off in March. It also suggested that private equity firms would also be interested.

Adding fuel to the speculation that deals-hungry Wanda could cut short the bidding process and quickly snatch up the Turkish chain, was the suspension of trading on Wednesday in the shares of Wanda Cinema Line.

The company asked for a trading halt “pending an acquisition announcement,” according to a regulatory filing.

Wanda’s Mars move would make sense. In just over a decade Mars Entertainment Group has become the top exhibitor in Turkey which is Europe’s most rapidly growing moviegoing market.

Founded in 2001 by Muzaffer Yildirim, a former exec in the country’s booming tourism industry, Mars has built more than 500 state-of-the-art screens in 24 Turkish cities and plans to have more than 1,000 screens by 2017, all operated under the Cinemaximum brand. They currently account for more than half of Turkey’s total box office.

Wanda Cinema Line now has a market capitalization of $14.4 billion (RMB94 billion). That makes it vastly more valuable than the North American giant AMC that Wanda acquired for $2.3 billion in 2012, or Hoyts, the number two Australian circuit it bought last year. Yet Wanda Cinema Line has still not used its highly valued shares for a major foreign expansion.

CGV, which now has operations in five countries, denied that it was actively pursuing Mars.

“The rumor (that CGV will buy Mars) has been around for a while. Mars is one of those companies on our list and nothing specific is happening between Mars and CGV. Wanda is a big group and they’re aggressively signing MOUs with foreign cinema chains these days, I assume that’s why the rumors say it’s either CGV or Wanda (that is looking to buy a cinema chain) most of the time,” spokesman and CJ-CGV spokesman Cho Sung-jin told Variety.

Neither Wanda or Mars have offered any comment.

Earlier this year, when announcing the $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment, Wanda group chairman Wang Jianlin said that his empire is planning five major acquisitions this year.

Nick Vivarelli contributed to this report.

[GeneChing]

It's not just movie theater chains that Wanda is after...

Report: China’s richest man interested in buying ASO
By Gregor Brown
Published 3 hours ago


2015 Tour de France
The Tour de France peloton charged down the Champs-Élysées in Paris last summer. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com

MILAN (VN) — China’s richest man Wang Jianlin could buy ASO and its Tour de France. A report in the Wall Street Journal claims his Dalian Wanda Group will invest in Europa City near Paris and possibly make a push for cycling’s top organizer.

The Wanda group already tried to take over RCS Sport and its races, which includes the Giro d’Italia, in December. Money was not an issue for the $39 billion group, just that RCS Mediagroup decided to keep its sports subsidiary. Wang’s sights are now on France.

The Journal reported how the Dalian Wanda Group is pushing into L’hexagone for the first time with Europa City, a multi-use development project in the northern suburbs of Paris. The Chinese group would likely invest in the project’s amusement park. The opening date is set for 2024, but other French acquisitions could take place beforehand.

“Wanda is also interested in potentially buying Amaury Sport Organisation, people familiar with Wanda’s plans said,” reports the Journal. “They cautioned that the Tour de France deal isn’t as advanced and discussions remained at early stages.”

ASO owns 19 events and organizes three others, with seven of those in the UCI WorldTour. More than 180 countries receive the Tour de France broadcast.

The Wanda Group recently bought Infront Sports & Media and for $650 million, the World Triathlon Corporation along with Ironman. The German one-day Vattenfall Cyclassics race, which American Tyler Farrar won twice, now falls under that umbrella.

Infront made headlines this week when it reached a 10-year deal with cycling group Velon. ASO has been at odds with Velon, but if the Wanda deal happens, that would quickly change.

ASO is looking to change its ways. In December, it said it would pull all of its races from the WorldTour for 2017 because it disagreed with the UCI’s reforms. VeloNews asked Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme if there was room to negotiate and he said the UCI must first get a handle on motorized cheating. “If that problem is not sorted out, then what is the point of talking about anything else?” he said.

The Journal report suggests that further up the ladder something may be changing. The Amaury family may not want to let ASO go, but one cannot deny that Wang is serious. Last April, his group bought a 20 percent stake in Atletico Madrid for $52 million. He splashed into Hollywood by buying Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion in January.

China knows Wang Jianlin as a real estate and cinema king and as the main sponsor of its Super Soccer League.

“Wang wants these businesses to promote his real estate and tourism businesses,” Chen Xujie, a Chinese journalist for Biketo, told VeloNews in December. “He bought Ironman, with it he gets people to the races and to his hotels, and maybe to buy a home. China has a huge growing middle class, with money for triathlons and tourism.”

Lance Armstrong discussed with investors in 2009 about buying the Tour de France. Nothing came of it and an anti-doping investigation eventually proved Armstrong to be a cheat.

[GeneChing]

Disneyland Paris to Get Challenger Backed By Billionaire Chinese Businessman
Bloomberg - Feb 28, 2016 1:00 pm


Image of EuropaCity from a promotional video. EuropaCity

We hope they’re thinking very long term, because right now there is no market to support another park in the region.
— Jason Clampet

A partnership led by by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. plans to invest more than $3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in a retail and leisure development project outside of Paris, taking on Walt Disney Co. in the euro area’s second-largest economy.

EuropaCity will be built 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) northeast of Paris. It will be the biggest single investment project in Europe to date, including a theme park, show stage, hotel, retail stores and conference centers, the company said in a statement. The project, which spans more than 80 hectares (198 acres), will also provide about 20,000 jobs during construction and 14,000 after it opens, according to the statement.

For Wanda, which runs theme parks across China, movie theater chains in the U.S. and a soccer club in Spain, the move represents a renewed overseas push, underscoring Wang’s increasingly global ambitions. The conglomerate agreed in January to buy “Godzilla” producer Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion, paving the way for the tycoon to become the first Chinese person to control a Hollywood film company.

France-based shopping center developer Immochan is overseeing the project. Immochan is an arm of Groupe Auchan, a family-owned supermarket operator.

Wang is also interested in potentially buying Amaury Sport Organisation, a company that runs cycling’s Tour de France race, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Wang, who vies with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma for the title of China’s richest person, has set his sights on beating Disney in the theme park business.

Disneyland Revenue

In January, he told executives that visitor arrivals and revenue at Wanda’s tourism projects in Wuxi and Guangzhou will beat those of Disneyland in Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively, according to a transcript of the speech posted on the company’s website.

Europacity may add to challenges facing Disneyland Paris, which needed a bailout in 2014 to upgrade its facilities and reverse a slump in attendance.

Already this year, Wanda announced a $2.3 billion investment in three hospitals, the formation of a financial group and the signing a $10 billion development deal in India, in addition to the Legendary acquisition. Wanda has said it’s planning five major acquisitions in 2016 — three of them overseas.

Wang’s investments in Europe include the Club Atletico de Madrid soccer team and Swiss marketing firm Infront Sports & Media AG.

Wanda is seeking acquisitions to bolster growth as the group braces for falling sales from its main property business. That’s prompted Wang, estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to have a fortune exceeding $26 billion, to increasingly look toward expanding his entertainment business.

Wang’s film, tourism and sports operations all fall under Wanda’s fast-growing Cultural Industry Group, which saw revenue climb 46 percent last year and is forecast to climb 30 percent in 2016. By comparison, Wanda Group estimates overall sales rose 19 percent in 2015 and will probably decline 12 percent this year because of the slump in its property business.

–With assistance from Helene Fouquet, Mark Deen, Rachel Butt and Lulu Yilun Chen.

The Wanda Empire is mind boggling.

[GeneChing]

I'm not familiar with Carmike Cinemas. That franchise is not in my area. Anyone know more about them?

Wanda’s AMC theater chain to buy Carmike for $1.1 billion
By RYAN NAKASHIMA
March 3, 2016 8:33 pm


FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, a patron walks into a Carmike Cinemas movie theater, in Atlanta. AMC Entertainment, the movie theater chain bought by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group in 2012, is acquiring rival chain Carmike Cinemas for $1.1 billion including debt...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — AMC Entertainment is acquiring rival Carmike Cinemas to create the world’s largest movie theater chain.

AMC, which Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group bought in 2012, said Thursday it is paying $1.1 billion including debt for Carmike.

The combined company will be the dominant theater chain in North American and signals Wanda’s further expansion into the entertainment industry. Just two months ago, it said it would spend $3.5 billion to acquire mid-level studio Legendary Entertainment, the co-financier of blockbusters like “Jurassic World” and “The Dark Knight.”

Wanda is also behind a multibillion-dollar studio complex being built in eastern China that was used to shoot the upcoming movie, “The Great Wall.”

AMC will pay $30 in cash per share, about 19 percent higher than the $25.11 Carmike shares closed at Thursday.

The acquisition will boost AMC’s theater locations by more than 70 percent to well over 600 and increase its screen count by half to nearly 8,400. Regal Entertainment Group, the current leader, runs nearly 7,400 screens in about 570 theaters.

The boards of both companies approved the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year following a review by government competition authorities.

AMC CEO Adam Aron said he hopes the combination will boost profits in 2017 and enable about $35 million in annual savings, while bringing upscale amenities like alcohol service, reclining chairs, and expanded food offerings to more venues.

He said the cost of upgrading would be “reasonable” and profitable. He also said Wanda, which owns 75 percent of AMC, was supportive of the deal, but he declined to speak on behalf of Wanda.

“Clearly, they are supportive of what AMC is doing, and what AMC is doing is we’re growing our business,” Aron said.

Aron said any possible theater closures would “depend on a conversation with the Justice Department.”

He noted there are only a few markets where the companies’ theaters overlap and where closures might occur. AMC is focused on larger cities while Carmike is in smaller markets.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is based in Leawood, Kansas, which will be the combined company’s new headquarters. Carmike Cinemas Inc. is headquartered in Columbus, Georgia.

[GeneChing]

The Chicoms own the most U.S. cinemas. How might this play out in the long run?

AMC + CARMIKE
The Chinese Communist Party’s richest man is now the biggest owner of US movie theaters


Wang Jianlin, movie-theater magnate. (Imaginechina via AP Images)

WRITTEN BY Heather Timmons
OBSESSION
Glass March 04, 2016

AMC Entertainment, the movie-theater chain owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, has purchased Carmike Cinemas, a rival 3,000-screen chain known as “America’s hometown theater circuit,” for $1.1 billion. The deal puts AMC into the top spot in the US movie-theater industry, with 8,380 screens in over 600 theaters across the country.
It also puts even more of the US entertainment industry into Chinese control, as deep-pocketed Chinese tycoons seek partnerships with Hollywood studios, gaming companies, and digital-effects studios. Wang Jianlin, who owns Dalian Wanda, has been one of the most aggressive—the group purchased Jurassic World producer Legendary Entertainment in January for $3.5 billion.
After the Carmike deal closes, the US movie-theater landscape will be dominated by AMC, followed by Regal Entertainment and Cinemark Theaters, before fragmenting into dozens of smaller chains, many of them family-owned:



Wang, who is China’s richest man, is a former commander in the People’s Liberation Army, and a current delegate to the Chinese People’s National Congress, as well as a member of an advisory board to the Communist Party. Some of his current and former businesses are closely linked to the family of current president Xi Jinping, the New York Times noted last year.
Wang’s investments are influenced by political directives. He bought into professional soccer teams abroad because “government leaders care about it very much,” he wrote in an autobiography.
Will dominance of the theater market by a Communist Party heavyweight influence what appears on American screens? Under Xi, China has undergone a widespread crackdown on free speech and tighter controls on the media. New rules prohibit television shows from depicting ****sexuality and “sexual freedom,” for example, and news media have been instructed to reflect the party’s point of view at all times.
“There are multiple ways in which China gets its message out,” Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury who studies the Communist Party, told Quartz before the AMC deal. Beijing’s handling of criticism about its slowing economy may seem heavy-handed, Brady said, but China’s “economic propaganda” has been incredibly successful—giving Beijing broader influence in Hollywood and elsewhere.
Getting Hollywood movies to show positive portrayals of China, or no portrayal of it all, is part of the government’s goal of spreading a positive image of the country, she said.

[GeneChing]

Can Legendary Entertainment Bypass China's Film Quota System?
3:00 AM PDT 4/8/2016 by Patrick Brzeski


Wanda's billionaire chairman, Wang Jialin
Getty Images

In the wake of Dalian Wanda Group's $3.5 billion acquistion of Thomas Tull's studio, the high-stakes political maneuvering in Bejing is gathering steam.

When Chinese real estate and investment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group acquired Thomas Tull's Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion in January, many t***** questions came to the fore.

For the first time ever, a Chinese company — one headed by China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, no less — had come to own a U.S. film company that has backed several international blockbusters, with a track record that included hits like Godzilla, Pacific Rim and Jurassic World.

Sizing up ensued: Was Wanda the latest dumb money to airdrop cash into tinsel town, or was it up to something far more sophisticated? (the later, it turns out: Wanda managed to offset most of the cost of Legendary in a matter of weeks, flipping the studio to Chinese investors in a share offering that raised $2.4 billion).

Meanwhile, Wanda continued expanding its already sprawling global movie theater network, merging U.S.-based Carmike Cinemas with AMC Entertainment in a $1.1 billion all-cash deal (which still needs FTC approval) that will create the largest cinema chain on the planet, spanning North America, China and Oceania. No company has ever held so many screens in so many places. Again, what was Wanda's strategy? (theories here)

Above all, many wondered whether these watershed moments signaled that 2016 would finally be the year when the deals between Hollywood and China begin to flow in earnest, after so many false starts in the past. (Thus far, that has indeed been the case: Weeks later, China's Perfect World Pictures invested $250 million into Universal's film slate, Hangzhou-based Film Carnival poured $500 million into former Disney chairman **** Cook's startup studio; and Joe and Anthony Russo, the director duo behind Marvel's Captain America franchise, launched boutique studio Anthem & Song with an estimated $200 million to $300 million in Chinese financing)

Still, despite all of the speculation and cross-border hubbub, sources in Beijing tell THR that one crucial question has yet to be accounted for: Now that Legendary is nominally a Chinese company, how will the Chinese government treat the studio's movies? Is Legendary now American or Chinese?

"Wanda is going to try to make a strong case that Legendary's movies should be classified as Chinese from now on," one senior Chinese film executive told THR in Beijing, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of discussing policy matters.

If China's film regulators are unwilling to go so far, Wanda probably will try to negotiate other concessions on behalf of Legendary, the exec suggested.

"That's how I would play it — open strong, then work towards the middle, maybe better treatment for some movies but not all," he added.

Both Wanda and Legendary declined to comment.

While wonky on the surface, the question of classification could have game-changing implications for both Hollywood and the Chinese industry, insiders say.

The Chinese box office grew 50 percent in the first quarter of 2016, and it is expected to surpass North America as the world's largest film market sometime next year.

In an effort to nurture its domestic industry while dampening Western cultural influence, China limits Hollywood's market access with a notoriously strict quota system, which allows just 34 foreign films into Chinese theaters on revenue-sharing terms each year. The authorities also institute blackouts on foreign imports during the most lucrative moviegoing weeks of the year, over the summer, fall and winter holidays, giving local pictures an uncontested run at cinemas. Local movies also take close to 50 percent of box office, whereas Hollywood's share is limited to 25 percent under the quota system.

"Wanda, like any studio in a similar position would, will of course attempt to get this better treatment [for Legendary]," says Peter Schloss, CEO of CastleHill Partners, a Beijing-based specialist merchant bank focusing on media, sports and entertainment.

"It will be especially fascinating to see what the Chinese government response would be," adds Lindsay Conner, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP Entertainment, who represented Beijing-based Perfect World Pictures in its $250 million slate deal with Universal. "This is the first time a significant Western film production company has had Chinese ownership and that has the potential to be a game changer," he says.

The situation presents China with an unprecedented dilemma, pitching two of its key policy goals in conflict.

On the one hand, granting Chinese status to Legendary's movies would provide a strong incentive within the local industry for the Chinese takeover of film companies abroad. But it would also create a de facto expansion of the quota on Western movies allowed into the country, given that most of the movies Legendary has in the pipeline — with one notable exception (more on this below) — are Hollywood through and through.

"How the government responds will provide some indication of what it regards as the greater priority," Conner explains. "Is it more important to build China as a force in the global film industry, or is it more important to limit and regulate the number of Western films that are allowed into the country each year?"

"It's the classic double-edged sword, but in this case it's wielded by a powerful Chinese media company," he adds.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Increasing Chinese soft power abroad is one of Beijing's highest-level policy priorities, and the failure of Chinese films internationally has been a disappointment to both the leadership and the local industry. Since its release in February, Stephen Chow's fantasy blockbuster The Mermaid has grossed a record-smashing $525.8 million in China, while earning just $3.2 million in North America. Other Chinese hits have fared considerably worse overseas. Last month, Chinese officials announced a scheme to offer any local film that can make more than $150,000 (1 million yuan) abroad a cash rebate of 1 percent of total foreign box office.

Legendary's upcoming films, even if they flop spectacularly by Hollywood standards, are all but certain to make vastly more money in the international marketplace than Chinese films have in recent years. But classifying Legendary movies as Chinese only adds yet another layer of complication to the macro policy picture.

"On paper, this may allow them to say that 'Chinese' films are doing well overseas, but it's not clear how a movie like Jurassic World or Godzilla actually helps Chinese soft power," says Stanley Rosen, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California who studies China’s film industry. "It will seem like they are making a concession to Western culture, when their goals are to do just the opposite."

"The temptation would be to put more Chinese elements into the films, and get them approved as co-productions," Rosen explains.

"The danger there," he adds, "is whether they will still be successful globally — how much Chinese content can you put in there and still get the international market?"

Long before Wanda came calling, Legendary was already exploring the China co-production angles under its Asia-focused Legendary East shingle, set up in 2011 and headed by Peter Loehr, former managing director of CAA China.

The studio's long gestating debut China co-prod, The Great Wall, is finally due for worldwide release on February 17, 2017 (it was originally slated for release on Nov. 23). Financed and produced by Legendary, Beijing-based LeVision Pictures and the state-backed film colossus, China Film Group, the big-budget fantasy action feature is directed by Zhang Yimou and stars Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe, Hong Kong's Andy Lau, Jing Tian, Luhan, Pedro Pascal and others. Set in the Northern Song Dynasty, the story explores a set of mysteries surrounding the Great Wall of China.

"The Great Wall will be a very important test case," Rosen says, "because it does have a lot of Chinese content — it features the Great Wall, a cherished symbol of China around the world — and it also has Hollywood actors, English dialog and the potential to be an international hit."

Come 2017, you can bet that both the international film community and the Chinese government will be carefully weighing the film's credibility and performance — albeit according to very different metrics.

In recent years, Chinese regulators have been strict about ensuring that co-productions meet the full criteria of the official classification, which requires substantial Chinese content and story elements, along with a cast and crew that is at least 30 percent Chinese — including in lead roles. With the official co-production stamp of approval come all of the benefits extended to local Chinese films, including a 43 percent share of Chinese box office instead of the usual 25 percent Hollywood takes.

Most of the industry sources THR consulted, both in China and Hollywood, said they think it is unlikely that Wanda will succeed in getting regulators to treat Legendary films as fully "Chinese" for import purposes.

With the opening gambit closed, Wanda is expected to pursue middle ground concessions, as the Beijing executive suggested.

"China may be willing to bend the rules on co-production status, if [Wanda and Legendary] move partway towards some of the guidelines," agrees Rosen.

And even if Legendary deems that adding too much China content to its tentpoles will hurt them globally — at least for now — there are plenty of additional ways in which Wanda will wield its heft and local savvy to the benefit of Legendary in the booming Chinese home market. For one, the conglomerate owns China's largest movie theater network, guaranteeing a big splash on a huge number of screens for any Legendary release. Wanda also owns one of China's largest distributors, Wuzhou Film Distribution, which will presumably work its relationships with China Film Group to secure desirable release dates and plenty of lead time for marketing Legendary's movies online and on the ground in China — something the Hollywood studios have long craved.

"There’s also the issue of the highly competitive and political process of securing one of only 34 revenue sharing slots for the calendar year," notes Rance Pow, president of the Shanghai-based cinema consulting firm Artisan Gateway.

Regardless of whether Legendary remains a Western company in the eyes of the authorities, with Wanda at the negotiating table, there's a good chance the studio will be able to snag an extra quota slot each year in China's bruising, zero-sum film import sweepstakes.

"That would certainly be a benefit that could not have been achieved otherwise," says Conner.

Mermaid
Great Wall
Captain America

[GeneChing]

AMC Entertainment CEO Open to Allowing Texting in Some Theaters
Brent Lang Senior Film and Media Reporter @BrentALang


CAIAIMAGE/REX SHUTTERSTOCK
APRIL 13, 2016 | 03:54PM PT

Adam Aron has been head of AMC Entertainment for less than four months, but in that short time he’s already orchestrated one of the most significant deals in the country’s history. In February, AMC announced that it has an agreement to buy Carmike, propelling it from being the second-biggest exhibitor in the country to the world’s top movie theater chain.

Aron has a diverse resume, having been head of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, CEO and co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, chairman and CEO of Vail Resorts and president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. But in an industry dominated by lifers, he is a newcomer to the exhibition space.

That’s giving him a willingness to experiment. He’s pushing to expand AMC’s food options, bolster its loyalty program and market more aggressively. Some moves may ruffle feathers. In a bid to attract younger, smartphone savvy consumers, Aron said he was open to making some theaters texting and mobile device-friendly.

That may make him unpopular. When Regal Entertainment CEO Amy Miles mused in 2012 that theaters should consider experimenting with relaxing cellphone bans, the blowback was intense.

Aron sat down with Variety during CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show unfolding this week in Las Vegas, to discuss the planned merger with Carmike, ticketing advances and Screening Room, the controversial start-up that wants to debut movies in the home the same day they hit theaters.

You’ve worked in a number of different industries, but you’re new to exhibition. What perspective do you bring?

Coming in fresh, it seems like there’s lots of opportunity to propel revenues or to give consumers better experiences. AMC has been a leader in that regard for a few years now, but I think we will pick up even more of a reputation for that going forward. Already, having been here a couple of months, I know we can step up our marketing activity in a big way. The food that we serve in our theaters can be much more exciting than the current stable of chicken tenders, hot dogs, pizza, in addition to the standard soda and popcorn and candy. A lot of change is possible in this industry for the betterment of our shareholders and our customers.

Marketing costs money. Why do you think it’s worth the expense?

Next year, assuming the Carmike acquisition is consummated, AMC is going to have in the neighborhood of $4 billion worth of revenue. It’s almost irresponsible for a company with $4 billion worth of revenue on the line not to aggressively market. That’s one of the things that can ensure that the $4 billion comes in, and that’s one of the things that can ensure that more than $4 billion comes in. We wouldn’t be spending for additional marketing if we didn’t think we’d be driving big revenue gains.

Are there particular demographics that you plan to target with your marketing?

We ought to be looking at three things. People who are already interested in movies and maybe in a big way, where if we up our game, we could get them to come to more movies. That’s one of the reasons to have a better loyalty program with bigger, broader participation, because loyalty programs work. We can convince people who think they are seeing the most movies they can possibly see to go to more movies.

The second is market share we can take from our competitors if we market AMC better than they market their theaters.

And third, there does seem to be a consensus that there are pockets of consumers who do not see as many movies as other segments of the population and that we can be doing more to attract those people. Millennials come to mind. We need to reshape our product in some concrete ways so that millennials go to movie theaters with the same degree of intensity as baby boomers went to movie theaters throughout their lives.

Would appealing to millennials involve allowing texting or cellphone use?

Yes. When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.

At the same time, though, we’re going to have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t disturb today’s audiences. There’s a reason there are ads up there saying turn off your phone, because today’s moviegoer doesn’t want somebody sitting next to them texting or having their phone on.

Would you have a certain section for texting?

That’s one possibility. What may be more likely is we take specific auditoriums and make them more texting friendly.

There are reports that you have signed a letter of intent to partner with Screening Room. What is your position on the company?

I’m not commenting publicly on Screening Room. I know it’s a topic of hot debate amongst my brethren and sister-en, and I prefer to keep our counsel private right now. Until such time as Screening Room is real, we don’t have to spend a lot of time talking about it publicly.

How open are you to different distribution strategies that might modify the theatrical window?

For all the talk of the Paramount test a year ago [Editor’s note: AMC signed a deal that allowed the studio to debut two films on home entertainment early] and all the talk of Screening Room now, you may be surprised to hear that I think windows are very important. There’s a lot of evidence that shorter windows put theatrical exhibitors at risk. Studios themselves benefit from posting big global box office numbers, which comes from theatrical distribution.

So I start from a general premise that I’m a big fan of windows. Having said that, I’m also a big fan of experimenting and testing on everything that we do to see if there aren’t alternative ways of doing business. I generally look at our 385 theaters as laboratories where we can test lots of different concepts without being afraid that there’s going to be a cataclysmic, sky’s falling in, if we do. I believe in innovation and being imaginative and forward thinking. There are some bedrock principles though.

What are those bedrock principles?

I have two bedrock principles and only two bedrock principles. One is that it’s our burden as managers of the company that runs movie theaters to make sure that the moviegoing experience is as wonderful and spectacular as it possibly can be. The surest way to grow our business and protect it against erosion is to make sure that going to an AMC theater is a pleasing and memorable experience.

The second is the consumer is king. Giving the consumer more choices, more amenities and price points. If we put ourselves in the head of our customer and design our theatrical experience and marketing activity to make their lives better, we’ll have a successful company. Other than that we’ll be flexible and willing to experiment.

Where are you in terms of closing the Carmike acquisition?

There are really only two hurdles to go through. Carmike’s shareholders have to vote to approve the transaction. I expect that’s going to be some time in June. I don’t think they’ve set a date.

We need to get through the Justice Department approval, but we’re optimistic that we will get through both of these hurdles. The contract we have with Carmike requires that we get through this a year from the date of the merger transaction, so early in the first quarter of 2017. It would be nice if we could get it done before that.

What does the merger do for AMC?

By putting together the No. 2 and No. 4 players in the industry, we create a new No. 1 player. There’s extraordinary amounts of research that say that No. 1 players in industries are often the most successful players in their industries. If that turns out to be true, I’d rather be the No. 1 player than the No. 2 player.

Why did you recently sign a deal with ticketing app, Atom Tickets?

They’ve got a great social media platform where when you buy a ticket for a Wednesday night at 7:00 show, it sends a text message to all your friends asking if they want to go to the theater and sit next to you. They click a couple of buttons and your friend can buy a ticket at the same theater and showtime in a reserved seat. That’s a great concept and that’s one of the ways that we can make it easier for Millennials — who live on social media — to meet up with their friends in movie theaters.

Megan Fox delivered a pizza to your seat during Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation this week. What was that experience like?

They took the pizza away as quickly as they delivered it. It was warm, and I could smell it, but we didn’t get to eat it. I can’t tell you how it tasted, but in terms of who and how it was delivered, I can tell you that’s the best pizza delivery I’ve ever had.

Hold the phone, Aron is going to allow texters and gets his pizza delivered by Megan Fox? That's so wrong.

[GeneChing]

Maybe I should change this post title to 'Wanda & AMC + Legendary'

Wanda Cinema Confirms Plan to Absorb Legendary
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief


COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.
APRIL 21, 2016 | 05:25PM PT

China’s giant Dalian Wanda group has confirmed plans to absorb Legendary Entertainment into its Shenzhen-listed theaters subsidiary Wanda Cinema Line.

Wanda unveiled plans in January to acquire Legendary, producer of “The Dark Knight” and “Pacific Rim,” in January this year for up to $3.5 billion.

Shortly afterwards the property to hotels group began to reorganize its various entertainment assets. It has taken advantage of massive investor interest in the booming Chinese entertainment sector to bring in outside investors and reduce the cost to Wanda of the Legendary acquisition.

On several occasions Wanda group chairman Wang Jianlin had suggested new IPOs for the company’s film distribution and production operations. Though now it appears the group is favoring expansion of the existing Wanda Cinema Line.

In a brief regulatory filing Wanda Cinema Line said that it plans to issue new shares to buy units including Legendary. The filing gave no details of timing, pricing or management control and Wanda Cinema Line shares remianed suspended, as they have been since February.