While watching the new Wonder Woman trailer, something caught my eye:
Next to the iconic Warner Brothers and DC logos, there are two new power players that the general movie going public might not recognise: Tencent and Wanda, both Chinese companies, placed here at an equal footing with the American icons next to them.
Why?
Short answer: Hollywood isn't the centre of the global film industry anymore.
Tencent is the owner of the social media monster app WeChat, and has a portfolio of several other ultra high profile businesses in China. They are now entering the global film industry via their subsidiary Tencent Pictures, whose logo is featured in the image above. Read more here: http://variety.com/2016/biz/asia/tencent-pictures-invest-295-million-in-production-1201914456/
Wanda, or the Dalian Wanda group, is a Chinese real estate behemoth, which for the past few years has been diversifying into other lucrative industries. They now own Legendary Pictures, an iconic studio that has produced films such as The Dark Knight and The Hangover, as well as AMC Theatres, the largest movie theatre chain in the United States.
Why are they doing these acquisitions? Mostly because they can. Both these conglomerates are among the biggest companies in the world right now, and have huge cash piles. After conquering their local markets, it is natural for them to develop international ambitions.
However, there's also a more tangible, smarter reason - the Chinese film industry is HUGE. This year it's set to surpass the US Box Office in terms of total revenue, and Hollywood tentpoles routinely do business of 300 million USD+ in China, even if they tank domestically. That's why people were confused when it was announced that the World of Warcraft movie would be getting a sequel, despite being a big dud in the US. The fact is that it was a record breaking blockbuster in China. Going forward, expect this to happen a lot - big ticket projects produced in Hollywood but mainly for the Chinese market.
We surely live in interesting times. The next emergent power will be my home country of India. I'll get into that in a later post. What do you think of these developments?