In keeping with the deal, Wanda will help promote a number of Sony movies in China, including “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Passengers,” and will provide up to 15-percent financing for other films turned out by the Hollywood studios.
With its fast-growing film market and strict quotas of just 34 foreign films allowed for playing each year, China is a much desirable piece of cake for theater owners worldwide and here “Dalian Wanda comes in as a perfect partner,” Zhang Fei said.
“The Chinese film industry has been going through the roof with 2015 box office returns exceeding $44 billion – 48.7 percent more than in 2014. This agreement offers Sony Pictures a major vehicle to market their films in China,” he added.
Dalian Wanda also stands to gain as its partnership with Hollywood will give it a bigger role in the global movie industry.
Wang Jianlin earlier said that he was going to do business with “all Hollywood.” In January, the Chinese conglomerate acquired Legendary Studios for $3.5 billion.
In spring 2016 Wanda-controlled AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. paid $1.1 billion for the US theater chain Carmike Cinemas and in summer 2016 Wanda shelled out 500 million pounds for Europe’s largest movie theater network Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group.
The box office in China grew an astonishing 48.7 percent in 2015, making it the world's second-largest movie-going market after the US.
Growing at an average 25 percent each year, it is now poised to take the world’s number one spot already next year.
