Western filmmakers seek Chinese partners

Britain's Ingenious Media has reached a $200 million deal with Chinese fund Hejing Culture to form a joint venture that will co-produce and co-finance a slate of films.

Global media companies and celebrities are increasingly seeking Chinese partners, looking favorably at China's investors and huge consumer market.

Ingenious and Hejing say this venture marks the first step in what they hope will be a long partnership. They expect a number of projects that result from the agreement will qualify as official Chinese co-productions.

Founded in 1998, Ingenious has produced and co-financed hundreds of feature films, including last season's Oscar contenders Brooklyn and Carol, plus global blockbusters like Avatar and Life of Pi. It has also made more than 550 hours of television programming with partners including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures and Disney.

Renny Harlin, the Hollywood director known for the action hits Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, has just secured financing for a new production company based in Beijing.

Orlando Bloom is also partnering with China's Bliss Media on a new production venture. The newly formed entity, BlissBloom Productions, will be jointly run by the actor and Bliss Media CEO Wei Han.

"China has cash-rich funds and a huge demand, and that's why more global media companies and Hollywood directors and actors want to seek Chinese partners," says Zhai Changxin, vice-president of the China Cultural Industry Investment Fund. He says another reason for joint ventures is that China has a regulation limiting the annual number of imported movies, which co-production films are not bound by.

"The global market for entertainment content is experiencing an exciting period of change, from the seismic shifts in individual consumption patterns to the unprecedented growth in China," says Neil Forster, CEO of Ingenious Media.

"Any long-term global growth strategy has to involve an alignment with the right partners, and we couldn't be more delighted to be working alongside Hejing to bring high-quality entertainment to global audiences."

caixiao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/24/2016 page25)