Web portal Tencent’s Sept. 17 announcement of the establishment of its new unit Tencent Movies+, which will produce seven films, including an adaptation of a novel by Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan, marks the entry of the three leading Chinese internet companies into the movie business, reports the Beijing-based Economic Observer.
Tencent’s announcement came 20 days after search engine Baidu launched a crowd funding joint venture with Citic Trust and the China Film Group to raise money for film productions, the newspaper said.
Since e-commerce firm Alibaba has also moved into the film industry by launching crowd funding operations for movie productions, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, China’s three internet bigwigs known collectively as BAT, have all joined the bandwagon of investing in the risky, yet alluring movie business that is already attracting venture capital.
FTA can act as your Hollywood Celebrity Agency and help you contact book any Hollywood Celebrities
On the internet companies’ expansion into the film business, Yu Dong, chairman and CEO of Beijing-based Bona Film Group, said it is possible that all movie companies will work under BAT.
“In the future, Chinese movie companies may end up as the three movie groups of BAT,” Yu said.
In addition to crowd funding, internet and technology have already been widely adopted in movie making, the newspaper said, with the use of big data and online ticket sales being most notable. For instance, daily deal site Nuomi, which became fully owned by Baidu in January, is now the search engine’s main channel for selling movie tickets, according to the newspaper.
Huayi Brothers Media Group president Wang Zhonglei described the closer relations between the movie industry and the internet as a renaissance for the film business, since the center of film production has shifted from filmmakers to the people and more emphasis is now placed on incorporating the response of the audience into the moviemaking process.
FTA can act as your Chinese Celebrity Agency and help you contact book any Chinese Celebrity
The rapid growth of China’s movie industry, where ticket sales surged 27.51% to 21.77 billion yuan (US$3.55 billion) in 2013, and the forecast of China replacing the United States as the world’s largest movie market in three to five years, presents perfect reasons for any company to move into the sector, said Huayi Brothers Media vice president Hu Ming.
Despite the high profit margin a successful movie can bring, only 8.2% of Chinese films in 2013 were actually profitable, the newspaper pointed out.
Moreover, the internet and the use of big data might change the process of movie making, but a good script is still crucial for the success of a film, the newspaper said.
Source: https://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141008000058&cid=1102
Foreign Celebrity booking agency in China & Chinese Celebrity bookings for the world
China Internet giants move into movie business, Baidu movies, Tencent Movies, Alibaba Movies, Chinese Celebrity booking, Hollywood Celebrity in China, Hollywood agent in China, 外模, 外籍演员, 外国艺人