Poly Bona, the mainland's third-largest film distributor that is partly owned by private equity firm Sequoia Capital China, has agreed to inject 500 million yuan (HK$567 million) into a new venture with award-winning Hong Kong director and producer Peter Chan Ho-sun.
The venture, Cinema Popular, planned to produce 15 movies ranging from blockbusters to small-budget productions within three years, Mr Chan said.
Cinema Popular grew out of Mr Chan's We Produce studio. The shareholding structure of the venture was not disclosed.
'In most cases, I will take up the producer role, leaving others behind the camera ... I envisage the future of Cinema Popular as China's answer to [Steven] Spielberg's DreamWorks,' Mr Chan said in Beijing.
Box-office revenue on the mainland reached 4.4 billion yuan last year, up 24 per cent from 2007, following 26 per cent growth in the previous year.
A sustained government-sponsored drive to safeguard intellectual property has partly contributed to the robust expansion of the market, once deeply troubled by piracy.
'I guess there's no other place in the world where so many people are going back to the cinema to watch movies on the big screen,' Mr Chan said.