Producer of Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon aims to turn film studio Huanxi Media into ‘China’s Disney+’ as pandemic leaves cinemas reeling

Dong Ping has unveiled the extent of his ambitions – to build the movie streaming platform into China’s answer to Disney+

The days of using box-office receipts to gauge a movie’s success may be numbered as online streaming takes over, says PwC analyst

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Huanxi’s bet looks sound as movie streaming services have gone from strength to strength amid plummeting box-office revenues. Photo: SCMP Handout

Published: 8:30pm, 14 Feb 2021Updated: 8:30pm, 14 Feb 2021

A year ago, Huanxi Media sent shock waves through the industry when it suddenly decided to cancel theatre screenings and debut the hotly anticipated flick Lost in Russia free online instead, as the onset of the deadly coronavirus forced Chinese cinemas to close.

That was on the first day of the Year of the Rat, when few could have predicted the carnage that was to follow as the virus grew to global pandemic proportions, gutting just about every industry that is not web-based .

As the Year of the Ox gets under way, the studio’s bet looks sound as movie streaming services have gone from strength to strength amid plummeting box-office revenues.

Huanxi’s chairman has taken the opportunity to unveil the extent of his ambitions – to build the movie streaming platform into China’s answer to Disney+.

“Our revenue from the theatre box-office is top-notch, but it is not our goal. We are using the money we raked in from theatre distribution to grow our movie streaming platform Huanxi.com. Our ultimate goal is to become China’s Disney+,” said Dong Ping, who co-produced the Oscar-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .

Dong Ping, chairman of Huanxi Media. Photo: Winson Wong