'China's Rupert Murdoch' teams up with Hollywood giant Warner Bros in Hong Kong to make films in China
"China's Rupert Murdoch" is teaming up with a Hollywood giant to venture into the global film market, with a partnership headquartered in Hong Kong.
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Li Ruigang's China Media Capital (CMC) and Warner Bros Entertainment will form an international production and distribution joint venture called the Flagship Entertainment Group.
It aims to capitalise on the burgeoning film market in mainland China, the world's second largest, where box office receipts increased by 36 per cent last year to 29.6 billion yuan (HK$36 billion).
CMC leads the venture with a 51 per cent stake. As 10 per cent of the CMC-led consortium is held by TVB, the city's dominant broadcaster, it has raised hopes that the ground-breaking collaboration will boost the city's creative industries. Warner Bros holds a 49 per cent stake.
The first productions are expected to be released as early as 2016.
The announcement was made ahead of President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States tomorrow.
Read more: Xi Jinping’s US visit: itinerary, issues and delegation
According to a statement by Li, founding chairman of CMC, and Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros, Flagship Entertainment Group will "develop and produce a slate of Chinese-language films, including global tentpoles, for distribution around the world, including China".
"With offices in Beijing and Los Angeles, Flagship will have full access to a wealth of filmmaking talent stemming from the territories' longstanding film, television and creative industries … supported by the well-developed legal and financial systems in the regions," the statement noted.
Earlier this year, Li was brought in as a major partner of Young Lion Holdings, which is a controlling shareholder of TVB with a 26 per cent stake.
Read more: Western media 'welcome' in China, Xi Jinping tells Murdoch (whose Wall Street Journal website is blocked)
Mark Lee Po-on, TVB's group chief executive officer, said the deal would allow TVB to take part in global productions.
"This joint venture focuses on films with a global scale, which are different from productions targeting a local market," Lee said. "Our artistes and crews can take part and learn from taking part in these global titles."
TVB launched Shaw Brothers Pictures in March to capitalise on the mainland China market.
Li founded CMC in 2009 and was catapulted into the international limelight in 2012 when it partnered with US entertainment giant DreamWorks Animation to build a 20 billion yuan theme park in Shanghai.
