QINGDAO, China--China's Dalian Wanda Group Corp. plans to set up
a 1 billion yuan (about $163 million) annual fund to lure movie
producers to a planned multibillion-dollar studio project that it
hopes will result in a Chinese version of Hollywood.
Wang Jianlin, chairman of the property-and-entertainment
conglomerate and one of China's richest men, said the company would
work with the private sector to annually provide the funding for
film and TV production at the Oriental Movie Metropolis, a studio
project Wanda broke ground on last year.
The Chinese coastal city of Qingdao will also provide funding,
Wanda said. Wanda initially said Qingdao would provide half the
funding, though company officials later said the amount was
unspecified.
The planned fund is part of what Mr. Wang has said is a plan to
recreate Hollywood in China.
Standing in front of a room of film producers and studio
executives--including David Glasser, chief operating officer of
Weinstein Co., film deal maker John Sloss and Zhang Qiang, the
newly tapped head of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s production
arm--Mr. Wang touted the access to funds and facilities that the
industry would find in Qingdao.
"If you don't go to China, where will you go?" Mr. Wang said
He added that a district government within Qingdao is promising
subsidies of up to 10% of a production studio's annual revenue.
Wanda last year announced a 30-billion-yuan to 50-billion-yuan
investment in an entertainment center in Qingdao that will
partially open in 2016 and will include a theme park, a film
museum, a wax museum and a massive film studio.
A number of other Chinese companies and cities have announced
plans to set up facilities to lure the entertainment industry. Mr.
Wang says he is putting his money where his mouth is to ensure that
the project takes off. "The Oriental Movie Metropolis will
certainly succeed," he said.
Last September, he flew out Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio,
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Nicole Kidman, as well as David Kosse,
then-president of the international division of Comcast Corp.'s
Universal Pictures, and Ralph Alexander, a senior executive vice
president of Sony Corp.'s entertainment international operations,
to attend the groundbreaking. Mr. Wang said the film studio would
be the world's largest and told producers that they would benefit
from its planned research-and-development and special effects
centers.
Wanda says it has already made inroads in film projects, signing
a deal late last year with Weinstein Co. to produce "Southpaw," a
boxing film starring actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Wanda, which owns U.S.
theater chain AMC Entertainment Group, is also setting up a base
for entertainment investments as part of a $1.2 billion real-estate
development in Los Angeles.
Write to Laurie Burkitt at laurie.burkitt@wsj.com
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