download (18).jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group and South Korean city Busan signed a deal in Beijing on Monday to establish a joint movie production fund, the city's officials said on Tuesday.
Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Wanda, and Seo Byung-soo, mayor of Busan City, inked a memorandum of understanding.
Seo said that both parties are planning to contribute equally to the fund and that the final size will be confirmed in 2015.
"Wanda has suggested creating a fund beginning with at least 200 billion won ($180 million)," the Busan mayor said.
Busan will be busy hosting the Busan International Film Festival, one of the largest events in Asia, but the Wanda Group and Busan's officials will still be conducting exchanges for an upcoming film festival in Qingdao, China and the BIFF.
Both are also in talks about possible collaboration on co-producing and distributing movies. The two also want to support each other's visual effects (VFX) industries and to promote overseas exchange of film production crew members.
Wanda chairman Wang is scheduled to visit the South Korean city in March 2015 to finalize the deal.
The Dalian Wanda Group is the largest operator and owner of movie theaters in the world. It operates and owns AMC Theatres in the U.S. and Wanda Cinema in China.
The collaborative venture will benefit from a recent agreement that allows China and Korea to treat joint film productions as local titles in their countries, which will bypass distribution and import quotas.
