Planning to tap China's lucrative film market, California-based Razer Inc. has purchased THX, an audio-visual entertainment firm, for an undisclosed amount, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
With the move, Razer is eyeing to combine its strengths with THX's to deliver a top-notch movie experience with enhanced virtual reality technology and rich audio quality.
According to Razer chief executive officer and co-founder Tan Min-Liang, his firm has acquired a majority of THX's assets, including intellectual property.
"Some of the fundamental problems in virtual reality, for example, visual fidelity, audio spatial awareness, these are things that THX has a lot of fundamental IP that can feedback to the VR industry," Tan remarked.
Nonetheless, the Razer executive said that the start-up will still continue to run independently.
"One of the big opportunities is that you're seeing a massive, massive upswing of activity in cinemas in China and THX is well poised to be one of the biggest entertainment brands in China. As cinema goers [in Asia] get more and more affluent they're looking for a better experience," Tan enthused.
PwC forecasts that the Chinese film market to surpass the United States in terms of box office revenue next year. By 2020, it also estimates that Chinese box office revenue will reach $15.08 billion.
Currently, China is also the world's biggest 3D box-office market, PwC China and Hong Kong entertainment and media partner Cecilia Yau said. In 2014, it was valued at $2 billion.
Meanwhile, the country is also hailed as the fastest-growing market for IMAX.
In a Bloomberg report last year, data shows that approximately 15 new cinema theaters are being opened in China daily.
San Francisco-based THX was founded by Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas in 1983. On the other hand, Razer was established in 2005 and is known for producing hardware, software and systems for gamers.