iQiyi, the Chinese video streaming site which enjoyed a high subscriber base after it aired in early 2016 the Korean blockbuster drama “Descendants of the Sun,” continues to widen its offerings. Besides its recent broadcast of the talk show “Welcome to Joy Town,” the company just signed an agreement with Lionsgate.
The movie licensing deal with the Canadian entertainment company would mean the availability of new movie titles to iQiyi subscribers. The new titles include “Wonder,” “Robin Hood,” “The Glass Castle,” “American Assassin” and “Patriots Day,” Variety reported.
Included in the agreement are subscription (SVOD), transactional (TVOD) and advertising video-on-demand for Lionsgate films streamed by iQiyi which has more than 500,000 subscribers. Even before the signing of the agreement between the two entertainment giants, iQiyi was already streaming Liongate movie since fall and was the Canadian firm’s partner in promoting the highest-grossing film of Lionsgate, “Now You See Me 2.”
Besides Lionsgate, iQiyi has tie-ups with major studios such as Paramount, NBCUniversal and 20th Century Fox. The Chinese streaming giant also has a 2015 output deal with Lionsgate and other third-party feature films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both companies expressed satisfaction with their partnership. “We’re delighted to expand our relationship with iQiyi, a world-class platform at the cutting edge of delivering premium quality films to online Chinese audiences,” Wendy Reed, executive vice president for international sales of Lionsgate, said in a statement.
In turn, “Lionsgate has emerged as a major creative force in the global marketplace, and we’re proud to continue adding their incredible pipeline of star-driven movies to our platform,” Yang Xianghua, senior vice president of iQiyi, said. He added that iQiyi boasted of having the largest online movie library in China. An agreement with one of the major studios in Hollywood further expands the selection of premium quality movies iQiyi could stream online.