DMG Entertainment, a Chinese film company, plans to invest in superhero-themed films, as well as theme parks and toys, in its partnership with comic book publisher, Valiant Entertainment.
In a still undisclosed amount of deal, the Beijing-based film company is aiming to expand the licensing of Valiant's comic characters, an official statement revealed. What is known as of press time is that DMG is putting an eight-digit U.S. dollar figure at stake for this endeavor.
Another nine-figure amount of investment is separately allocated for the production of film and TV program adaptation of Valiant's comic characters.
The statement further said that both entertainment firms will focus on the Chinese language content for the partnership to build phenomenal characters in the country and in its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific.
DMG's recent bet on superhero-themed entertainment is anchored in China's strong market for such genre.
The film's president, Wu Bing, said that "audiences in China and the rest of the world are hungry for heroic stories they can more easily relate to."
In 2013, the China-based film company co-produced "Iron Man 3" with Walt Disney Co. The action-cum-superhero movie earned $121 million from China's box offices. According to the film database Box Office Mojo, the figure was a quarter of the film's global cinema revenues.
Last year, Hollywood superhero films dominated the box office's top 10 grossing motion pictures, with "X-Men: Days of the Future Past" at no. 6 and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" at no. 7.
In the recent years, many film studios have produced blockbusters out of superhero characters.
Valiant Entertainment, an independent publisher, includes the following extraordinary heroes in its list: Shadowman, Harbinger and X-O Manowar.
Other Chinese entertainment giants such as Dalian Wanda Group Co. plan on venturing on the same genre.
In October, Universal Parks and Resorts announced that it will launch a $3.26-billion park in the country's capital in the future.