More Chinese companies are entering into agreements with foreign entertainment ventures such as the co-financing and co-production of movies. The latest to join the trend is Hishow Entertainment which acquired a stake in two productions of Nu Image/Millennium Films.
Based in Beijing, Hishow would co-finance and co-produce “Hunter Killer” and “Escobar.” It would also be the distributor of those two movies in China, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Largest Purchases in Recent Months
With Hishow paying more than $10 million for the two movies, the deal is considered one of the biggest at the European Film Market, Variety reported. It is one of the largest purchases by an independent Chinese company in recent months.
It is not the first tie-up of Hishow with foreign entertainment companies. The company handled the release in China of the Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer “The Imitation Game” which grossed $8.6 million in China. Hishow is also behind the release of “Ballerina,” a French-Canadian 3D animation currently showing in China which has grossed $5.3 million in 12 days.
Movie Plots
“Hunter Killer” would star Gerald Butler, Gary Oldman and Billy Bob Thornton. The film, directed by Donovan Marsh from a screenplay by Peter Craig, is about an untested American submarine sea captain who partners with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the kidnap victim of a rogue general, the Russian president. Also part of the movie are Gary Oldman and Billy Bob Thornton.
Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Peter Sarsgaard are the stars of “Escobar,” which is about a female journalist in a relationship with a drug lord from Columbia. Fernando Leon de Aranoa wrote and directed “Escobar” which would be shown in China sometime in 2017.
Millennium Films is behind “The Expendables 3” which earned $72.8 million in China and “London Has Fallen” which earned $52 million.