Leading Chinese entertainment firm LeTV is trying to make $3.7 billion in gross revenues this 2015 despite controversy about the company being linked to an investigation about government corruption, saying the issue only made the company stronger, China Entertainment News reported.
Jia Yueting, head of LeTV, said in an email to THR that "this winter is cold, just as the hardship that we must go through; this winter is warm, because we have the unswerving and steadfast support of LeTV fans, shareholders, and staff. The road to revolution is never an easy path.
"There were numerous rumors about us and they impeded our footstep in moving forward. The greater the tribulation, however, the better it helps us grow. Sometimes in life, you must hit the rock bottom before going back up and reaching a height that you never reached before," Jia added.
Jia mentioned that one of their investors has a company that was linked to the corruption investigation.
A lot of people speculated that Jia's long disappearance from China was attributed to the graft investigations. In his defense, he mentioned that he was busy with planning LeTV overseas, the SEE project and had surgery.
LeTV's revenues amounted to $1.6 billion last year and that 2014 has been a significant year for LeVision Pictures, a film unit of LeTV, which invested in the film "The Expendables 3."
"LeVision Pictures produced blockbusters and is expected to have the largest box office," Jia said.
Aside from "The Expendables 3," LeVision also produced the Zhang Yimou movie "Coming Home." It was successful in the franchise "Tiny Times" and was involved in "The Crossing," a John Woo epic film.
LeVision has plans for "an expansive development state" that will acquire well-known Hollywood talents that will put China in more than $100 million in the global entertainment industry. They have set up an office in Los Angeles, California, in October last year and had $200 million in funds for blockbusters.
LeVision also said that it had a project in Dec. 2014 titled "8 Immortals." The movie's story was inspired by Chinese mythology of Jeremy Breslau. It is the company's first U.S.-based project as a China-Hollywood blockbuster co-production.