Sony (Photo : Sony)
Besides building theme parks across China, entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group is about to sign a co-finance agreement with Sony Pictures. The deal would result in Dalian having minority stakes in some of Sony movies which have global appeal.
Deadline reported that the deal is expected to be closed and announced next week. In turn, Sony would gain access to the marketing and exhibition power of Dalian which owns a string of cinemas across China.
The deal would have Dalian promoting "Spider-Man: Homecoming" which would be shown beginning July 17, 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It is Jack Gao of Dalian who is finalizing the details of the deal with Tom Rothman, chairman of SPE Motion Picture Group, Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures and Andrew Gumpert, business affairs head of Columbia.
Dalian owns 18 percent of movie houses across China. More theaters were added after the entertainment giant entered into a landmark deal with IMAX. With the addition of the Odeon, UCI Cinemas Group and Carmike Cinemas to Dalian’s AMC Theaters, Wang Jianling, chairman of Dalian, estimated it would control 15 percent of global box office revenues. Tne conglomerate’s goal is 20 percent by 2020.
Besides its growing number of cinemas, Dalian also had acquired stakes in the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Transformer” franchises. It also is owner of 75 percent of AMC Theaters in the U.S. and Hoyt’s in Australia.
Recently, Dalian acquired Mtime, a movie portal in China, for $350 million, and a 51 percent stake in Omnigon, a consulting firm which helps sports, media and entertainment providers to develop mobile apps and websites.
