Stan Lee is credited for co-creating many legendary comic characters including Spider-Man, the Hulk and Iron Man. He is also the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. (Photo : Getty Images)
POW! Entertainment, a U.S. media and entertainment company co-founded by comics icon Stan Lee, has entered into an agreement with Hong Kong's Camsing International Holding, with the latter acquiring its extensive library of intellectual properties to create "another 'Marvel' in the Asian market."
Lee said that the deal provides POW! with "additional resources" and allows it to focus on Chinese and Asian markets.
"Now we will have the ability to do more movies, we will have more money to spend to make our projects better and to accomplish more than we have been able to accomplish," Lee told the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
Under the new structure, Lee will remain as chief creative officer. Camsing U.S. Vice President Shane Duffy will become CEO, while POW! co-founder Gill Champion will transition to president.
Camsing, a subsidiary of the Camsing Global Group, acquired POW! Entertainment earlier this month. It specializes in licensing, merchandising and sports and entertainment marketing and has previously worked with Disney, Hasbro, Blizzard, Warner Bros. and the NBA.
"We may be developing directly out of China or just for the Chinese market from the educational level to all the way through full feature films," Duffy said. "It will be a true pleasure to bridge our full portfolio of marketing platforms, distribution channels and theme parks around Stan's endless list of unreleased IP-laden entertainment properties."
Camsing Chairman and CEO Vivian Lo said that the merger will combine POW!'s intellectual properties and Camsing's strong IP merchandising network in China to expand its reach in Asia.
"The group will continue to produce better products and content for its global customers and develop another 'Marvel' in the Asian market."
Lee also hinted that POW! may introduce more Chinese elements in the future.
"If you get the right kind of character, he will be popular all over the world," he added.
This is not the first time POW! has made deals with Chinese partners. In 2014, POW! formed Stan Lee Global Entertainment as a joint venture with Hong Kong-based investment firm Ricco Entertainment, resulting in two Chinese projects: the 2015 superheroine movie "Realm" starring Li BingBing and the scifi film "Arch Alien."
