The demand for IMAX China shares has not met expectations, according to a filing on Wednesday. (Photo : Reuters)
IMAX China and the state-backed equity company China Media Capital (CMC) partnered for the launching of a new film fund, which will involve at least 10 film titles. The two firms made the announcement on Tuesday.
The initial capitalization is reported to be $50 million. The fund will also target Mandarin-language movies.
"The intent of the China Film Fund is to leverage favorable current trends in the Chinese market, strengthening the IMAX brand and capitalizing on relationships across studio, exhibitor and local distribution partners, as well as content creators," an official IMAX statement said.
IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond remarked that the fund also intends "to support an existing slate of successful Chinese IMAX DMR product including such past titles as 'The Monkey King' and 'Dragon Blade,' and leverage CMC's experience within China's content-creation industry."
"This fund is the next step in that evolution as it allows us to join with our good partner CMC and work closely with the country's top filmmakers to bring to Chinese audiences and to export to international audiences top-quality Mandarin content," he added.
Speaking at a Film Finance Forum in Shanghai, Gelfond also noted about globalization in the film industry and suggested that the trend is shifting more toward the country, the current second largest film market in the world after U.S.
"There is a tremendous opportunity for Chinese voices to be heard throughout the global entertainment platform," he pointed out.
"The Chinese industry has the opportunity to make the studio of the future, not the studio of the future. It will be driven by technology and innovation. Globalization has weakened the traditional barriers about where, whom and how of filmmaking," the IMAX executive added.
Asked about his aspiration for the industry, he shared: "My wish for the Chinese film industry is that it avoids some of the mistakes of the Hollywood industry, and not just raise costs for the sake of raising costs, but to put the money on the screen."
IMAX China is based in Hong Kong and is a subsidiary of IMAX Corporation. It specifically oversees business expansion in Greater China. Gelfond said that it has further 225 screens in backlog on top of the 200 commercially operating screens in the country.
Last year, CMC announced that it bought a 10-percent share in IMAX China.
