A Look at 2019 Chinese New Year Slate
It’s announced on November 26 that Integrity, the latest film from acclaimed Hong Kong director Alan Mak, will be released in China next year on February 5th, which is the 2019 Chinese New Year’s Day. On the same day, Stephen Chow announced that his new work had wrapped filming and will be released during the Chinese New Year holiday season. Chow, however, didn’t reveal the title of the film. Up to now, 14 films have scored Chinese New Year releases. Besides the aforementioned films, other 2019 Chinese New Year releases include writer-director Han Han’s Fei Chi Ren Sheng (飞驰人生), Ning Hao’s Crazy Aliens, Sci-Fi film The Wandering Earth, film sequels Some Like It Hot 2 and Love Without Words 2, fantasy film The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang, animated films Boonie Bears: Blast Into The Past and Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year. Read more on entgroup.cn
2018 China Box Office Likely to Cross RMB 60-Billion Mark
As of November 25, this year’s China box office has reached 55.96 billion yuan ($8 billion), surpassing last year’s total box office of 55.91 billion yuan. The growth rate is over 10% compared to the same period last year. Local productions made up more than 60% of this year’s total box office. Of 73 films that have grossed over 100 million yuan ($14.4 million), 39 are domestic films and 34 are imported films. Top three on this year’s box office charts are local productions, including Operation Red Sea (3.65 billion yuan), Detective Chinatown 2 (3.39 billion yuan), and Dying to Survive (3.1 billion yuan). This year’s highest-grossing foreign film is Avengers: Infinity War, which earned 2.39 billion yuan ($340 million) in China. As last December’s box office revenue was 5.09 billion yuan, it is very likely that the China box office will cross 60 billion yuan at the end of 2018. Read more on Mtime
Wanda Film Revises Wanda Media Acquisition Plan
On November 26, Wanda Film announced that it had revised its plan for its upcoming acquisition of Wanda Media. In the new plan, Wanda Media’s estimated value dropped from 12 billion yuan to 11 billion yuan. Previously, Wanda Film planned to buy Wanda Media for 11.62 billion yuan via a combination of cash payment and share issue. However, based on the new valuation, Wanda Film will buy Wanda Media for 10.65 billion yuan ($1.53 Billion), with an extended time commitment of four years to complete the performance goals. Payment method has also been changed to share issue only. Right now, Wanda Media’s businesses range from film & TV financing, production, and distribution to online game operation and distribution. Upon the completion of the acquisition, Wanda Film will gain revenues from film& TV investments and online game distribution, along with its existing revenues from ticket sales, advertising, merchandise, and concessions. Read more on cngold.com
