China Now Has about 10,000 Movie Theaters
According to data released by China’s film bureau, the number of movie theaters in mainland China was 9,965 as of March, 2018. These 9,965 movie theaters offer 54,165 screens, pipping the United States, which had about 45,000 screens as of 2017. 88% of the screens can show films in 3D, and 502 of them are IMAX screens. The increased number of movie theaters has been encouraging more and more people to watch films in theater as it’s not hard to find one nearby. China’s total box office earnings reached 20.2 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in Q1 of 2018, setting a new one-quarter global box office record in a single territory. Read more on Mtime
Multiple Entertainment Firms Have Suspended IPO Plans This Year
After New Classics Media (NCM) and Muhua FunAge gave up their plans to go public this year, another film and TV production company Heli Chen’guang Li (和力辰光）announced today that the company was in the process of withdrawing its IPO filing. NCM gave up IPO as the company received funds from Tencent. Muhua FunAge suspended IPO as the company was undergoing asset reconstruction. It’s still unclear why Heli Chen’guang decided to withdraw as well. Heli Chen’guang is the company that produced hit film series ‘Tiny Times’ between 2013-2015. Yet, since 2016, the company has gone through some tough times, including its entanglement with LeEco in 2016 and its revenue drop in 2017. Read more on yulechanye
Sina Video and iQiyi are Punished for Spoof Videos
On April 2, the state newspaper People’s Daily reported that several video streaming sites, including Sina Video and iQiyi, will be fined by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for streaming spoof videos. Last month, China’s media regulator issued a notice to local regulators, urging them to reinforce scrutiny over inappropriate online entertainment content. Since then, 7858 cultural entities have been examined, 1636 cases have been reported, and 214 cases have been processed. As user generated content is an important component of many Chinese video sites, it’s a challenging task for the platforms to fully control its content, even if they try to. Read more on yuledujiaoshou
Animation Studio L Square Receives Million-dollar Funds from Tencent
Chinese animation studio L (艾尔平方）Square recently completed its series B financing round, which was led by tech giant Tencent. The funds will be used to create original animated content and develop IPs. The studio will also collaborate with Tencent on IP-related projects in the future. Founded in early 2010s by animators Lu Hengyu and Li Shujie, the studio has grown into a full-service animation production studio with hundreds of employees. The studio excels in the industry for its creativity and strong style. Read more on entgroup.cn
