Chinese Authorities Anxious about Wanda’s Assets Restructuring?
Since 2017, the Chinese authorities have tightened control over mergers, acquisitions, and assets restructuring in the entertainment sector. In a recent company notice issued to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Wanda Film Holding, the listed cinema chain unit of Wanda Group, announced its plan to acquire a 96.8% stake in Wanda Media (aka Wanda Pictures) at a price of $1.77 billion via cash payment and share issue. Although Wanda has intentionally evaluated Wanda Media at a modest price and hosted an online Q&A session to answer questions from shareholders and the public, it still couldn’t avoid scrutiny by the authorities. Recently, the authorities sent a letter of inquiry to Wanda with a list of harsh questions, requesting further elaborations on the assets restructuring process and potential risks. Read more on finance.qq.com
FIRST International Film Festival to Open with ‘An Elephant Sitting Still’
Today, the 12th FIRST International Film Festival announces that it will open on July 21st with Hu Bo’s 234-minute-long film An Elephant Sitting Still. This is the first screening of the film after its recent post-production. This year’s FIRST International Film Festival will run from July 21 to July 30, showcasing 56 films by emerging filmmakers from all around the world. Among the 56 films, 38 films are in the competition section. Read more on Mtime
China Box Office Suffered Decline in June Thanks to The World Cup
China box office for the month of June totaled 3.57 billion yuan ($540 million), a 9 percent decrease year-on-year and a 17.28 percent drop compared to May. June is traditionally a less lucrative season on China’s cinematic calendar, as many studios wait to release their films in the summer season, which starts at the end of June. This year, the June box office is even more disappointing thanks to the 2018 World Cup, which is highly popular in China. American film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which opened in China on June 15, made 1.5 billion yuan ($230 million), accounting for a 42.1% of the total box office in June. As of June 30, the film’s China box office accounts for nearly half of its worldwide box office. Among all the local films released in June, Animal World made an impressive debut, making nearly 200 million yuan ($30.24 million) after two days in release. Read more on entgroup.cn
