Headlines from China: Chinese Media Giant Toutiao Acquires Popular Video App Musical.ly

Chinese Media Giant Toutiao Acquires Popular Video App Musical.ly

Toutiao (known officially as Jinri Toutiao), a China-based content firm, has signed a deal to officially acquire Musical.ly, a Chinese video social network app that has gained popularity worldwide. According to Toutiao, the market evaluation of Musical.ly is near $1 billion. After the acquisition, Musical.ly will be merged with Dou Yin, a similar app that has a huge user base in China. The two brands will collaborate in product development, but remain as separate brands. Acquiring Musical.ly is part of Toutiao’s endeavor in becoming a global company. This year in February, Toutiao acquired Flipagram, a popular video app designed by a Los Angeles-based company. Read more on TMT Post

‘Thor: Ragnarök’ Nears 500 Million Yuan at China Box Office

Thor: Ragnarök‘ continues to lead China’s box office with daily ticket sales of 25.8 million yuan on Thursday, Nov. 9. Cumulatively, the film has raked in 488 million yuan ($73.5 million) as of Nov. 9. Behind ‘Thor: Ragnarök’ is ‘Geostorm,’ which has earned 410 million yuan in total with 6.45 million yuan made on Nov. 9. As a new batch of films, including ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ ‘The Brink’ and ‘The Chinese Widow,’ are being released on Nov. 10, ‘Thor: Ragnarök’’s screen share will be reduced by about 20 percent. ‘Thor: Ragnarök’ is expected to stay atop the weekly chart at the end of this week, although it remains to be seen if it will maintain its daily box office winner position this weekend. Read more on Mtime

This Movie Wins over Jack Ma and Sir Ka-shing Li

In addition to being successful entrepreneurs, Jack Ma and Sir Ka-shing Li have something else in common. They have the same favorite movie – ‘Forrest Gump.’ A few years ago, when Jack Ma visited Los Angeles with his Alibaba team, Ma reportedly went to the Paramount Studios in order to get a picture of himself sitting on the bench where Forrest Gump once sat in the movie. As a self-made entrepreneur, Ma experienced tough times before he became one of the most successful and well-known businessmen in China. Ma once mentioned in an interview that ‘Forrest Gump’ had been giving him tremendous courage and inspirations. Read more on JRJ.com

China Sees the Golden Age of Online Literature along with the Flourishing of “Pan-entertainment”

After Tencent’s online literature unit (China Literature) received enthusiastic reception in the stock market after its recent IPO, online literature sector and the concept of “Pan-entertainment” again become the center of attention in China’s entertainment market. The term “Pan-entertainment” was first coined in 2012 by Tencent to describe the strategy of facilitating IP development through online literature, film, TV shows, and animation, etc. In 2015, after acquiring online publisher Cloudary Corporation and launching China Literature by merging Cloudary Corporation with Tencent’s other online literature brands, Tencent became the largest generator of original IPs in China. In addition to flourishing in the Chinese market, Chinese online literature has also been gaining increasing popularity overseas over the past two years. “Our goal is to become a company like Marvel, and ultimately be able to create and export super IPs that can resonate with a global audience.” Says Wu Wenhui, CEO of China Literature. Read more on Ent Group