You are here: Home > Arts > Features

Top 10 Chinese cultural events of 2012

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, December 27, 2012

Adjust font size:

Wanda buys AMC, Digital Domain sold to Galloping Horse

China's leading private conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co. completed a high-profile acquisition of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., valued at roughly US$2.6 billion, in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 4, 2012.

With the completion of the deal between Wanda and AMC, the second largest cinema owner in the United States, Wanda will add 338 multiplex theaters and 4,865 screens, including 2,171 3-D screens and 124 IMAX screens to its assets, becoming the world's largest cinema owner.

The Beijing-based Wanda, which originates from Dalian, a coastal city in northeastern China's Liaoning province, controls 94 theaters and 805 screens in China. It also operates hotels, department stores, tourism and other businesses.

After the acquisition, Wanda will operate AMC as a wholly-owned subsidiary and invest up to an additional 500 million U.S. dollars to support its strategic and operating initiatives. Under the agreement, AMC, based in Kansas City, Missouri, will continue to control film programming as well as keep its headquarters in their present location. Its 17,000-strong associates will continue to operate theaters in 32 states across the United States.

Wanda announced its willingness to acquire AMC, including its debts, in May. The deal is Wanda's single largest investment outside China, and is also the Chinese conglomerate's first acquisition in the North American movie market.

But AMC is not the only case. Bankrupt Digital Domain Media Group, the Academy Award-winning company behind the visual effects for the likes of "Titanic," has been sold to China's Galloping Horse Film Co. and an Indian company.

Galloping Horse America, a division of Beijing-based Beijing Galloping Horse Film Co., and Mumbai-based Reliance MediaWorks Limited, acquired Digital Domain's visual effects unit, Mothership Media, as well as several of its other businesses and assets. The companies agreed to pay the sum of US$30.2 million, take on contracts worth US$3.6 million and in addition pay another US$2.9 million in employee wages, according to court records.

Founded in 1993 by "Titanic" director James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross, Digital Domain has created state-of-the-art effects for over 90 films, including "Titanic," "I, Robot," "Tron: Legacy," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," and the "Transformers" franchise.

With Chinese film industry growing at a remarkable pace, the purchase marks another acquisition of a U.S. media company by a Chinese firm. During Beijing International Film Festival held in Beijing in April, which James Cameron attended (who also set up a 3D company in Tianjin during his visit), China asked foreign film studios for more collaboration and co-production opportunities.

All of these indicate the fact that Chinese filmmakers and entrepreneurs can't wait to take on the world stage and spread China's soft power, which was urged to undergo rapid expansion during the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, and the sixth plenary session of 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2011.