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Some of them will be made over there. Some of them will still be made over here. The purpose of their buying 4,800 screens is to make sure they have the distribution capability for the movies that they're going to be making. It makes perfect economic sense. It doesn't have to make political sense. They are going to, without question, be developing. They have a huge audience in China. They can fund the movies based on the revenues that they're going to get in China. It's going to be a very good investment for them.
-Mortimer Zuckerman |
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Hollywood, make room for Chinawood. That's right -- Chinawood. The Chinese firm Seven Stars Global Entertainment is spending $1.27 billion to build an 8.6-million-square-foot film production facility in China. It's called Chinawood Global Services Base. Chinawood will produce movies for distribution worldwide, thus shifting cinema -- maybe -- cinema production from Hollywood to Chinawood. And that's not all. Get this distribution. Ten months ago, another Chinese conglomerate, Dalian Wanda Corporation, purchased AMC Entertainment's movie theaters, with their 4,800 movie screens throughout the United States. The $2.6 billion takeover gives China control over the distribution of movies in the U.S. and makes Dalian Wanda the biggest cinema owner in the world. The investment is fulfilling the Chinese government's directive to project China's power throughout the entertainment industry. |