A Legendary Purchase

The Dalian Wanda Group， a Chinese real estate and investment conglomerate， announced plans to acquire Legendary Entertainment， an American media company based in California， for $3.5 billion in January. The U.S. Department of Commerce gave Wanda the green light to go ahead with the deal in February. The deal has won high acclaim domestically， with many regarding it as a sign of the increasing presence of Chinese capital in Hollywood.

As a matter of fact， Chinese companies have been investing in Hollywood for several years. Since 2010， a variety of enterprises， including the Shanghai Fosun International， China Media Capital， Huayi Brothers Media Corp.， and Hunan TVs wholly owned subsidiary TIK Films， have collaborated with Hollywood through stock purchases， film co-productions and joint film promotions.

The acquisition of Legendary by Wanda this time around is a landmark event in Sino-U.S. film history. Wanda will have a larger say in Hollywood as a result of the new deal， given its $2.6-billion acquisition of AMC Entertainment—North Americas second largest cinema chain—in 2012. The deal will also make it possible for Wanda to participate in the production and release processes of Legendary， thereby increasing cooperation between the two countries film industries.

Chinas huge domestic film market demand and its lack of quality films are the basis for its investments in Hollywood.

In 2015， Chinas box office revenue reached nearly $7 billion. It is predicted that China will surpass the United States to become the largest film market worldwide by 2017. Nevertheless， despite the booming domestic film market， China still has to catch up with Hollywood in terms of film production and distribution. This situation cannot be alleviated in the short term simply through the countrys own efforts. Chinas cooperation with Hollywood opens a path to improve its production capabilities. It will also enable Chinese film companies to take part in the production of top-notch Hollywood films and therefore gain valuable filmmaking experience. In this way， Chinese companies will be able to produce films capable of meeting international standards in the future.

Hollywoods funds primarily come from Wall Street， Europe， Russia， Japan and India. Since the global financial crisis in 2008， Chinese capital has complemented Hollywoods funding shortfall.

Increased collaboration between the Chinese film industry and Hollywood highlights great potential. Hollywood has always attached great importance to the large Chinese film market. Chinas media enterprises should therefore learn from their Tinseltown counterparts in order to create better content for their burgeoning audience numbers.