22 Aug Co-Pro Targets Part 5: Chinese Who Think Outside The Box
In part 5 of this series, we explore Chinese film partners who think outside the box. Here’s why you should partner with them.
bliss media
Chinese name: 熙颐文化传媒有限公司，(also熙颐影业)(Xixi Culture Media Xī yí wénhuà chuánméi) yǒuxiàn gōngsī,
Activities: Production, Distribution, Financing
Representative Film: Jackie, S.M.A.R.T. Chase, Hacksaw Ridge
Website: blissmedialtd.com
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2YzLki4
Telephone: none listed
Why? Bliss Media created a $100 million dollar Chinese equity film fund with Yoozoo Pictures (see below). This was reported in the Deadline article .
Founder, Ms. Wei Han has an East-West background. She is an investment expert who grew up in China and studied in the U.S. Additionally, they partnered with actor Orlando Bloom in creating BlissBloom Productions.
Dadi Century Films
Chinese name: 大地传播 Dàdì chuánbò
Activities: Production, Distribution, Exhibition, Film investment
Representative Film: Confucius
Website: http://www.dadifilm.com/
Cinando or IMDB:
Telephone:86 10 8712 9000
Why? Dadi is China’s second-largest exhibition group. In 2017 it paid $575 million for Orange Sky Golden Harvest’s China cinemas. Also, Alibaba and Huayi Brothers bought a stake in Dadi.
Distribution Workshop
: Gateway to J.A. Media / Just Creative Studio / A Really Good Film Company
Chinese name: 發行工作室Fāxíng gōngzuò shì
Activities: Distribution Workshop (Production, Sales, Distribution) ARGF (Production, investment acquisition under Just Creative Studio – Production), J.A. Media (Sales)
Representative Film: Saint Seiya(animation), Phantom of the Theatre
Website: www.distributionworkshop.com
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2YmyBiK
Telephone +886 (02) 2321-4807 (recently they moved from Hong Kong to Taiwan)
Why? Distribution Workshop is the gateway to J.A. Media, Just Creative Studio and A Really Good Film Company. Uber Hong Kong producer Jeffrey Chan is running these companies. Notably, he’s associated with Bona Films. Just Creative Studios is focused on English language films that will appeal to a Chinese audience.
Fundamental Films
Chinese name:基美影业 Jī měi yǐng yè (aka Shanghai Jimei Film Co., Ltd)
Activities: Production, Distribution, Finance
Representative Film: Replicas, 24 Hours to Live
Website: fundamentalfilms.com
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2yJZgGX
Telephone: Shanghai +86 21 6271 6777. L.A. office 424-284-3206
Why? They have an L.A. office and bought 28% stake in Europa Corp back in 2016. One of their upcoming films is The Dragon Lady, a biopic of the first Chinese-American film star Anna May Wong.
Leomus
Chinese name: 狮鼠影业 Shī shǔ yǐng yè (Literally “Lion Mouse”)
Activities: Production, Investment, Marketing and Distribution
Representative Film: Escape Plan 2 & 3 (production)
Website: www.leomus.com
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2KDyZQq
Telephone: +86 10 855 286 62
Why? They enable American films to reach higher box office numbers in China than in the U.S. For example, Now You See Me 2 and Escape Plan scored bigger numbers in China than in America.
This is attractive to producers. Resident Evil‘s European producers made more money than the standard “flat-fee buy-out” deal. China allows only 34 foreign films a year to be imported. To get around that – producers can import a film on a flat fee buyout deal. The upside is clear as seen in articles like China Box Office: Evil Takes Up Residence, Sets New Precedent. Specifically, it said the film was neither a revenue-sharing import nor a true buy-out.”
Leomus allowed the producers (Constantin Film) 50% of box office revenue exceeding RMB 500 million. The article continued “In essence, Leomus is acting as a distribution agent – a middleman between Constantin Pictures and China Film Group…additionally leveraging its local marketing power in lower-tier cities.”
With deals like this – Western producers can get a bigger piece of the China box office.
One Cool Pictures
Chinese name: 天下一集團 Tiānxià yī jítuán
Activities: Financing, Production, Post-Production, Marketing, Sales, and Distribution
Representative Film: Warriors of the Future, Triumph in the Skies
Website: onecoolfilm.com
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2YwA85S
Telephone: 852 3565 6311
Why? Hong Kong superstar Louis Koo is an investor. One Cool Pictures is launching four movies with a combined budget of over $130 million USD. (HK$1.01 billion) – Warriors of the Future, Back to the Past, The Trough, and Storm Cloud. Their actions demonstrate they are keen to work on films with budgets comparable to Hollywood.
Perfect World
Chinese name: 完美世界影视北京完美影视传媒有限责任公司
Wánměi shìjiè yǐngshì (běijīng wánměi yǐngshì chuánméi yǒuxiàn zérèn gōngsī
Perfect World Film and Television (Beijing Perfect Film and Television Media Co., Ltd.)
Activities: Production, Distribution, Marketing, Merchandizing, Talent Management
Representative Film: Bleeding Steel, The Mummy (2017)
Website: www.pwpic.com
Cinando or IMDB:
Telephone: +86 010 57805748, +86 010-57806200
Why? THR reported “. Back in 2016, Perfect World Pictures put together a five year, 50 picture deal with Universal Pictures.
Their former company president (Chen Rong) moved from Beijing to Los Angeles. His aims to build up the L.A. office ‘s Film and TV production units. In 2017 it launched, Perfect Village Entertainment, a company focused on Chinese-language filmmaking. This is a 3-way JV between Village Road Show the US talent production agency Endeavor.
They are keen to grow their U.S. and China TV production output and have hundreds of staff (in gaming operations ) in the U.S.
Sil-Metropole Organisation
Chinese name: 銀都機構有限公司
Activities: Production, Distribution, Sales
Representative Film: The White Storm 2: Drug Lords, The Assassin, The Grand Master
Website: (none listed)
Cinando or IMDB: http://bit.ly/2OUJwvS
Telephone: Tel: 852 27805355
Why? They are a Hong Kong-registered company. However, they are managed by the Chinese government. This gives it the same status as a Mainland China state-owned studio, allowing it to be the Chinese partner on co-productions. Accordingly, they work on more than 10 co-productions a year. This is the best of both film worlds (present Hong Kong protests aside). They have Mainland China status with Hong Kong’s Rule of Law.
Spring Era Films
Chinese name: 春秋时代文化有限公司 Chūnqiū shídài wénhuà yǒuxiàn gōngsī
AKA Spring and Autumn Period (Tianjin) Film Co., Ltd.
AKABeijing Chunqiu Times Culture C
Activities: Production, Distribution
Representative Film: Wolf Warrior 1 & 2, Sky Hunter
Website: www.springerafilms.com/index.php. (listed on IMDB but doesn’t work)
Cinando or IMDB: https://imdb.to/2KrnVqv
Telephone: none listed
Why? It co-produced the animated film Troll: The Tale of a Tail”. Uniquely, the film was animated in both Chinese and English. This appealed to both Chinese and western audiences. They also produced the award-winning arthouse film Looking for Rohmer. This was a major breakthrough for Chinese distribution in that the subject matter was homosexuality – usually gets banned by the censors.
Sublime Media Group
Chinese name: 昇格傳媒(香港)有限公司 Shēnggé chuánméi (xiānggǎng) yǒuxiàn gōngsī
(AKA Guangdong Shengge Media Company)
Activities: Production, Distribution, Promotion, Artist Management
Representative Film: Shock Wave, Always Be With You
Website: www.sublimepictures.cn
Cinando or IMDB: http://bit.ly/2Tv2xDR
Telephone :+86-20-89770673
Why? Besides being one of the producers on major hits (The White Storm 2: Drug Lords and Shock Wave), they reach well beyond film production. Their subsidiary Guoao Film is a label for film as well as music production. Additionally, another subsidiary – Nanyue Film Investment focuses on film & TV investment in China.
In conclusion, the above companies offer something above and beyond normal production company benefits. Next up on the series, we will cover Chinese film & TV companies in Los Angeles.
Stay tuned. We will soon launch “The China List”. This is a new China-Hollywood screenplay database which will connect writers and producers in Hollywood and China. To kick off our launch – we’ll be offering writers a special free promotion offer.
You can find our writer promotion here or with this QR code:
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