Alibaba Pictures Group is a Chinese film company under the
Alibaba Group. The film company was formerly ChinaVision Media, of which Alibaba Group bought a majority stake in late 2014. It subsequently was renamed from ChinaVision to Alibaba Pictures Group. By April 2015, it was the largest Chinese film company by worth, with a market value of US$8.77 billion and by June of the same year it was worth US$9.6 billion.
According to researchers, Françoise Paquienséguy and Miao He, there are almost 30 companies, varying from investment groups to media and film studios, under the Alibaba umbrella. “These include, but are not limited to, such leading companies as ''Youku Tudou Inc''., ''Enlight Media'', ''Huayi Brothers'', ''Bona Film Group'', ''Wasu Media'', ''Sina Weibo'', ''XiamiMusic''and ''Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club''. In addition, Ma Yun also occasionally engages in capital operations, such as establishing ''Yunhuang and Yunxi'' Capital…” (Paquienséguy, He).
History
In March 2014, Alibaba Group bought a 60% stake in ChinaVision Media for .
Alibaba initially registered a film company in the following April with the name Alibaba Films Group before changing it to Alibaba Pictures Group later in the month. Two heads from ChinaVision were listed as directors of Alibaba Pictures. In June 2014, ChinaVision Media was officially renamed to be Alibaba Pictures Group. The following July,
Zhang Qiang resigned as vice president of
China Film Group to become the head of Alibaba Pictures. Later in the month, Alibaba Pictures entered agreements with filmmakers and film companies, including director
Wong Kar Wai and the Hong Kong-based film production company Block 2.
The company purchased Yueke and at the end of 2015, Taobao Movie and Yulebao.
On October 9, 2016,
Amblin Partners
Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC, doing business as Amblin Partners, LLC., is an American entertainment production company, which succeeded the live-action counterpart of DreamWorks and is led by Steven Spielberg. It develops and produces f ...
struck a deal with Alibaba, in which Alibaba acquired a minority equity stake in the company and will handle marketing, distribution, and merchandising of Amblin Partners films in China in addition to co-financing Amblin and DreamWorks films worldwide.
As described by the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', "Amblin Partners and Alibaba Pictures teamed up to "finance, produce, market and distribute films in China and globally."
[ Alibaba Pictures released the projection in February 2017 that its unaudited 2016 losses could be over US$140 million. The company stated the losses resulted from a promotion known as ''Tao Piao Piao'', where theater tickets are subsidized.]China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. Through its first domestic release ''See You Tomorrow'', the company combined both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
values, reaching both audiences in new ways. The installment also saw “ the ongoing mainlandization of Hong Kong filmmaking practice and the corresponding Hong Kongification of contemporary Chinese popular cinema,” according to Mark Gallagher, author of “Alibaba Goes to the Movies.”
Alibaba Pictures’ mid-2010s expansion was not limited only to Hong Kong however.
2015 saw Alibaba Pictures’ first investment in U.S. cinema, with their financial support of ‘ Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.’
In 2016, Alibaba Group partnered with Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
’s Amblin Partners
Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC, doing business as Amblin Partners, LLC., is an American entertainment production company, which succeeded the live-action counterpart of DreamWorks and is led by Steven Spielberg. It develops and produces f ...
, an American film production company.
The partnership drew international attention, with Hollywood’s highest-grossing director and one of the most active Chinese film studios coming together for production, distribution and financing.
In 2019, Alibaba Pictures financed 23 films, “ accounting for one-fifth of China's total box office,” according to Alizila, an Alibaba news outlet.
At a briefing regarding the partnership in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
, Spielberg was quoted by Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
as saying, “Some of the stories I’m hoping Jack and I can tell in this new partnership between Amblin Partners and Alibaba Pictures will be able to bring Chinese-themed stories to the American audience, and we can do co-productions between our company and your company…”
Alibaba Pictures partnered with California-based STX, an American entertainment company, to bring “ Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...
” to American silver screens in 2019.
After a substantial show of interest in the film on social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
by Mandarin-speaking audiences STX and Alibaba partnered together for a U.S. release, with the goal of audiences being able to see the film in the States while it was still in theaters in China according to STXfilms chairman Adam Fogelson in Yahoo Finance.
“The increasing appreciation for and interest in Chinese culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
, the fact that the story of a family dynamic during the holiday, and the entry point of Peppa, which most American audiences are familiar with, creates a dynamic where there certainly could be — not on the Marvel level of course — broad interest,” said Fogelson, “…Our first goal was to make sure that Mandarin speakers in the U.S. would have access to the film while the movie was playing in China.”
Filmography
* ''Wolf Totem
''Wolf Totem'' () is a 2004 Chinese semi-autobiographical novel about the experiences of a young student from Beijing who finds himself sent to the countryside of Inner Mongolia in 1967, at the height of China's Cultural Revolution. The auth ...
'' (2015) – distributor
* '' Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'' (2015) – investor
* '' Little Door Gods'' (2016) - distributor
* '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows'' (2016) - investorAsura
Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...
'' (2018)The Wandering Earth
''The Wandering Earth'' () is a 2019 Chinese science fiction film directed by Frant Gwo, loosely based on the 2000 short story of the same name by Liu Cixin. The film stars Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie, Ng Man-tat, Zhao Jinmai, Wu Jing and Qu Jingj ...
'' (2019) - Co-Producer
* '' UglyDolls'' (2019) - investor
* '' A Dog's Journey'' (2019) - investor
* '' Gemini Man'' (2019) - investor
* '' 1917'' (2019) - investor
* ''Finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...
'' (2021) - investor
* '' Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again'' (2022)
* ''Ao Jiao Yu Pian Jian'' (TBA)Legend of the Ancient Sword
''Legend of the Ancient Sword'' ( zh, 古剑奇谭之流月昭明) is a Chinese fantasy-adventure-action film directed by Renny Harlin and based on the video game '' Gu Jian Qi Tan 2''. The film was released worldwide on October 1, 2018.
Plot
Due ...
'' film (Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin (born 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, producer, and screenwriter who has made his career in Hollywood and China. His best-known films include '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'', ''The Adventures of Ford Fai ...
, TBA) - production, distributor (in production)
* ''The Legend of Zu 2'' (television series, TBA)Giuseppe Tornatore
Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the directors who brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.Katz, Ephraim, "Italy," ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (New York: HarperR ...
film (TBA)
* '' Warriors'' (TBA)
References
{{Authority control
Alibaba Group
Chinese brands
Chinese companies established in 2014
Film production companies of China
Mass media companies established in 2014