Alibaba Pictures Group Limited is a Chinese film company under the
Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, branded as Alibaba (), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in E-commerce in China, e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology. Founded on 28 June 1999 in Hangzho ...
. 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 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 also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', "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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. Through its first domestic release ''See You Tomorrow'', the company combined both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
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 filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
’s Amblin Partners, 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, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, Spielberg was quoted by Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
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, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
” to American silver screens in 2019.
After a substantial show of interest in the film on social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
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 United 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 Cradle of civilization#Ancient China, world's earliest cultures, said to originate five thousand years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia called the Sinosphere as a whole ...
, 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
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
speakers in the U.S. would have access to the film while the movie was playing in China.”
In March 2024, Alibaba Group announced a HK$5 billion (USD 640 million) investment over five years to boost Hong Kong's entertainment industry, investing in Hong Kong-made TV dramas, movies, performances and cultivation of young talents. The company also announced Alibaba Pictures will establish its second headquarters in Hong Kong.
Filmography
* '' Wolf Totem'' (2015) – distributor
* ''Terminator Genisys
''Terminator Genisys'' is a 2015 American cyberpunk action film that is the fifth installment in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' franchise. It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of the franchise, taking the premise of the The Terminator, ...
'' (2015) – investor
* '' Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'' (2015) – investor
* '' Little Door Gods'' (2016) - distributor
* '' The Mermaid'' (2016) - production
* '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows'' (2016) - investorStar Trek Beyond
''Star Trek Beyond'' is a 2016 American science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Justin Lin, written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung. It is the 13th film in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and the third installment in List of Star ...
'' (2016) - investorOnce Upon a Time
"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has started many narrative ...
'' (2017) - productionParadox
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true or apparently true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictor ...
'' (2017) - production
* '' The Adventurers'' (2017) - production
* ''Dying to Survive
''Dying to Survive'' is a 2018 Chinese comedy-drama film directed by Wen Muye in his feature film debut. The film is based on the real-life story of Lu Yong (陆勇), a Chinese leukemia patient who smuggled cheap and generic cancer medicine from ...
'' (2018) - production
* ''Asura
Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...
'' (2018)On the Basis of Sex
''On the Basis of Sex'' is a 2018 American biographical legal drama film based on the life and early cases of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the second woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Directed by Mimi Led ...
'' (2018) - investor
* '' The Wandering Earth'' (2019) - Co-Producer
* ''Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year'' (2019)
* '' UglyDolls'' (2019) - investor
* ''A Dog's Journey
''A Dog's Journey'' is a 2012 book written by W. Bruce Cameron and published by Forge Books. It is the sequel to Cameron's 2010 book ''A Dog's Purpose A Dog's Purpose may refer to:
* ''A Dog's Purpose'' (novel), a 2010 novel by W. Bruce Camer ...
'' (2019) - investor
* '' The Climbers'' (2019) - production
* '' The Captain'' (2019) - production
* '' Gemini Man'' (2019) - investor
* ''1917
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...
'' (2019) - investor
* '' The Eight Hundred'' (2020) - production
* '' Chinese Doctors'' (2021) - production
* '' Green Snake'' (2021) - distributor
* '' The Battle at Lake Changjin'' (2021) - production
* ''Finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...
'' (2021) - investor
* '' Embrace Again'' (2021) - production
* ''The Battle at Lake Changjin II
''The Battle at Lake Changjin II'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''The Battle at Water Gate Bridge''), is a 2022 war film, war drama film co-produced and co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang J ...
'' (2022) - production
* '' Return to Dust'' (2022) - production
* '' Moon Man'' (2022) - production
* '' Ordinary Hero'' (2022) - production
* ''Come Back Home'' (2022) - production
* '' Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again'' (2022)
* ''Journey to the West
''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...
'' (2023) - production
* '' Ride On'' (2023) - production
* '' Born to Fly'' (2023) - distributor
* ''Chang'an
Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...
'' (2023) - production
* '' Meg 2: The Trench'' (2023) - Investor
* ''Just for Meeting You'' (2023) - production
* '' Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour'' (2023) - distributor (China)
* '' I Did It My Way'' (2024) - production
* '' YOLO'' (2024) - production
* ''Successor
Successor may refer to:
* An entity that comes after another (see Succession (disambiguation))
Film and TV
* ''The Successor'' (1996 film), a film including Laura Girling
* The Successor (2023 film), a French drama film
* ''The Successor'' ( ...
'' (2024) - production
* '' The Last Dance'' (2024) - production
* ''Maharaja
Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...
'' (2024) - distributor
* '' Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force'' (2025) - production
* ''Ao Jiao Yu Pian Jian'' (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: HarperRes ...
film (TBA)
* ''Warriors
A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have been p ...
'' (TBA)
References
{{Authority control
Alibaba Group
Chinese brands
Chinese companies established in 2014
Film production companies of China
Mass media companies established in 2014