Billionaire Wang Jianlin’s (王健林) Dalian Wanda Group Co (萬達集團) unveiled subsidies worth more than US$150 million a year to lure filmmakers to his new studio complex in China’s coastal city of Qingdao.
Wanda, the flagship of Wang’s entertainment, real estate and finance conglomerate, is to provide as much as a 40 percent rebate for some production costs at Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis (青島東方影都), senior vice president Jack Gao (高群耀) said on Monday in Los Angeles.
Companies including Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Arclight Films and Wanda’s own Legendary Entertainment (傳奇電腦公司) have agreed to use the Qingdao facility, Wanda said.
“It is certainly going to be attractive to filmmakers to look at that high of a percentage back,” said Steve Weizenecker, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg, specializing in tax incentives for film and television. “For the big studios that number is big and can certainly be something that moves the needle for them.”
Wang, 61, is in Los Angeles to promote a growing entertainment empire that last month agreed to collaborate on movie projects with Sony Pictures and this year acquired independent film producer Legendary Entertainment for US$3.5 billion.
Wanda’s US theater chain, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, has agreed to buy Carmike Cinemas Inc, which would make it the biggest domestic cinema operator, and is also buying Odeon & UCI Cinemas in the UK.
“China will be half of the global market,” Wang said. “If you want to make money in this market, you will have to understand and please Chinese audiences.”
The 200-hectare Qingdao complex is set to fully begin operations in 2018, Wanda said.
The grounds are to include an underwater studio, animation facility and film lots reflecting Europe and Chinese capitals in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Plans for the 50 billion yuan (US$7.42 billion) development also include movie-oriented museums, resort hotels, a yacht club and a hospital at the site about 550km north of Shanghai.
Costs eligible for the rebate include Qingdao-based production spending, including for the sound stage, backlot, and on location, said Gao, who heads international investments at Wanda’s cultural division.
Extras, meals, accommodations, transportation during shooting, costumes, props rental, and even post-production are all eligible, he said.
Legendary is to shoot the next Pacific Rim and Godzilla monster movies at the studio.
Lions Gate, Infinity Pictures, Arad Productions, Arclight Films, Kylin Pictures, Base Media, Beijing Dirty Monkey Culture Industry Development and Juben Pictures have also agreed to make movies using the Qingdao facilities, according to Wanda.
Wanda held a high profile groundbreaking event in 2013, inviting some of Hollywood’s biggest stars to Qingdao, including Nicole Kidman, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ewan McGregor and Kate Beckinsale.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS