Tencent Establishes Film and TV Production Subsidiary Tencent Pictures
DoNews, 9/18/15
Chinese Internet and mobile services firm Tencent (0700.HK) announced yesterday that it has established Tencent Pictures, a wholly owned subsidiary focused on film and TV program production. Tencent COO Mark Ren and Vice President Cheng Wu were appointed as president and CEO of Tencent Pictures, respectively.
Tencent Pictures will establish a department dedicated to film and television production, comprised of 3 studios - Heiti, Jinhua Entertainment and Dameng - for adapting Tencent intellectual properties into film and TV content. The studios will initially work on adapting 11 of Tencent's intellectual properties. Dameng will be in charge of adapting anime, including Zombie Brother 2, Huyao Xiaohongniang (The Fox Matchmaker), and Shanhe Shejitu (The Land of the Country). Jinhua Entertainment will be in charge of adapting video games, such as QQ Dancer, QQ Speed, Moonlight Blade, and Roco Kingdom. Heiti will be in charge of adapting literary works, such as Mulan Wuzhangxiong (Mulan Has No Elder Brother), Huidao Guoqu Biancheng Mao (Go Back into the Past as a Cat), Congqian Youzuo Lingjianshan (There Used to Be a Double-edged Sword Hill), and Zetianji.
Tencent Pictures will partner with writer Guo Jingming to adapt his novel "Critical" into films, anime, and video games. Tencent Pictures will also partner with US film company Legendary Pictures to invest in the production, marketing, and distribution of a movie based on the video game World of Warcraft, setting the foundation for further collaborations between the two firms in the future.
Tencent Pictures and Wanda Cinema Line (002739.SZ), the cinema chain operator subsidiary of Chinese entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, have also jointly announced the "Tencent Interactive Movie Theater" project, through which Tencent Pictures will gain a channel for bringing its films to offline cinemas.
Additionally, Tencent Pictures announced a project to train young screenwriters and directors in conjunction with the Beijing Film Academy and the China Film Directors' Guild.
Editor's Note: Tencent Pictures has grown out of the company's Tencent Movies Plus, a platform Tencent launched a year ago to adapt some of its most popular online and mobile gaming products into animated feature films. Tencent also recently announced plans to establish Tencent Penguin Pictures, a subsidiary that will focus on online drama production, film investment, and talent agency businesses. For more information on this topic, please see "Tencent to Establish Online TV Drama Production and Film Investment Subsidiary," MD 9/11/15 issue, "Update: Tencent to Adapt Games into Animated Films," MD 9/17/14 issue, and "Rumor: Tencent to Adapt Games into Animated Films," MD 9/12/14 issue.
Keywords: Tencent Pictures film production Mark Ren Internet television Tencent 0700.HK Cheng Wu Guo Jingming TV content production adaptation
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