Chinese media mogul Wang Jianlin has snapped up the Legendary Entertainment studio in Burbank, California, where caped crusader movie The Dark Knight and prehistoric dinosaur romp Jurassic Park were both made, vowing to place China at the forefront of the international movie business.
Mr Wang, who already owns the AMC chain of cinemas, America’s largest movie outlet, paid $3.5 billion for Legendary, making him one of the top players in Tinseltown. His personal fortune is rated by Forbes Magazine as a colossal $32.7 billion, and movie industry pundits in Los Angeles believe Wang, through his vast property-to-sport company Dalian Wanda Group, is now equipped to become a serious mover in the cutthroat world of Hollywood film production.
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin. (Courtesy: SCMP)
Speaking of his acquisition of Legendary in Chinese capital Beijing, Mr Wang said: “ A few American movie companies dominate these commanding heights of the movie industry in the world and we want to change this situation and this landscape. China has to have a position in the global movie industry.”
As well as AMC, Mr Wang’s Wanda owns a $420 million Beverly Hills department store and a 20% stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid. The ex-People’s Liberation Army military commander is an admirer of Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs.
Batman, ‘The Dark Knight’. (Courtesy: Deviant Art)
On learning of the Chinese plutocrat’s latest US acquisition, one Hollywood sage predicted there was much more to come from Wang Jianlin: “He is building credibility so that when he says he’s interested in a project or idea you know it’s going to go somewhere, it’s not just talk.”
Cinema-goers across the world are holding their breath to see if Mr Wang will be a force for good in this traditionally US-dominated market.
