万达瞄准好莱坞

万达瞄准好莱坞

据统计，《福布斯》2015年中国富豪榜前十大富豪中，有8人在投资电影。近日一向热衷于电影投资的中国大连万达集团正式杀入好莱坞，拟购入美国电影制作公司传奇影业(Legendary Entertainment)超过50%股权。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

Pacific Rim 电影《环太平洋》

negotiate 谈判[nɪ'gəʊʃɪeɪt]

sequel 续集['siːkw(ə)l]

spin-off 衍生产品

paramount 最高统治者['pærəmaʊnt]

Dalian Wanda in talks to buy Hollywood film producer（650words）

By Matthew Garrahan in Las Vegas

Dalian Wanda,the property and media group controlled by Wang Jianlin,China's richest man,is in talks to buy the Hollywood company behind films such as Godzilla and Pacific Rim.

If a deal is concluded between Wanda and Legendary Entertainment,the media company started by Thomas Tull,it will strengthen ties between Hollywood and the world's fastest-growing movie market.

Wanda,which bought the AMC Entertainment cinema chain in 2012,is negotiating to acquire a controlling stake in Legendary,which counts Japanese technology group SoftBank among its investors. The deal could be announced as early as next week and values Legendary at $3bn-$4bn,according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr Wang has been looking for a Hollywood studio to buy for several years. His company was linked with a purchase of DreamWorks Animation last year but the talks broke down. He also told reporters a year ago that he intended to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or Lions Gate Entertainment but a deal did not materialise.

People familiar with the matter said talks with Legendary were at an advanced stage. The company has enjoyed a good year at the box office: it has a production deal with Universal Pictures and has invested in hits such as Straight Outta Compton and Jurassic World,which was 2015's biggest movie in the US until the recent release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

It recently announced a sequel to Godzilla and a spin-off,featuring Godzilla and King Kong,which it will produce with its former production and distribution partner Warner Brothers.

In 2011 Legendary launched Legendary East,a Hong Kong-based joint venture company to co-produce films in China,thereby escaping China's import quotas. It plans to release its first project with the state-owned China Film Co this year: The Great Wall,a fantasy epic starring Matt Damon and directed by Zhang Yimou,one of China's best-known filmmakers.

Legendary's movies have performed well in China,particularly Godzilla and Pacific Rim,where box office returns are booming thanks to a spate of multiplex developments.

China's cinema market is growing rapidly. Its total box office increased by 49 per cent in 2015 according to state figures,generating $6.8bn in revenues. The country is adding an average of 22 screens per day. If it continues to grow at its current rate,China is projected to overtake the US as the world's largest film market by 2017.

“China's movie industry is booming at unprecedented speed,” Mr Wang said in a 2014 interview. “Buying a well-known US company will help our distribution overseas.” China's film market was “growing a lot faster than that of the US”,he added.

Wanda and Legendary declined to comment on the talks,which were first reported by Reuters. If a deal goes ahead it could pave the way for more tie-ups between Hollywood production companies and China-based media groups. Alibaba Pictures,the Chinese retailer's entertainment arm,invested in Paramount's Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation in 2015 and was the official partner for the movie's launch in China.

Mario Gabelli,the second-largest holder of voting shares in Viacom,which owns Paramount,recently urged Sumner Redstone's media group to sell a stake in its movie studio to Alibaba to generate new funds and smooth the way for it to produce more films in the country.

“If Alibaba is going to be serious about getting into the entertainment industry Viacom should sell[Alibaba founder]Jack Ma a piece of Paramount,” Mr Gabelli said.

A Wanda-Legendary tie-up would be the latest in a string of deals for Mr Wang. He recently spent $52m on a 20 per cent stake in Atlético Madrid,the Spanish football club,bought the organiser of Ironman triathlons for $650m,and paid more than €1bn for Infront Media,the Swiss sports rights agency led by the nephew of former Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

Additional reporting by Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai and Shannon Bond in New York