DreamWorks Animation and its Chinese joint venture partners will open a culture center in Shanghai by 2016. [China.org.cn]
DreamWorks Animation and its Chinese joint venture partners will open a culture center in Shanghai and produce "Kung Fu Panda 3" in China by 2016, with a total investment amount of 20 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion), the companies announced Tuesday.
The package includes a co-production of "Kung Fu Panda 3," as well as building an "entertainment destination" in Shanghai, according to the announcement at a signing ceremony held in Shanghai to establish a landmark cultural project "Oriental DreamWorks."
"Oriental DreamWorks," whose full name is Shanghai Oriental DreamWorks Film & Television Technology Co., Ltd., will primarily focus on film and television content production and its derivative industries. Over the next several years, it will recruit more than 2,000 animation film and television production professionals from China and around the world for Oriental DreamWorks, the press release said.
DreamWorks and partners China Media Capital, Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Alliance Investment Limited said that the long-anticipated third installment of the blockbuster "Kung Fu Panda" franchise is set for 2016 release by DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks.
The first two "Kung Fu Panda" films enjoyed great success in the Chinese market, with the second film taking in 605 million yuan (US$95 million) at the box office, which is the biggest grossing animation film ever in China thus far.
Oriental DreamWorks' logo – a panda sitting on a red moon fishing for dreams – is unveiled on August 7, 2012. [China.org.cn]
Oriental DreamWorks plans to distribute "Kung Fu Panda 3" worldwide in 2017. In the same year, Oriental DreamWorks is expected to produce its first original animated film featuring Chinese elements. But they have not decided what story to be made into film. Thereafter, Oriental DreamWorks will produce one to three animation films per year and maintain the operational standards for a first class international animation company.
But more exciting news for the industry is the two parties signed an agreement to build the "Dream Center" cultural and entertainment destination on a T-shaped block in Xuhui Riverside in Shanghai.
Plans feature designs from a number of international architectural masters and incorporate a series of theaters, cinemas, creative enterprises, tourist attractions, restaurants and commercial facilities. "Dream Center," together with the neighboring "Media Port of the West Riverbank," will create Shanghai's new landmark: a world-class cultural destination that is envisioned to be comparable to New York's Broadway and London's West End, said Li Ruigang, the Chairman of China Media Capital.
The development will include "Dream Walk," the world's largest IMAX screen, to be used for high-profile film premieres and events, as well as a central theater area and an interactive animation exhibition.
The media port and "Dream Center" is expected to see 20 million visitors a year, according to data from the district government of Shanghai's Xuhui.
"This is a project with a global cultural vision," Li said, "'Dream Center' should become the third pole of the world of entertainment and arts besides London and New York. In the long term, we may bring more entertainment zones to other domestic cities or even build them abroad."
But Li and Katzenberg both denied the "Dream Center" is a theme park project, which will be different from other existing big cultural and entertainment project and will be "complementary" to the Disney Park in Shanghai.
China Media Capital, whose owners include China Development Bank, owns a controlling stake in News Corporation's China assets, including TV channels – Star (Xing Kong), Star (Xing Kong) International and Channel V (China). Shanghai Media Group is the second largest media conglomerate in China and has the country's most comprehensive portfolio of media-related businesses, including 29 television channels, 11 radio frequencies, and print media; while Shanghai Alliance Investment an investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government, and established itself as a leader in China's high-tech and financial sector investment since 1994.
DreamWorks and the three Shanghai-based state-owned groups signed a deal in February to form a joint venture focusing on animation production, with the Chinese companies acting as controlling partners. DreamWorks Animation owns about 45 percent of Oriental DreamWorks while Chinese parties own the rest.
At the end of the year, China is expected to become the second country in the world to own 10,000 screens only second to the United States. The fast-growing Chinese market's ticket sales rose 35 percent last year to US$2 billion while Chinese central government ordered departments to strengthen the efforts for building a more powerful cultural industry.
