In Carmike deal, China creates world’s largest movie chain in N. America

World Today

A hostess checks tickets at the Wanda cinema next to the Wanda Group building in Beijing on January 12, 2016. Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group is buying US film studio Legendary Entertainment, the maker of blockbusters Jurassic World and Godzilla, for 3.5 billion USD, it said in a statement on January 12. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

China continued its global media and entertainment growth by creating the world’s largest movie theater chain in the U.S..
In a deal valued at $1.1 billion (7.2 billion yuan) AMC Entertainment, a U.S. cinema chain owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, is acquiring rival Carmike.

 

The acquisition follows Dalian Wanda’s takeover of AMC in 2012 for $2.6 billion  (17 billion yuan) and ensuring that the combined company should be the dominant movie theater chain in North America. It will increase AMC’s theater locations by more than 70 percent to well over 600 and increase its screen count to nearly 8,400. The next-largest movie theater chain would be Regal Entertainment Group, with approximately 7,400 screens in about 570 theaters.

The deal is viewed by some industry observers as part of Wanda’s global expansions into the entertainment industry. The rapidly growing company is led by China’s real estate mogul, Wang Jianlin who has voiced ambitions to increase his position in the global entertainment business previously.

 Just two months ago, the company made headlines when it announced it would buy Legendary Entertainment, the studio behind blockbusters like “Jurassic World” and “The Dark Knight,” for $3.5 billion (22.8 billion yuan).

Founded in 1988, Wanda is probably best known as China’s biggest commercial real estate firm. But in recent years, it has increasingly moved into the entertainment and sports industry. Wanda was the first Chinese company to invest in a top European football club – Spain’s Atletico Madrid in 2015.

Back home, it’s also behind a multibillion-dollar studio complex being built in eastern China that was used to shoot the upcoming movie, “The Great Wall.”

Story by CCTV NEWS.