Wanda no longer renews its contract with Sony overseas investment boom ends with policy change

the last contract between the two sides was signed in September last year, and cooperation projects include "Space travelers", "Smurfs: looking for mysterious villages", "facial Fantasy Adventure" and so on.

original title: because of the supervision of capital outflow, Wanda no longer renews its contract with Sony for investment promotion

Sony has become the latest Hollywood film company to stop cooperating with Chinese companies against the backdrop of tighter supervision over capital outflows by the Chinese authorities.

according to sources, the investment promotion cooperation between Sony Pictures and Wanda has come to an end. Half a month ago, Paramount, another Hollywood studio, ended its cooperation with Huahua Media.

unlike Paramount, which parted ways with Hua Hua during the agreement period, Sony and Wanda chose not to cooperate after the last agreement expired. According to Sony officials, the two sides have fulfilled the contract, "expression Fantasy Adventure" has always been seen as the last project of cooperation. " Wanda did not respond to the reporter's interview.

the agreement between Wanda and Sony was signed last September. The agreement "will, in some cases, include a strategic alliance of equity financing cooperation". Wanda will co-invest in film production with Sony and help with Sony Film's distribution in China through resources such as its cinema chain. The projects that the two sides have worked together for more than a year include "Space tourists", "Smurfs: looking for mysterious villages", "facial Fantasy Adventures" and so on.

when the agreement was signed last year, Chinese enterprises, including Wanda, were at a peak of outbound investment. Wanda's AMC, for example, completed its acquisition of Odeon&UCI, Europe's largest cinema chain, in July last year and was once expected to buy a stake in Paramount Pictures. A month after the deal was signed, Wanda made a $1 billion offer for Dick Clark Productions, a television content production company. In addition to film and television, Wanda also invested in La Liga team Atletico Madrid the year before.

but the overseas investment boom ended with "the change of China's foreign investment policy". At the end of 2016, the NDRC said it began to pay attention to irrational foreign investment tendencies in areas such as real estate, hotels and sports clubs, all of which are the focus of Wanda's investment. China's enthusiasm for Hollywood has also cooled rapidly after a series of government moves to limit capital outflows.

Wanda itself has been affected. Wang Jianlin said in July that Wanda's future investment would focus mainly on domestic investment. In October, Gao Qunyao, interim CEO of legendary Pictures, announced his departure from Wanda Group and its legendary Pictures. According to sources from the Hollywood Reporter, the role of Gao Yaoqun has been limited by official regulation of corporate capital outflows.

in addition, Adam Allen, chairman and CEO of AMC Cinema, also said that the company may sell 25% of the assets of its European Theater chain and Nordic Cinema chain to repay its debt and raise its share price.

Edit: mary