Wanda acquiring controlling stake in Legendary Entertainment
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E-mail CRI, January 6, 2016
It's been reported that China's real estate and investment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in the U.S. movie studio Legendary Entertainment.
The deal, which could be announced as soon as next week, values Legendary Entertainment at between 3 billion and 4 billion U.S. dollars.
Wanda will own just over half of Legendary, with studio founder and CEO Thomas Tull and key management figures owning smaller stakes.
Tull and his team are expected to remain in charge of the company's operations.
It's reported that Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin had been holding talks with Tull since June.
It's said Wanda finds Legendary's stable of special-effects driven so called 'tentpoles' such as Godzilla and Pacific Rim very appealing. Tentpoles are reliable moneymakers which also support merchandising.
Godzilla did very well in China by grossing 0ver 77 million U.S. dollars.
Pacific Rim grossed almost 110 million U.S. dollars in China.
The deal marks another big step in Wanda's push to become a global entertainment giant.
Wanda acquired AMC Entertainment, the second-largest cinema chain in the US for 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in August 2012.
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