Chinese culture participates in Hollywood's "Imagination Entertainment" Li Ruigang accelerates the pace of internationalization

Chinese Culture and Raine Group announced that they will jointly invest in Hollywood production company "Imagine Entertainment." Officials did not disclose the amount of this round of investment, but according to people familiar with the matter, the investment amount exceeds 100 million US dollars. Other investors include WPP Group, the world's largest advertising communication group.

Original title: Uncle Li bought it again! Who is the Hollywood company that Chinese Culture and Raine have joined forces to invest again?

Chinese Culture and Raine Group announced that they will jointly invest in Hollywood production company "Imagine Entertainment." Officials did not disclose the amount of this round of investment, but according to people familiar with the matter, the investment amount exceeds 100 million US dollars. Other investors include WPP Group, the world's largest advertising communication group.

Apart from Chinese culture, Raine Group and Imagine Entertainment are relatively unfamiliar names. What are their origins? Why is this news worthy of attention? The answers will be revealed below.

What has Imagine Entertainment done?

Imagine Entertainment is an independent film and television production company founded in 1986 by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, two veteran film and television producers who have won Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Emmy Awards. Since 1987, the company has worked with Universal Pictures. The works by these two artists have won more than 60 awards combined, including 10 Academy Awards and 40 Emmys. The most well-known works include "A Beautiful Mind","8 Mile","Apollo 13","American Gangster","The Da Vinci Code","24 Hours","24 Hours: Live Another Day","Hip-Hop Empire", etc.

Imagine's nearly 30-year production and distribution contract with Universal Pictures will end at the end of this year, and it is said that Imagine no longer wants to renew the contract. It is rumored that Imagine will choose 20th Century Fox as its film collaboration partner.

Regarding this investment, Brain Grazer, one of the founders, believes that "the production and consumption forms of content are changing faster than ever, and the areas being expanded are unimaginable a few years ago." Ron Howard, another founder, added,"This investor has unlocked the door for us to a new world, which will allow us to expand the narrative approach and platform."

It seems that the two founders 'expectations for future content production and distribution have not been realized by Universal Pictures, which may eventually lead to the breakdown of cooperation between the two parties. In fact, the history of cooperation between the two parties in recent years has predicted this result.

Starting with the 2013 TV series "Rush", Imagine has begun to introduce external investment, which was the last step of Imagine's release through Universal Pictures. Imagine's latest film,"In the Heart of the Sea," was co-produced with Warner Bros. and Rural Roadshow Pictures.

Now Imagine has chosen Raine and Chinese culture because of the development possibilities. Imagine said the company will use the money to expand brand content in movies and TV series.

What is Raine Group? Why join forces with Chinese culture?

The Raine Group is a commercial bank established in 2009 focusing on the TMT field. Co-founder William Weiss served as president of Goldman Sachs 'global media and telecommunications business and has operated many major international projects, including the spin-off of Viacom and Colombia Broadcasting Corporation, the sale of Polygon, the sale of MGM, and the establishment of Yankee Entertainment and Sports Television Broadcasting Corporation. In the investment segment, Raine currently manages two business-growth private equity funds, two venture capital funds and a hedge fund for the TMT sector, with cumulative assets under management currently exceeding US$1.5 billion.

The following are the companies in Raine's portfolio, including well-known Vice Media and Focus Media in China.

In fact, the cooperation between Raine and Chinese Culture is not the first time that the two have joined forces. As early as January 2013, the two sides reached a strategic partnership to jointly explore investment projects in the global media field. Later, Chinese Culture and Warner Bros. established a joint venture film company "Flagship Pictures," and Fangyuan Capital raised US$80 million from "IMAX China (a joint venture salary for Chinese culture and giant screen film technology system developer IMAX)", and Raine, a leading VR technology company such as Junt, participated in it and served as a financing consultant.

Raine also has a subsidiary in China, Rayhaven Investment Consulting (Beijing) Company, which focuses on the investment of China companies in overseas media.

"The content and producers we invest in are the most valuable in the current media ecosystem," Raine said. Through this investment, Raine participated in both the nationalization of Hollywood production companies and the internationalization of China funds.

What have the capital actions of Chinese culture in recent years?

Overall, this is a deal based on both sides 'desire to be internationalized. Li Ruigang, chairman of Chinese Culture Holding Group, said: "By investing in Imagine Entertainment, we will join hands with Hollywood's top production team to enhance China's voice in the world's film and television industry; we will also bring world-leading content to the rapidly changing Chinese film and television industry. Creative power, jointly create more excellent works, and promote the spread of Chinese culture to the world."

In recent years, the internationalization of Chinese culture has become faster and faster, and front-line capital actions have been "stepped in": a

joint venture with Warner Bros. to establish "Flagship Pictures";

a joint venture with IMAX, a giant screen film technology system developer, established IMAX China and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; a

joint venture with DreamWorks Animation to operate Oriental DreamWorks, including the "Kung Fu Panda" series;

invested in Shaw Brothers;

invested in film special effects production company Base FX and virtual reality entertainment company Junt VR;

invested in ticketing and film marketing platforms Micropiao 'er, Guevara;

invested in operation of Micro Whale TV, TVB, Noon Sunshine, Star Media/Canxing Production and its Chinese film library Fortune Star;

joined forces with British Merin Group to build Legoland (China), and joined forces with Hong Kong Lan Kwai Fong to build Shanghai Dream Center;

this joint investment in Imagine is equally important for the internationalization of Chinese culture.

This article integrates Hollywood reports, Sohu Finance and other content

Editor: vian