Many cinema companies frequently acquire and acquire the domestic cinema market and enter the integration period

The reporter sorted out and found that capital still maintains a high degree of favor for the theater market. Many companies, including Dadi Cinema, Poly Culture, and Wanda Cinema, have made many acquisitions, cooperation and other actions in the past week. This reflects that the domestic theater market is gradually entering a period of integration and mergers.

Original title: Film cooling theater bosses 'enthusiasm for expansion remains unabated

. The fact that the national movie box office closed at 6.055 billion yuan in February, a year-on-year decline of 13.66%, once again proves that the domestic film market is cooling. But at the same time, the reporter sorted out and found that capital still maintains a high degree of favor for the theater market. Many companies, including Dadi Cinema, Poly Culture, and Wanda Cinema, have made acquisitions many times in the past week., cooperation and other actions reflect that the domestic theater market is gradually entering a period of integrated mergers and acquisitions.

According to an announcement issued by Dadi Cinema on March 10, the company plans to jointly invest with Shaanxi Gaojing Film Culture Development Co., Ltd. to establish a joint-stock company Shaanxi Gaojingyue Film and Picture Cinema Investment Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 10 million yuan, of which Dadi Cinema Invested 4 million yuan, accounting for 40% of the registered capital. However, just three days before the announcement, Poly Culture announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd. had acquired 100% equity interest in Xingxing Culture for 680 million yuan. In addition, Wanda Cinema recently announced that it has 100 RealD 6FL certified studios and 258 RealD 6FL certified halls.

It is worth noting that at this stage, the film market is experiencing a slowdown in box office growth on the one hand, and a continuous growth in the number of theaters and screens on the other hand. This has led to a sharp decline in box office output of single theaters and single screens, and a gradual decline in theater profitability. As for choosing to continue to expand their scale at this time, many companies said that it is to improve competitiveness and comprehensive strength. At the same time, Poly Culture Board of Directors also pointed out that M & A integration is an inevitable trend in the future development of film projection industry.

Public data show that the market concentration of domestic cinema industry is relatively low at present. Among them, Wanda Cinema, which has been ranked first in box office for many consecutive years, has a box office market share of only 16.7% in 2016; Dadi Cinema, which ranks second, has a box office market share of less than 10%.

Liu Deliang, founder of Xinyuan Wenzhi, believes that at present, there are dozens of cinemas nationwide, and the number is too large. In fact, as long as there are a few cinemas in the whole market, it is enough. Integration and merger is the trend of the times, especially those cinemas that fail to form a national layout and only develop regionally will be the first choice for acquisition by other cinemas or capital. Moreover, the trend of integrated mergers and acquisitions in cinemas has already begun.

In May 2016, Contemporary Oriental acquired a 51% stake in Huacai Tiandi and acquired the Shanghai Hongge Theater Line controlled by the latter; in October of the same year, China Film acquired a 70% stake in Dalian Huachen. In addition, Alibaba Pictures also purchased 1 billion yuan in convertible bonds from Dadi Cinema, while Perfect World acquired 100% equity of Jindian Cinema.

Industry insiders believe that the large number of theaters makes market competition more intense. Coupled with the current situation of the film market, it affects the profits and survival of some theaters. At the same time, many large theater companies have been listed one after another to enhance their capital strength, and the ability and willingness to purchase other theaters and theaters will also increase. At this time, acquiring other theaters and theaters can expand their scale and seize the market.

Editor: Nancy