China gets its own Hollywood

China now has its own Hollywood. A movie town the size of 500 football stadiums opened on Saturday, April 28, 2018, with the ambition to attract filmmakers to shoot movies there. It has been presented as the biggest investment in the sector in history.

EUR 6.5 billion was spent on the construction of this 376-ha complex, located in Qingdao, belonging to the Wanda conglomerate. Around thirty studios, among which is “the biggest one in the world”, with 10,000 square meters, have already been built. Another ten will be built over the next few years, as promised by this company, which specializes in real estate, film and sports.

Along with filming and post-production locations, this film town also features an entertainment show hall, a school, a hospital, luxury hotels and a yacht club, inspired by the one in Monaco.

There’s also a giant shopping center with 360,000 square meters. It features outlets, cafes, restaurants, a skating ring, an amusement park, a water park and “the biggest movie theater in Asia”.

– This is the biggest investment in history in the film and TV sector – Wanda claims.

The company run by Wang Jianlin (the 4th richest person in China, according to Bloomberg) is not a stranger to the world of film. It produces movies, it bought the American movie theater chain AMC in 2012 and it also bought the Hollywood studio Legendary (Jurassic Park, Interstellar, Godzilla) in 2016.

Wanda

Chinese Hollywood

film town in CHina

Qingdao

Wang Jianlin

AMC

Legendary

Jurassic Park

Interstellar

Godzilla