INTERNATIONAL

REEL
NEWS
IN REVIEW
WANDA GROUP ACQUIRES
LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT
Chinese real estate and investment
conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has
offi cially acquired production company
Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion,
marking the largest cross-border acquisition
of an entertainment property by a Chinese
company. “The acquisition of Legendary will
make Wanda Film Holdings Company the
highest revenue-generating fi lm company in
the world, increasing Wanda’s presence in
China and the U.S., the world’s two largest
markets,” noted Wanda Group chairman
Wang Jianlin. In past years, Legendary has
had box-offi ce success with such fi lms as
Jurassic World, Man of Steel and The Hangover;
future releases from the company include
Warcraft, Kong: Skull Island and Zhang Yimou’s
The Great Wall, a China-U.S. co-production.
2015 GLOBAL BOX OFFICE
REACHES A NEW HIGH
Good news on the financial front: According
to Rentrak, 2015 was the first year the
global box office surpassed $38 billion. All the
international numbers aren’t in yet—a final
tally could reach as high as $40 billion—but
even so, that’s still enough to surpass the previous
record for global box office, set in 2014
with $36.7 billion. North American grosses
($11 billion-plus) also beat the previous
record, set in 2013 with $10.9 billion.
UNIVERSAL AND DISNEY
BREAK BOX OFFICE RECORDS
Why was 2015 such a good year? In
part, we can thank Universal and Disney,
who both managed to surpass the previous
$5.5 billion studio record set in 2014 by
20th Century Fox. Universal, whose 2015
hits included Jurassic World, Furious 7 and
Minions, came out ahead with $6.89 million.
They also beat the existing domestic and
international records held by Warner Bros.
and 20th Century Fox, respectively. Disney,
meanwhile, earned $5.85 billion. This
marks the third consecutive year three of
their fi lms (Star Wars: The Force Awakens,
Avengers: Age of Ultron and Inside Out)
surpassed $700 million worldwide.
CHINA’S BOX OFFICE
GROWS BY 48.7%
Another factor in 2015’s success was
the growth of the Chinese fi lm market,
which saw box-offi ce grosses balloon by
nearly 49%. Of the $6.78 billion earned in
China in 2015, 38.4% went to Hollywood
releases, down from 45.5% in 2014—the
result of a concerted effort within the
Chinese industry to support local movies.
Experts predict that by 2017 China will
surpass North America as the world’s
largest fi lm market. Three Hollywood
movies—Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron
and Jurassic World—were among China’s
top ten fi lms, with local efforts Monster
Hunt, Lost in Hong Kong and Mojin: The Lost
Legend also raking in the dough.
SPACEY AND BRUNETTI
TO RUN RELATIVITY MEDIA
2015 wasn’t the best year for Relativity
Media—see: bankruptcy—but the
new year has brought Ryan Kavanaugh’s
beleaguered company some new blood.
Kevin Spacey and producer Dana Brunetti,
who together run Trigger Street Prods.
(“House of Cards,” Fifty Shades of Grey)
have been tapped to run Relativity’s fi lm
and scripted TV division. Starting in mid-
February, Spacey will serve as Relativity
Studios’ chairman, while Brunetti will be
its president. Upcoming Relativity releases
include the Kristen Wiig-Zach Galifi anakis
heist comedy Masterminds and the Halle
Berry-starring thriller Kidnap.
GREG SILVERMAN
REMAINS AT WARNER BROS.
In spite of a tough 2015, Warner
Bros. has chosen to re-up Greg Silverman
as president of creative development
and worldwide production. As
before, Silverman will report to Warner
Entertainment chairman/CEO Kevin
Tsujihara as one of three studio heads;
Silverman’s deal is good for at least three
years. Over the coming year, Warner
Bros. hopes to bounce back from the
high-profi le failures of Pan and The Man
from U.N.C.L.E. with Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them.
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