【英语财经】万达有意收购传奇娱乐 Dalian Wanda cues up Legendary deal

Dalian Wanda, the property and media group controlled by Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man, is in talks to buy the Hollywood company behind films such as Godzilla and Pacific Rim.

If a deal is concluded between Wanda and Legendary Entertainment, the media company started by Thomas Tull, it will strengthen ties between Hollywood and the world’s fastest-growing movie market.

Wanda, which bought the AMC Entertainment cinema chain in 2012, is negotiating to acquire a controlling stake in Legendary, which counts Japanese technology group SoftBank among its investors. The deal could be announced as early as next week and values Legendary at $3bn-$4bn, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr Wang has for years been looking for a Hollywood studio. His company was linked with a purchase of DreamWorks Animation last year but talks broke down. He also told reporters a year ago that he intended to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or Lions Gate Entertainment, but a deal did not materialise.

People familiar with the matter said talks with Legendary were at an advanced stage. The company has enjoyed a good year at the box office: it has a production deal with Universal Pictures and has invested in hits such as Straight Outta Compton and Jurassic World, which was 2015’s biggest movie in the US until the recent release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

It recently announced a sequel to Godzilla and a spin-off, featuring Godzilla and King Kong, which it will produce with its former production and distribution partner Warner Brothers.

In 2011 Legendary launched Legendary East, a Hong Kong-based joint venture, to co-produce films in China, thereby escaping China’s import quotas. It plans to release its first project with the state-owned China Film Co this year: The Great Wall, a fantasy epic starring Matt Damon and directed by Zhang Yimou, one of China’s best-known filmmakers.

Legendary’s movies have performed well in China, particularly Godzilla and Pacific Rim, where box-office returns are booming thanks to a spate of multiplex developments.

China’s cinema market is growing rapidly. Its total box office increased by 49 per cent in 2015, according to state figures, generating $6.8bn in revenues. The country is adding an average of 22 screens per day. If it continues to grow at this rate, China is projected to overtake the US as the world’s largest film market by 2017.

“China’s movie industry is booming at unprecedented speed,” Mr Wang said in a 2014 interview. “Buying a well-known US company will help our distribution overseas.” China’s film market was “growing a lot faster than that of the US”, he added.

Wanda and Legendary declined to comment on the talks, which were first reported by Reuters. If a deal goes ahead it could pave the way for more tie-ups between Hollywood production companies and -China-based media groups.

Alibaba Pictures, the Chinese retailer’s entertainment arm, invested in Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation in 2015 and was the official partner for the movie’s launch in China.

Mario Gabelli, the second-largest holder of voting shares in Viacom, which owns Paramount, recently urged Sumner Redstone’s media group to sell a stake in its movie studio to Alibaba to generate new funds and smooth the way for it to produce more films in the country.

“If Alibaba is going to be serious about getting into the entertainment industry Viacom should sell [Alibaba founder] Jack Ma a piece of Paramount,” Mr Gabelli said.

A Wanda-Legendary tie-up would be the latest in a string of deals for Mr Wang. He recently spent $52m on a 20 per cent stake in Atlético Madrid, the Spanish football club, bought the organiser of Ironman triathlons for $650m and paid more than ￠1bn for Infront Media, the Swiss sports rights agency led by the nephew of former Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

Additional reporting by Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai and Shannon Bond in New York

中国首富王健林控股的房地产和媒体集团大连万达(Dalian Wanda)正在展开磋商，有意收购制作了《哥斯拉》(Godzilla)和《环太平洋》(Pacific Rim)等电影的好莱坞企业传奇娱乐(Legendary Entertainment)。

传奇娱乐是由托马斯?图尔(Thomas Tull)创建的媒体公司。一旦万达与传奇娱乐之间的交易达成，它将加强好莱坞与中国这个全球增长最快的电影市场之间的联系。

万达曾在2012年收购电影院线AMC娱乐(AMC Entertainment)。目前，它正为收购传奇娱乐的控股股份展开商谈，后者的投资者包括日本高科技集团软银(SoftBank)。据知情人士透露，该交易最早可能会在下周公布，对传奇娱乐的估值为30亿到40亿美元。

多年来，王健林一直在物色一家好莱坞电影公司。去年，他的公司曾参与对梦工厂动画(DreamWorks Animation)的收购，不过相关谈判破裂了。他还曾在一年前向记者表示，他打算买下米高梅(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)或狮门娱乐(Lions Gate Entertainment)，然而却未能实现任何交易。

知情人士表示，与传奇娱乐的磋商处于深入阶段。传奇娱乐过去一年票房形势一片大好：该公司与环球影业(Universal Pictures)达成了制作协议，并投资了《冲出康普顿》(Straight Outta Compton)和《侏罗纪世界》(Jurassic World)等热门影片。后者在《星球大战：原力觉醒》(Star Wars: The Force Awakens)最近上映前，一直是2015年美国票房收入最高的电影。

最近，该公司还宣布了一部《哥斯拉》续集以及一部衍生电影的拍摄计划。该衍生电影将熔《哥斯拉》和《金刚》(King Kong)于一炉，传奇娱乐将与曾经的制作和发行伙伴华纳兄弟(Warner Brothers)共同制作此片。

2011年，传奇娱乐创建了一家总部位于香港的合资企业传奇东方(Legendary East)，以便在中国合作制作电影，从而规避中国的电影进口配额制度。该公司计划在今年上映与国有的中影集团(China Film Group Corporation)合拍的首部影片：《长城》(The Great Wall)。该电影是一部奇幻的史诗巨制，由马特?达蒙(Matt Damon)主演，并由中国最知名电影制作人之一张艺谋导演。

传奇娱乐制作的电影在中国表现不错，尤其是《哥斯拉》和《环太平洋》——得益于一系列的多元发展，中国电影票房收入蒸蒸日上。

中国的电影市场正在迅速发展。官方数据显示，2015年中国票房总收入增长49%，达到68亿美元。中国日均增加22块银幕。如果继续以这种速度增长，中国有望到2017年超过美国，成为全球最大的电影市场。



王健林在2014年接受采访时表示：“中国的电影业正以前所未有的速度发展。收购一家知名美国公司将有助于我们的海外发行。”他补充称，中国电影市场的“发展速度远比美国市场快得多”。

万达和传奇拒绝就相关谈判置评。其谈判最早是由路透社(Reuters)报道的。如果双方达成交易，可能为好莱坞制片公司与中国媒体集团更多合作铺平道路。

作为阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下的娱乐子公司，阿里影业(Alibaba Pictures)在2015年投资了派拉蒙(Paramount)的《碟中谍5：神秘国度》(Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation)，而且还成为该影片在中国的官方发行伙伴。

派拉蒙的东家维亚康姆(Viacom)的第二大投票权持有者马里奥?加贝利(Mario Gabelli)，最近敦促传媒大亨雷石东(Sumner Redstone)创建的这家媒体集团把所持派拉蒙的部分股权出售给阿里巴巴，以便获得新资金并为该公司在中国制作更多电影铺平道路。

加贝利表示：“如果阿里巴巴对于进入娱乐产业是认真的，那么维亚康姆应当把派拉蒙的部分股权卖给（阿里巴巴创始人）马云(Jack Ma)。”

万达和传奇的合作将成为王健林一系列收购的最新一起。他最近斥资5200万美元收购了西班牙马德里竞技足球俱乐部(Atlético Madrid) 20%的股权，以6.5亿美元收购了铁人三项赛的主办公司，还以逾10亿欧元收购了由国际足联(Fifa)前主席塞普?布拉特(Sepp Blatter)侄子经营的瑞士体育赛事版权机构盈方体育传媒(Infront Sports & Media)。

杨蓓蓓(Patti Waldmeir)上海、香农?邦德(Shannon Bond)纽约补充报道

译者/何黎