BEIJING, March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, is pleased to announce that the comedy movie Fake Bodyguard will premiere on its Ultimate Online Cinema through the Company's premium video-on-demand (PVOD) mode on March 26. Fake Bodyguard is the third comedy movie to feature in the Ultimate Online Cinema section this year following Dreams of Getting Rich and Shaolin Master.
iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema features high-quality films streamed via PVOD mode, allowing users to view the latest releases online at an affordable price. The section has been an instant hit, with the dozen films launched on the section last year attracting a growing legion of avid supporters.
"Going forward, iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema will continue streaming a slate of high-quality films, providing premium new offerings for our subscribers," Song Jia, Vice President of iQIYI and General Manager of iQIYI Film Business Center, said. "At the same time, we also hope that the PVOD mode will achieve sustainable development as we work with platforms and creators to build a healthy online film ecosystem where filmmakers can identify their clients, guarantee their incomes and seize exciting new opportunities."
Fake Bodyguard tells a story of a couple and their brother who run a travel agency in the fictional country of Mumba and are mistaken for international bodyguards by a visiting professor. To score a big payday, the three decided to play along, pretending to be international bodyguards that must protect the professor. While escorting him, they must battle a dangerous assassin who is trying to kill the professor. The action-comedy is directed by Jiang Xiaotong and stars Wang Taili, who also serves as the film's Executive Producer. The film also stars Liu Yan and Wang Luojia, with guest appearances from Yin Xiaotian and Jiang Chao.
In recent years, iQIYI has been exploring new models for the release and collaboration of films in order to build a diversified, high-quality distribution platform for filmmakers. In 2014, the Company officially launched an online movie model and pioneered a content revenue-sharing model based on VIP member views, rapidly stimulating the creative capacity of the film market. In 2020, the number of online movies with shared revenue exceeding RMB 10 million reached 42.
In February 2020, iQIYI enhanced the online distribution of cinema-quality films, becoming the first streaming platform in China to adopt the PVOD mode for new releases and better catering to users' needs to watch newly-released cinema movies at home. Five months later, iQIYI launched the Ultimate Online Cinema brand in order to forge a new release partnership with filmmakers based on the PVOD mode.
At the beginning of this year, the Company extended the PVOD mode to the field of online movies, further generating new potential for outstanding films to generate revenue. Against this backdrop, Song Xiaobao, Wang Baoqiang, Wang Taili, and other comedians chose to cooperate with iQIYI to release films such as Dreams of Getting Rich, Shaolin Master, and Fake Bodyguard. The encouraging progress shows that iQIYI is partnering with a growing number of filmmakers and film production studios to create high-quality content, promoting the direct-to-consumer(D2C) model and building a broader distribution platform for filmmakers.
