BEIJING, July 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wanda Cinema Line Co., Ltd (Wanda Cinemas) has announced its plans to wholly purchase Mtime.com, China's most influential online media outlet and e-commerce service platform for films. The move marks the significant transition of Wanda Cinemas from a traditional cinema operator to an Internet-ready company that integrates its online platform and technology.
According to the announcement, Wanda Cinemas will partner with Mtime.com to initiate an all-around integration of their resources and businesses. A new platform that combines offline and online resources will be forged by the pair to seek integrated marketing solutions targeted at some 100 million users.
The new partnership will also explore the film merchandise market, and seek innovative online distribution models and other new businesses that appeal to users' tastes and experience. Mtime.com has the second largest film database in the world, as well as solid connections from a network of global film companies. In the future, with its premium intellectual properties (IP) strategy, Wanda Cinemas will create one-stop marketing solutions for film producers and other related companies.
Mtime.com has also gained merchandise rights from Disney, Marvel Studios, DC, Universal Studios and many others in recent years and the company has a lot of experience in merchandise product design and online sales.
Wanda Cinemas is home to a wide range of valuable IP resources from Legendary Entertainment and Wanda Pictures. The joint effort from the two will build a new landscape in China's booming merchandise market.
The acquisition marks a further step for Wanda Cinema's "ecological movie-going platform" project, in which various film-related consumption options are created for Wanda members. Under the acquisition, Mtime.com will maintain its independent brand and operations and Mr. Kelvin Hou Kai will continue as CEO.
"The resources owned by Wanda Cinemas and Mtime.com can well complement each other," said Mr. John Zeng, President of Wanda Cinemas. "Wanda Cinemas is China's largest theater operator with over 60 million members and numerous film IP from China and abroad. The online resources and technologies Mtime.com has can help Wanda further activate the potential and power of the 'ecological movie-going platform.'"
Mr. Kelvin Hou, CEO of Mtime.com, added, "Wanda Cinema's huge platform and abundant resources will help Mtime.com grow faster and at the same time provide more helpful, easier-to-use services for film lovers."
With over 10 years' experience in the film industry, Wanda Cinemas has more than 60 million high-quality members and a wealth of market insight, while Mtime.com also has a large number of loyal users as a result of providing film information and ticket booking services for years. These followers choose Mtime.com for the quality of information and the vibe of community, not cheap tickets, and they form the backbone of the combined offline and online platform that will create more added value surprises for China's film and Internet industry.
About Wanda Cinema Line
Established in 2005, Wanda Cinema Line Corporation Limited is a subsidiary of Wanda Group. As of June 30, 2016, Wanda Cinemas was operating 320 theatres in nearly 120 cities in China as well as major cities in Australia and New Zealand, with 2,789 total screens. Wanda Cinemas accounted for approximately 14% of China's market share in terms of box office revenue, ranking No. 1 in the China market for the seventh consecutive year. In 2015, Wanda Cinemas grossed 6.3 billion yuan in box office revenue.
With "prioritizing audience value and their movie going experience" as its business philosophy, over the years, Wanda Cinema Line strives to provide high-standard design and construction, high-class exhibition technologies, and high-quality standardized services, offering the cinema environment of choice for more than 60 million Wanda fan club members. In 2015, Wanda Cinema Line officially announced its "membership+" strategy, aiming at building a world-leading cinema lifestyle ecosystem, marking its transformation from a cinema chain to a technology, platform and ecosystem-based company.
For more information, please visit www.wandacinemas.com.
About Mtime.com
Mtime: Where Movies Meet Life
With 160 million unique visitors per month and still growing, Mtime is the most influential online media outlet and e-commerce service platform for films in China. Additionally, Mtime designs, manufactures and sells high-end movie merchandise derived from one of the largest licensed movie IP portfolios in the world. A partner to all of the top US film studios, Mtime is the premier e-commerce, in-theater retail and entertainment news destination for filmgoers across China. Mtime is also one of the biggest movie ticket-seller and film database in the country, representing 90% of the movie theaters in 500 Chinese cities.
From its inception, the priority for Mtime has always been to maintain its deep connection with movie fans. Mtime's engagement with and vita l understanding of this community is the foundation for the company's impressive growth, and has fueled its expanding coverage into television, music and fashion. Now, 160 million Chinese readers, including 90 million online and 70 million via mobile, use Mtime as their go-to site for everything entertainment-related.
Mtime is also the largest movie merchandising platform in PRC. Boosting the largest in-house design team in China, Mtime conceives, develops and produces high-quality, fully licensed, film-themed products that extend the movie experience and deepen audience connections. Mtime carries over 800 different product lines from its partners, in addition to its own products, making it THE movie merchandising destination in PRC.
Mtime's marketing arm is the only one of its kind that works with all of the major Hollywood studios and develops fully integrated, culturally relevant marketing campaigns to nimbly build excitement for upcoming releases and help drive ticket sales across the world's fastest growing film marketplace. Experts in marketing films within China's rigorous guidelines, Mtime is able to maneuver quickly and efficiently to implement integrated campaigns within the country's brief windows between approval and release.
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