Independent Entertainment Studio Will Launch Sales On THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X At Filmart
Prolific independent entertainment studio IM Global has signed an output deal with one of China’s leading production and distribution companies, Enlight Pictures, to handle worldwide sales outside of China on the company’s upcoming slate, it was announced today by IM Global Founder and CEO Stuart Ford.
IM Global will handle sales for up to six titles from Enlight’s upcoming slate starting at Filmart with Alec Su’s (The Left Ear) THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X. Starring Wang Kai and Ruby Lin, the film is a compelling thriller based on the award-winning and critically acclaimed Japanese novel by Keigo Higashino. The film will be released in China on March 31st. China Lion holds North American, UK, Australian and New Zealand rights.
Ford said “We’ve really enjoyed working with our partners at Enlight on previous projects together and we’re delighted to be extending the relationship into a multiple picture arrangement. This deal also emphasizes our commitment to building a global audience for the best of Chinese cinema.”
Enlight Pictures’ upcoming slate also includes Yi-chi Lien’s romance ALL ABOUT SECRETS, Dong Chengpeng’s (Pancake Man aka Jian Bing Man) comedy/drama CITY OF ROCK, and Han Yan’s (Go Away Mr. Tumor) action/thriller ANIMAL WORLD.
IM Global has been an active player in the Chinese film industry since opening a Beijing office in 2013 and has previously handled international sales for Enlight Pictures’ Buddies In India, which grossed $108 million in China; Mojin: The Lost Legend, which grossed over $300 million, and was produced by Enlight along with Wanda and Huayi Brothers; Zhang Yibai’s I Belonged to you, which grossed over $100 million in China; Shupeng Yang’s Blood of Youth; and Timothy’s Kendall’s Hollywood Adventurers produced by Justin Lin.
Other big budget Chinese titles, IM Global has handled international sales on include the highest grossing Chinese film ever, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, which has grossed over $545 million worldwide to date; Huayi Brothers’ Mr. Six, which grossed over $138 million worldwide; romantic comedy Breakup Buddies, which grossed $195 million in China; The Wasted Times starring Zhang Ziyi; and Village Roadshow Asia’s suspense thriller Hide and Seek.
The deal was negotiated by SVP Sales and Acquisitions Asia Leslie Chen on behalf of IM Global and by International Sales and Distribution Manager Heidi Sun on behalf of Enlight Pictures.
In June 20 16, Los Angeles and Shanghai based Tang Media Partners (“TMP”) assumed a controlling ownership position in IM Global to help accelerate the company’s growth initiatives. Simultaneously, TMP arranged a new, expanded television production joint venture among IM Global, TMP, and Tencent Holdings. The IM Global television JV included an innovative first-of-its-kind programming investment fund arranged by TMP.
# # #
ABOUT IM GLOBAL
IM GLOBAL was founded by Chief Executive Officer Stuart Ford in 2007. The prolific independent studio operates one of the world’s leading international film, television and music production, sales and distribution platforms, controlling a library of more than 600 films which have collectively grossed more than $6 billion in worldwide box office. The company has financed or produced over thirty Hollywood feature films deploying more than $500 million in production capital, establishing itself as one of the most prolific film financiers outside of the major studios.
The company’s Beijing office handles international distribution of many leading Chinese films, the import of Hollywood titles to the Chinese marketplace and also operates subsidiary Go Global, a marketing and publicity firm devoted to promoting Chinese films and entertainment brands in the international festival arena. IM Global is headquartered in Los Angeles and has satellite offices in New York, London, Munich, Mumbai, Mexico City, Beijing and Shanghai.
ABOUT TANG MEDIA PARTNERS
Tang Media Partners is a next generation global content creation, development, financing and production company with an emphasis on forging connections between China and international markets across all media platforms through subsidiaries IM Global (Hacksaw Ridge, The Mermaid, Breakup Buddies), Chaotic Good Studios and partners such as Chinese tech giant, Tencent Holdings. Tang Media Partners is also behind such box-office hits as STX Entertainment’s Bad Moms and the critically acclaimed The Edge of Seventeen. Tang Media Partners is the new home to Chaotic Good Studios, the content company devoted to developing expansive franchises for globally recognized intellectual properties across the entertainment landscape. They are creators of the premium analytic tool, Fanalytics, and the Chaotic Good Franchise Lab, a writer’s program focused on the creation of original multi-platform franchises across film, television, gaming and digital. Tang Media Partners was founded in 2015 by Donald Tang, former Bear Stearns & Co. Vice Chairman and Chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns Asia, Ltd., and is based in Los Angeles and Shanghai.
ABOUT ENLIGHT PICTURES
Beijing Enlight Pictures is one of China’s top three private film production companies. After the breakout success of Enlight’s first movie Confession of Pain in 2006, the company focused on film distribution as a significant aspect of its operations. In recent years, Enlight has operated under the mantra that “content is king”, and invested in a string of major releases. Domestic box office record holder Lost in Thailand earned 1.26 billion RMB in ticket sales, a record that remains unbroken for Chinese films to this day. In the first half of 2013, Enlight also released a string of movies that performed well both critically and in ticket sales, including the Golden Horse Award-winning cast of The Chef the Actor the Scoundrel, the Peter Chan-directed American Dreams in China, the directorial debut of actress Zhao Wei So Young, and Dearest, which won her a Golden Horse Award. In 2014, Dad, Where Are We Going?,The Breakup Guru, Fleet of Time, and My Old Classmate were four of the ten top-grossing movies in China, earning 3.13 billion RMB, and making the company the best-performing private film company in China. In 2015, the company helped distribute Zhong Kui’s Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal and Triumph in the Skies, earning Spring Festival box office returns of 500 million RMB, as well as 470 million RMB from the production and distribution of The Left Ear. Hollywood Adventures, produced by Fast and Furious director Justin Lin and Lost in Hong Kong directed by Xu Zheng, have also both been well-received in China and abroad. In 2016 the box-office of The Mermaid broke the record of Chinese movies in China, earning 3 billion RMB. In the past 10 years, the total box office of the films produced by Enlight Pictures has been over 20 billion RMB.