Jaihe Shiji Movie & Television Company, Beijing based production and distribution firm and Modern Cinema Group (MCG), San Diego based studio with a focus on finance and distribution services, have signed a joint venture agreement. The companies will co-finance and manage a film fund of over USD100 million in China.
The deal entitles Jaihe to purchase a 10$ stake of MCG’s stock before the end of this year along with a board seat. They will co-invest in MCG’s slate of high-concept action movies as well as individual movies targeted at Asian audiences.
“We are thrilled with this opportunity to work with Jaihe. The structure of our agreement is ideal for us, as they have agreed to invest half the money we need for each production while global television operators invest the other half. In this way, Jaihe will benefit not only from profit participation but from all important Chinese distribution rights as well. As for our constituent television operators, they will have more ammunition to fight emerging on-line threats that encroach their markets every day,” said Ross Cooper, CEO of Modern Cinema Group.
“The goal of this joint venture with MCG is to co-finance a certain number of Hollywood movies each year with a new studio model that is well suited to our fund. We especially like the operator co-operative approach that generates enough financing to match our investment. This means we have long-term financing partners who are strategically aligned. We also appreciate the initiatives MCG is taking to build a new and forward-thinking distribution infrastructure,” told Liguo Chen, CEO of Jaihe Shiji Movie & TV company.