Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners has signed a partnership deal with Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group to produce, finance and distribute movies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the deal, Alibaba Pictures will take a minority equity stake in Amblin and gain a seat on its board. Alibaba will help Amblin distribute its movies in China, while Alibaba will rely on Amblin to become a bigger part of Hollywood’s production and distribution scene. The companies will also work on developing virtual reality and bring mobile and IoT experiences to the cinema.No financial details were disclosed.
To mark the alliance, Ma and Spielberg held a conversation on a hotel-ballroom stage in Beijing on 3 October, saying the companies want to promote values shared by both the East and the West. “We can do co-productions between our company and your company, and we can bring more of China to America, and more of America to China,” Spielberg said.
Bloomberg cited Amblin co-CEO Jeff Small saying the parties intend to make six to nine movies per year, distributed by a network including Universal Pictures China.
