"No one believes more in the power of dreams than me," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, at the official ground breaking ceremony for the DreamCenter project in Shanghai on Thursday.
Co-presented by DreamWorks, China Media Capital (CMC) and the Lan Kwai Fong Group, the Shanghai DreamCenter, which covers a T-shaped area of 152,281 square meters along the west bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai's Xuhui district, is expected to start operations in 2017 or early 2018 and aims to become a new creative and cultural landmark in downtown Shanghai. Initial investment for the project has already reached 15 billion yuan ($2.41 billion).
Once a prosperous industrial site during the Republic of China era (1911-49), the site of the Shanghai DreamCenter contains over a dozen former cement factories and shipyards. However, with the help of some 15 world-renowned architects, these time-honored buildings will be transformed into brand new cultural venues in just three years. Among them a 3,000-seat music center, a 500-seat IMAX cinema, and a black box theater.
Meanwhile, eight theme plazas, as well as an avenue and riverside corridor for art showcases. Additionally, some 20 movie theaters, dozens of restaurants and numerous lifestyle stores will provide good-quality entertainment and dining.
Oriental DreamWorks, a joint animation studio established by DreamWorks (45 percent share) and Shanghai Media Group (55 percent share) last September, will move into the DreamCenter as well.
"Not only will it become a gathering place for residents in Shanghai and for tourists from all over the world, it will also become a center for creativity, and a magnet for great artists, performers, singers and story-tellers, who will come and work here and be able to showcase their works," Katzenberg told the Global Times.
Cultural landmark
Li Ruigang, founder and chairman of the board for CMC, also believes the DreamCenter will help Shanghai become a significant cultural landmark on this side of the Pacific Ocean, similar to New York and Los Angeles in the US.
During the US-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum held in Los Angeles in February 2012, CMC and DreamWorks announced that they had entered into an agreement to set up an animation studio in China focused on films and TV series featuring Chinese stories.
The studio, in which initial investments reached $330 million, currently has approximately 150 employees working on its first animated film: Kung Fu Panda III.
"Oriental DreamWorks studio will be the home-based creator of top-quality family entertainment in China, for China, and for export to the rest of the world," Katzenberg told the Global Times..
The Hollywood businessman was brought to see the future site for his animation studio two years ago, but when he saw this "incredible" piece of land, he came up with the idea of turning it into the world's third urban center for culture and entertainment, rivaling New York's Broadway and London's West End, rather than merely an animation studio.
Having seen what the city was like 15 years ago, Katzenberg likes to describe Shanghai as "The City of Tomorrow," and China, which he has visited every month over the past two years, as the most important entertainment market in the world.