Dalian Wanda, parent of China’s Wanda Cinema group and the AMC Cinemas chain in the U.S., has struck a deal to establish a film production fund with the South Korean city of Busan.
The preliminary agreement was apparently signed this week in Beijing by Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin and Busan mayor Suh Byung-soo, who is visiting China as part of a week-long trade delegation.
The deal was widely reported in Korean media, including by national news agency Yonhap. However, Wanda said it had no comment, when contacted by Variety.
Busan officials said that the fund would start with an initial KRW100 billion ($90 million). But investment policies and terms were not disclosed.
The fund will be able to take advantage of the recently concluded bilateral co-production agreement between China and Korea, which will allow films to be considered as local in both countries, bypass import and distribution quotas and access local funding.
The city is already host to Asia’s biggest film festival, the annual Busan International Film Festival, and styles itself as the hub of Asian cinema. The Busan Film Commission is among the most proactive in the region, underwriting the Asian Policy Forum.
The city has also become the new home of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and the Korean Ratings Board, both of which relocated from Seoul, and it is in the process of adding new production stages.