China’s Heyi Pictures has unveiled a slate of six feature films it is to co-produce.
Heyi was established last year as the stand alone movie production operation of Youku Tudou, one of China’s biggest online video companies.
The projects are in different stages of readiness and commercial genres including comedy and romance.
Most are movie adaptations of original properties that have become popular on Youku Tudou’s online platforms. “Surprise” is an adaptation of a hit web comedy show, while “Gardenia Blossom” is a filmic expansion of a song performed by TV host and actor Jiong. Youku Tudou says the properties have been viewed more than 6 billion times.
“I see 2015 as the year of genre films. We are capitalizing on this opportunity by bringing successful Intellectual Properties (IP) from the online and offline worlds to the silver screen, transforming them into genre films that suit their original stories.” said Allen Zhu, CEO of Heyi.
The company was a minority investor in recent hits Fleet of Time and The Taking of the Tiger Mountain 3D which grossed more than $81.2 million (RMB500 million) and $131 million (RMB800 million) respectively.
China’s powerful online video platforms have become major investor in Chinese movie making. Heyi Pictures has co-produced 11 movies with total box office receipts of $530 million (RMB3.3 billion). Youku Tudou has marketed 88 movies with total box office proceeds of $4.48 million (RMB28 billion) representing 42% of China’s box office receipts in the past three years.
Other titles include “Let’s Get Married,” based on a popular Chinese romance TV series from 2013; “You’ve Got to Have a Dream, What if it Comes True?,” based on a top selling comic book with a large Weibo [online messaging] following; “How Much Love Can Be Played,” based on a record setting stage play; and “A Teacher’s Diary,” an adaptation of a 2014 drama film of the same title that was one of the biggest hits in Thailand last year.