Alibaba Pictures Group, the film making arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is to invest in Paramount’s "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" and "Star Trek Beyond."
The company said that it expects both movies to be imported in to China under the revenue sharing quota scheme. And both are expected to be released in the second half of the year through state-owned distributors China Film Group and Huaxia Film.
The releases will be supported and given a marketing boost through Alibaba’s Taobao Movie and Yulebao.
This is the second time that Alibaba has invested in and provided Chinese promotional support to a Paramount title. Last year it came on board Tom Cruise vehicle "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation."
"We had a great experience working with Paramount on ‘Mission: Impossible,’ and are very excited to join forces again for these two pictures, both of which have terrific fan bases in China that we hope to cooperate with Paramount to grow even larger," said Zhang Wei, President of Alibaba Pictures.
"Our most recent collaboration showed us this new internet-powered movie and television company has in areas such as promotion, distribution and movie-related merchandise. We look forward to even more successful launches of these films in the global movie market," said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount.
Alibaba said that globalization is at the core of APG’s strategy. It will "consolidate resources, technology and talent on a global basis and directly participate in the global competition of the entertainment industry," it said.
This weekend APG announced an agreement in principle to invest in a forthcoming film project by celebrated Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore.