Amblin Partners and China's Alibaba Pictures Group have entered into a strategic partnership to co-produce and finance films for global and Chinese audiences.
At a glitzy event in Beijing on Sunday, attended by Steven Spielberg and Alibaba Group chief Jack Ma, the companies said they will also collaborate on the marketing, distribution and merchandising of Amblin's films in China. Alibaba Pictures will also have the option to co-finance Amblin films worldwide.
Under the terms of the deal, Alibaba Pictures will acquire a minority equity stake in Amblin with an Alibaba Pictures representative joining Amblin's board.
Joining Ma on stage for an informal talk, Spielberg said of the partnership that he hoped it would "bring more of America to China, and bring more of China to America."
Ma praised Spielberg's storytelling abilities and how his style resonated with Chinese audiences. "I don’t think there are many differences between East and West, the only difference is that the West is better at telling stories," said Ma adding Alibaba Pictures hoped to learn more from Spielberg and Amblin.
Alibaba Pictures president Zhang Wei said that the partnership will begin with the marketing and distribution of Spielberg-directed The BFG which is set for an Oct. 14 release in China.
A subsidiary of Ma's Alibaba Group, Alibaba Pictures joins India's Reliance, Canda's eOne and Jeff Skoll's Participant Media as equity holders in Amblin.