China’s Weying Technology has acquired nine titles from French sales and finance company Wild Bunch.
They include Cannes Official Selections and Palme D’Or contenders “Loveless” by Andrey Zvyagintsev; Michel Hazanavicius’ “Redoutable;” Jacques Doillon’s “Rodin: You Were Never Really Here: A Gentle Creature;” Cannes opening title “Ismael’s Ghosts,” by Arnaud Desplechin; and Un Certain Regard selection “Tesnota.” The selection also includes “Racer and the Jailbird,” which is in post-production.
Weying is China’s leading online ticketing company. In the past year it has diversified upstream into film finance, production and distribution.
Last year it was also a founder member of the “Nationwide Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas” led by SARFT’s China Film Archive, which covers 100 cinemas in 31 Chinese provinces. The nine-film deal is a part of its effort to bring diversity to Chinese theatrical audiences and to promote world-class movies to Chinese audience.
At a more mainstream level Weying has been involved with “xXx; The Return of Xander Cage,” the “Fast and the Furious” franchise titles and “London Has Fallen.”
The deal was brokered by Creative Artists Agency.
"Wild Bunch is an elite company that continuously provides world-class masterpieces. We feel honored to have this opportunity to work with them,” said Dan Yang, senior VP of Weying. "One of our missions is to bridge content with its target audiences and let Chinese filmgoers truly enjoy high-quality films through our sophisticated and integrated platform.”