China's Wanda chases US construction, movie deals

Chinese cinema conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group is negotiating with Hollywood studios to jointly produce movies and angling for construction deals in large US cities, as the firm prepares to invest US$10 billion in North America over the next decade, Reuters reported. Wang Jianlin, the founder of Dalian Wanda, said Monday that his group is negotiating with six leading Hollywood movie studios and will co-operate with three or four of them to finance and produce films. He also said his firm is in talks with the governments of Washington DC, New York and other US cities for the development of commercial properties, hotels and department stores, and that it is also looking into potential acquisitions of renowned US hotel chains. Wang characterized Chinese acquisitions of US companies as a form of “soft power.”