In 2023, the Chinese film market saw a box office of 54.915 billion yuan with domestic films showing strong growth momentum (contributing 83.8% of the total box office). The top 10 films of the year were all domestic films.

On January 3, another good news came that Chinese film companies were entering Hollywood.

NBD learned from Bona Film Group that the company will expand its cooperation with TSG Entertainment Financial Limited, a US film finance company (hereinafter referred to as TSG Entertainment). However, the specific amount of cooperation between Bona Film Group and TSG Entertainment has not yet been announced.

After the first cooperation in 2015, Bona Film Group and TSG Entertainment "renewed their friendship." Bona Film Group founder, chairman and CEO Yu Dong said, adding Bona Film Group will become a new participant in the "Avatar" and "Deadpool" series of films.

Yu Dong said: "Bona's positioning is an international film company. In the future, we hope to shoot diversified and internationalized genre films. We are very pleased to continue our partnership with TSG after 8 years of cooperation. Through this continued and expanded cooperation, Bona will become a new participant in the "Avatar" and "Deadpool" series through TSG, and continue to participate in the "Planet of the Apes" series, the "Alien" series, and many other types of diverse films."

The Global Expansion of Bona Film Group

Bona Film Group has been playing the internationalization game for many years.

In 2015, Yu Dong announced at the China-US Film Festival in Los Angeles that Bona Film Group would invest in TSG Entertainment to produce multiple commercial blockbusters. As an investor, Bona Film Group would participate in TSG Entertainment's ongoing financing plan with 20th Century Fox and would have the right to share in the global box office of the projects it participates in, in proportion to its investment.

NBD learned that, in the eight years since the partnership, Bona Film Group has co-invested with TSG Entertainment in seven major films: The Martian, X-Men: Apocalypse, Independence Day: Resurgence, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, War for the Planet of the Apes, Alien: Covenant, and The Greatest Showman.

The above films were all completed in global release before 2018. The best-performing film in the market was The Martian, which was one of the top 10 grossing films in the world in 2015. X-Men: Apocalypse, released in 2016, grossed the world's 13th-highest box office.

Photo/Douban Film

In addition to its cooperation with TSG Entertainment, Bona Film Group has also participated in Hollywood films. In early 2015, Bona Film Group collaborated with Studio8, the company of Jeff Robinov, former Warner Bros. CEO, and Sony Pictures to invest and participate in the production of Ang Lee's new film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. In 2017, Bona Film Group invested in Roland Emmerich's World War II epic Midway.

Photo/Douban Film

Hollywood's Financial Backer

Bona Film Group's investment in the 2019 film Midway was not a financial success, grossing only $128 million worldwide. However, the company still managed to recover about 70% of its costs through a combination of box office, web rights, and subsequent copyright revenue.

Photo/Douban Film

Bona Film Group's investment in Midway was significant. It allowed Bona Film Group to participate in the entire production process of a major Hollywood film, including the "distribution pre-sale, and independent production."

This investment is a sign of Bona Film Group's commitment to becoming a major player in the global film industry. The company is looking to expand its reach beyond China and connect with a wider audience.

In Yu Dong's view, China's film industry needs to be able to pre-sell its films in North America and Europe in order to truly enter the global market. This is what he refers to as "order-based production."

He cites the example of the Indian film Dangal, which was a huge box office success in China, grossing over 1.2 billion yuan. The film's production company subsequently pre-sold its films in China to Chinese companies. This is an example of order-based production.

"If Chinese films can achieve order-based production in the future international market, it will be the beginning of China's true global influence," Yu Dong said.

In addition to the films themselves, the partnership between Bona Film Group and TSG Entertainment is also valuable because it has allowed Chinese film companies to learn about the sources of Hollywood film capital and how it works. This knowledge is important for Chinese film companies as they seek to expand their global reach and compete with Hollywood films.

TSG Entertainment is an American entertainment finance company that has a long-standing relationship with 20th Century Fox. The company's investments are primarily used to fund commercial blockbusters produced by 20th Century Fox.

TSG Entertainment was founded by Chip Seelig, a former partner at Dune Entertainment, which was one of the investors in the first Avatar film.

When Avatar was first planned, 20th Century Fox was not initially enthusiastic about the project. However, two New York-based private equity firms, Ingenious Media and Dune Entertainment, agreed to co-finance the film's massive budget. According to Bloomberg, the two private equity firms ultimately earned over 10 times their investment in Avatar.

Chip Seelig, the CEO of TSG Entertainment, said of the partnership with Bona Film Group: "I am also very pleased to continue our partnership with Bona Film Group and Yu Dong. This is one of our longest and most important partnerships in the film industry. The Chinese market has provided us with a unique opportunity, and we also hope to help the Chinese market further develop."

The partnership between Bona Film Group and TSG Entertainment is a significant step forward for China's film industry. The partnership has allowed Chinese companies to gain access to Hollywood's vast resources and expertise. This will help Chinese films to compete more effectively in the global market.