‘Cinema cities’ take on showbiz glamor across China – Reuters

As China grabs a growing share of the global box office, more investment and talent are being attracted to the domestic film industry. Huayi Brothers, a comprehensive private entertainment group founded in Beijing, began to explore new development modes by combining cinema with tourism and global cultural elements.

In 2017, HB Real-Scene Entertainment experienced rapid expansion, with increased cultural interactions at home and abroad.

The idea is to create “cinema cities” in different cities in China. Each of these locations will first serve as a filming location for movies or TV series, then will be transformed into local landmarks imbued with the glamor of celebrity and showbiz.

For example, the Suzhou project will be used for filming the eight hundredwhile Jinan HB Realm will be used for filming Mystery of Antiquities.

In 2017, nine national major projects successively underwent construction work, followed by three new projects in Wuhan, Yangjiang and Shenyang in 2018. All the projects will integrate film and television intellectual properties with local historical architecture and the intangible cultural heritage.

“By customizing different products for different markets in China, we aim to provide a unique experience for our visitors. To achieve this, we also integrate the projects with various resources, including film and TV IPs, local and foreign cultures,” said Qin Kaiyu. , CEO of HBRSE.

“HB wants to tell the stories of China through films, while HBRSE invites people to step into these films, cultures and stories, rekindling memories of the past,” Qin said. “It’s our mission, past, present and future. It’s part of our DNA, and it’s how we love our homeland.”

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In 2018, the company will launch four major construction projects with the help of some of the world’s leading experts in this field. “We invited Goto Keiichi and Komoriya Fujio from Universal Studios Japan to be our architectural design director and chief operations consultant, respectively,” he said. “And Sakamoto Nobuya is our honorary advisor. He’s been Tokyo Disneyland’s chief operations consultant for over 20 years.”

Qin has a very clear vision of the experiences created by future film cities. He and his team have visited several European countries and signed cooperation contracts with more than 100 European cultural companies.

“We want visitors to feel part of the movies, stories and cultures of our HB Towns, HB Worlds and HB Kingdoms… [and want] create new symbols based on films, centered on culture and embodying a global perspective,” he said.

“By building stories with cinema and integrating international cultures, we will fulfill our duty to internationalize Chinese cultures, making our films the highlight of Chinese cities and making Chinese cities the highlight of the world.

This article appeared on the website of China Daily newspaper, member of Asia News Network and media partner of Jakarta Post.