Heyi Pictures Advances Movie Making by Signing Six IP and Cross Screen Partnerships

BEIJING, April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Heyi Pictures, the movie making division of Youku Tudou, announced today six strategic partnerships to bring quality IPs from across domains to the silver screen, expand the IP incubation process with capable partners, advance Heyi's movie making capabilities and increase their joint audience base and monetization opportunities. The partnerships involve two IP providers, Mopian, and Readers Publishing and Media; IP incubation partner BlueVision Media; as well as with three cross screen partners CCTV-6, AirMedia, and Fundamental Films.

Allen Zhu, Senior Vice President of Youku Tudou and CEO of Heyi Pictures said: "Chinese movie audiences are calling for more quality titles while the Chinese movie business demands a larger and continuous flow of new IPs. By working with prominent partners across different domains, Heyi Pictures is building an open platform to develop stronger IPs across multiple screens to bring to these audiences."

Heyi Pictures will become Mopian's exclusive Internet partner to develop its IPs into movies. As China's leading internet novel organization, Mopian owns more than a dozen popular IPs and has an accumulated readership of over 300 million. The first batch of titles to be incubated are top viewed ones at qidian.com each exceeding 50 million views, including Unlimited Terror, A Tale of the Dragon and Snake, and Yang God, which has been hailed as one of the top 4 Internet fantasies in China.

Readers Publishing and Media is a domestic media company conglomerate with eight subsidiary publishing houses, 13 magazines, animations, and digital and outdoor media platforms. Readers will provide titles from its expansive library built over the last 30 years, which include over 300 literary titles focusing on highly popular themes in China - youth, love and suspense. BlueVision is reputed for its movie development capabilities, expertise in film production, as well as a diverse and creative talent pool. Heyi Pictures, BlueVision and Readers will be complementary in brand, platform, creative process, operation and channel, and will work together to incubate popular IPs from Readers.

CCTV-6 is China's national channel for movies, AirMedia is China's largest airline advertising platform covering 90% of the digital air media market, and Fundamental Media is the largest operator of streaming and outdoor media for subways in China. Movies created and distributed on these platforms can reach as many as two billion views across all their screens and provide ubiquitous coverage for consumers. 

Heyi Pictures will work with CCTV-6, AirMedia and Fundamental Media and leverage Youku Tudou, the parent company's platform, to create the optimal distribution capability for movies to interface across multi-screen audiences. These movies will use traditional cinemas as well as the various screens as distribution platforms and will also showcase and promote the artistic talents of China's emerging directors.

Since the beginning of 2014, Heyi Pictures and prior movie center at Youku Tudou have co-produced 15 titles, collecting over RMB 4.3 billion at the Chinese box office.  These partnerships are further implementation of its ambitious plan announced at Heyi Pictures' launch, which is to produce a mix of 20+ silver screen movies, Internet movies, and movies incubated from popular IPs.

SOURCE Youku Tudou Inc.