Wanda’s purchase of Mtime.com Inc. in July is a strategic move to counteract the cooling down of China’s box office growth, and reflects consumers’ demand for genuine licensed merchandise.
Bloomberg Markets reports that Mtime.com Inc. sold 100 million yuan worth of “Warcraft” merchandise, and that the company is looking to sign agreements for other big names like “Star Wars, ” and “Minions”.
With a slow down in the growth of box office receipts, Wanda will be looking to predictions from Mtime.com Inc. that ancillary revenue including merchandise and streaming rights will could be 70 percent of movie-industry sales in as little as five years.
Rising incomes of China’s middle class movie goers is behind a rejection of counterfeit goods. Affluent young brand-conscious consumers will pay a premium for the genuine article. Also the increasing pace of big budget movies coming to Chinese screens is making it harder for pirates to keep up.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-30/wanda-s-mtime-deal-adds-just-what-movie-mogul-empire-needs-toys
