Wu’s Seven Stars to build Chinawood outside Tianjin

Located in Beitang in the Binhai New Area, the 800,000-square metre base aims to attract international financial, technical and creative companies to set up offices in China and provide a range of services related to co-production, distribution and 3D conversion.

The base is being established with an investment of $1.27bn, of which around 35% has been earmarked for film financing, with a focus on Sino-foreign co-productions which are exempt from China’s import quotas.

It aims to offer four services to the global film and media industry: financing of co-productions; servicing of co-productions, through production and post-production facilities; 2D-to-3D conversion, and a distribution and marketing service centre for facilitating film distribution in China.

“With the East Asia film market on course to be worth $10bn by 2015, of which China will account for 50%, and rapidly catching up to North America, it is crucial, as well as inevitable, that we offer the products and services to facilitate substantial cooperation between the two territories,” said Wu.

Chinawood’s initial build comprising 35,000 square metres of office space is scheduled to open in October 2012.   

Beitang is part of the Binhai New Area, an economic development zone outside China’s third largest city, Tianjin, about a one-hour train journey from Bejing. Rockefeller, Tishman, Speyer, Motorola and Airbus already have a presence there.

Wu announced in February the launch of the Harvest Seven Stars Media Private Equity Group, which is owned 50:50 by Harvest Fund Management and Wu’s Seven Stars Entertainment. The fund aims to raise $800m to invest in mergers and acquisitions, building a cross-media distribution platform and film financing.