Following is the speech made by Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin at the China Film Development Forum.

Deputy Chief Tong♌ Gang, Secretary Li Qun, and ladies and gentlemen:

On behalf of the Wanda Group, the organizer of the forum, first I would like to wish a success of😼 the forum and express my warm welcome and heartfelt appreciation to all of you!

1. The future of the world's film industry is in China

The Chinese film market has maintained a 30%-plus growth rate for several consecutive years. It is estimated that China's film box office revenue will surpass North America's by 2018 and will double it by 2023. That is why I believe the future of the world's film industry is in China. However, although the market is huge, Chinese film industry is not competitive. China produces more than 800 films every year, none of them has world influence. China also does not have an influential film industrial center like Hollywood in the United States and a world-class international film festival like Oscar.

There is so much left to do to tape the potential of the huge Chinese f𝄹ilm market. Wanda Group, as a leading culture enterprise in China, is responsible and obliged to make contribution in this regard.

2. Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis wil🐲l become a wo⛦rld film industry center

I've been thinking about building a film and television industrial park for years and Wanda has planned for this for four years. We've mulled over siting and content for several times but didn't put the plan into action. The major obstacle was the film industrial chain. For example, who will come to film and produce in the film industrial park? We finally decided to invest in this park in 2012 when Wanda successfully acquired AMC and began to cooperate with major US film production companies and agents. Since Wanda has become the world's largest cinema operator and is continuing acquiring cinema chains in Europe and the US, it's likely that Wanda will occupy 20% of the world's film market share in 2020. Therefore many big Hollywood producers, who are also trying to develop the Chinese market, are interested in cooperating with Wanda. I believe the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis will provide the best platform for those produces. Whether in terms of investment, scale or grade, Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis is an unprecedented project that will create history as it represents the highest level and the future of the development of contemporary film industry. In order to ensure the success of Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis once it completes construction, Wanda has reached preliminary agreements with a number of global film and television giants and talent agencies to have about 30 foreign movies shot and produced at Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis every year. At the same time, Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis plans to bring in over 50 domestic film and television production companies to ensure that at least 100 home-made films and television shows are shot and produced here every year.

After the completion of the construction, we can predict that China will become a new center of the world's film industry and the center of China's film industry is undoubtedly in Qingdao.

3. Qingdao International Film Festival to🔥 become a world-class film culture brand

Many counties with developed film industry have their own film festivals, suc🐟h as Oscar, Cannes, Berlin, Tokyo and Busan Film Festivals. China also has its own film festivals, but none of them has global influence and many Chinese film producers and stars are proud to get foreign film awards. China is in urgent need of a world-class film festival brand and Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropol𝓀is project will make this possible.

In addition to building the world's largest film and television industrial park, Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis intends to give maximum play to the industrial park's comprehensive advantages. To that end, AMPAS, the world's top four talent agencies (CAA, WME, UTA, ICM), and China Film Association have signed an agreement with Wanda to jointly support Wanda Group in hosting Qingdao International Film Festival in every September starting from 2016. The Film Festival is currently awaiting government approval. The Festival will feature an Oscar Day, when AMPAS will hold a series of theme activities. The AMPAS will carry out more cooperation with Wanda in the future. Meanwhile, the top four talent agencies have committed to inviting 30 international superstars and directors to participate in Qingdao International Film Festival every year.

Given the availability of a multitude of world-class resources, Wanda has the confidence and ability to elevate Qingdao International Film Festival to one of the world's top international film festivals within three to five years, thereby changing the status quo of China's lack of global film brands. 

Whether Chinese film can go to the world market depends on the quality and the global distribution channels. Wanda, who is building the world's largest film distribution channel, constructing Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis, and preparing an international film festival, hopes China's film industry will welcome a brighter and broader future!

Thank you all!