In Conquering Hollywood, China’s Wanda Group Doesn’t Play by the Rules

In Conquering Hollywood, China’s Wanda Group Doesn’t Play by the Rules
Chairman of Wanda Group Wang Jianlin in Beijing on Aug. 25, 2016. Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images
Joshua Philipp
Updated:

The Chinese regime’s growing influence over Hollywood is different from the rise of any other power in any industry. It is not being done through quality products or national innovation with which other nations can compete.

Instead, in its takeover of Hollywood, the Chinese regime is using methods that may violate laws in the United States and under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Through this, it is competing on ground that has pushed out the other players, and through its own laws, granted itself the ability to alter the films being made to better fit its own political controls.

The biggest player in China’s new Hollywood is Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Wanda Group. Chinese state media announced on Nov. 3 that Wang will establish a multibillion-dollar investment fund to invest in all six major Hollywood studios.

Wang already owns AMC Entertainment, Legendary Entertainment, and the Golden Globes through Dick Clark Productions, and is in the process of building what will become the world’s largest film studio, in northeast China.

It’s illegal in the United States for a movie studio to also own a major theater chain. This was found to violate anti-trust laws, under the Supreme Court’s 1948 ruling in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.

By owning a major U.S. theater chain in addition to chains elsewhere in the world, and by owning and trying to buy even more major film studios, Wang is doing something that no other Hollywood power broker would likely be allowed to do.

A billboard along Hollywood's Sunset Strip from the Center for American Security as part of its China Owns US campaign on Aug. 29, 2016. The billboard highlights communist China's increasing influence over the U.S. movie industry, specifically AMC Entertainment. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
A billboard along Hollywood's Sunset Strip from the Center for American Security as part of its China Owns US campaign on Aug. 29, 2016. The billboard highlights communist China's increasing influence over the U.S. movie industry, specifically AMC Entertainment. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
Joshua Philipp
Joshua Philipp
Author
Joshua Philipp is senior investigative reporter and host of “Crossroads” at The Epoch Times. As an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker, his works include "The Real Story of January 6" (2022), "The Final War: The 100 Year Plot to Defeat America" (2022), and "Tracking Down the Origin of Wuhan Coronavirus" (2020).
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