Alibaba is not content to control the prosaic internet retail industry. China’s dominant e-commerce platform is also building a more glamorous empire in entertainment.

China’s box office rose by a third to hit $4.8bn in 2014, market researcher IHS Technology says. The US figure is twice that, but shrank 4 per cent last year. IHS expects the Chinese market to overtake the US, and reach $10.6bn, by 2019. The money doesn’t stop at the box office, of course. Last year global online film distribution generated $10bn in sales. Netflix — which distributes TV shows as well — had revenues of $5.5bn.

Alibaba’s main vehicle for content production is Hong Kong-listed Ali Pictures, which was formed last year after Alibaba bought 60 per cent of ChinaVision Media. Ali Pictures has yet to produce anything. It has a market capitalisation of $8bn, and loses money. It does have production or distribution agreements with several mainland TV stations. In January it said its first film will be a collaboration with two big stars: producer Wong Kar-Wai and actor Tony Leung. On Tuesday the stock was suspended pending an announcement. This is not necessarily good. Last year it was suspended for five months for accounting issues.