The Chinese movie mogul behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has formed a joint venture with a London-based start-up to launch a film streaming service in China.
Dong Ping, who sold film production company ChinaVision to Alibaba for $800m in 2014, last year took control of Hong Kong-listed company Huanxi Media. Huanxi will announce on Thursday that it has agreed an alliance with Mubi, a streaming service headquartered in the UK.
China’s cinema box office revenues surged 40 per cent last year to $6.8bn and the country will overtake the US as the world’s largest movie market by 2018, according to research group IHS. But its market for film subscription services is still relatively small.