Zhang Zhao: Entering the ecosystem of Hollywood

LeTV, an online video portal offering online TV programming and films viewing, is making some big moves in Tinsel Town. Its film distribution and production arm, Le Vision Pictures, ranked third in overall box office in China in 2013.

Zhang Zhao, CEO of Le Vision Pictures, attributes his success to Internet thinking, which he described as a combination of three things: ecosystem, big markets and engines.

Soon after founding Le Vision Pictures in 2011 in Beijing, Zhang started looking for a North American subsidiary to make inroads into Hollywood.

Last June, Le Vision Pictures established a Los Angeles office with a $200 million investment. Now it has more than 10 employees, including locally hired professionals and some relocated from Beijing.

Sharing the building with entertainment trade bible Variety, Zhang has a clear vision of his mission here: It has to be an Americanized company with Internet logic, a production powerhouse and a global research and development think tank for the whole LeTV group.

The Los Angeles office is considered an important step in Le Vision Pictures' global expansion, following its opening of offices in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley. Zhang has plans to build centers in Canada and two locations in Asia, including Taiwan and Singapore soon.

Parent LeTV Group has focused on four areas in the entertainment business: providing content, producing smart devices, data mining and Apps uploading and downloading.

LeTV owns the largest online film library in China. It is also serves as China's biggest online film and TV program distributor. Le Group also has two subsidiary companies in music and sports.

LeTV owns 70 percent of China's TV series distribution rights. Its online shopping channel, shop.letv.com, which sells a China's version of Apple TV, is ranked seventh among online stores in China.

In August, LeTV announced plans to raise $430 million by issuing shares to aid its expansion across a range of online and finance products.

Le Vision Pictures has the exclusive online distribution rights for Exodus: Gods and Kings, starring Christian Bale, which premiers in the spring of 2015 in the US. "Chinese audience will be able to watch this movie no later than beginning of 2016," Zhang said.

Zhang has strong opinions about what is good for international co-productions. The Great Wall, a movie directed by Zhang Yimou and a $135 million co-investment with Universal Studios, sets as a good example of how China can be a good revenue source for international co-productions, he said.

"Chinese story told with Hollywood-level storytelling skills. A global market with the global audience. Plus, the top-tier distribution power of both China and Hollywood," Zhang said. "The Great Wall will be the biggest international co-production between China and US ever."

Le Vision Pictures has continued co-financing with Millennium Films in the production and collaborating with Liongate in distribution for the Expendables series. Expendables 3 was released in China and the US in August. The foreign box office represented 50 percent of the total box office gross.

Expendables 2, a co-production between Le Vision Pictures and Millennium Films in the US, grossed 350 million yuan in China after releasing in 2012, making up 18.5 percent of its global box office receipts as well as setting the record for a non-revenue-sharing imported film in China.

Le Vision Pictures planned to release 15 movies in China, aiming to win a 3 billion yuan box office revenue, which is a 200 percent increase over last year.

By the end of the third quarter of 2014, Le Vision Studios had produced and distributed nine films and grossed 2 billion yuan at the box office. More films such as The Crossing, Shanghai Noir and Automata are due out in the fourth quarter.

Under Zhang's leadership, Chinese director Zhang Yimou joined Le Vision Pictures as contract and artistic director in May.

"As a team with strong production power internationally, we will bring the best Chinese films to global screens," said Zhang. "A new era has begun."

Zhang explained how to make Chinese content global on screen. First, it has to be a Chinese generated story valued in Chinese history and culture. Second, the story telling has to be global and understandable to Western audiences. Third, it has to have a universal statement.

"Western literature, rooted in ancient Greek Mythology, has a logic of cause-effect. Chinese literature, with origins in Shi Jing (Classics of Poetry) favors artistic conception or poetic flavor. You have to find a Western way of storytelling for a Western audience to appreciate your story," Zhang explained.

Skepticism has been high in Hollywood over the glut of Chinese investment in Hollywood since last year. Zhang believes that as a Chinese company, "you have to be clear about what you are going to do in US".

"You have to be successful in China first. You can't just come to the US for making money," he said. "On the other hand, you should not come here just because you have the money to come. You are here for making value rather than making sales. Exporting capital is meaningless."

"Many Chinese films died in simply exporting Chinese content. What it really means is exporting a market, which refers to a sustainable business model."

"Entering Hollywood is not for everybody," he said. "Sucess only belongs to those who deserve it."

As Zhang explained, the Los Angeles office is to complete a "Beijing, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley" strategy in the entire LeTV Group.

"It is an entire eco-system including content, device and application. It is unique not only in China but also in the world. This Eco-system was proven successful in China. Now we are bringing it to Hollywood," said Zhang. "What we are doing is connecting the two biggest markets - China and US - in one ecosystem through the three engines of Internet, art and technology."

"The Internet is redefining the film industry," Zhang said. "Le Vision Pictures will keep leading the trend."

This trend was once again demonstrated by huge sales of Internet TVs recently. On China's Nov 11 national sales day, more than 39,000 LeTV Super Internet TVs were sold on tmall.com, China's number one online store.

cindyliu@chinadailyusa.com