Blockbuster movie expressionist Michael Bay just got his hands on a strategic investment with China's Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture. The marketing conglomerate, which is principally engaged in the animation industry, will be funding the director's recently established 451 Media Group.
"It's a great opportunity to shape and develop entertainment properties that lend themselves to numerous platforms, an ability to cultivate franchises" said Bay in Deadline. The director's latest installment for the Transformers may have missed the mark in the American home soil but became a top-grossing movie in China, earning the robot-heavy action franchise more than $300 million. Bay is no stranger with transacting business with Asian firms as "Transformers: Age of Extinction" was co-produced by two Chinese studios, Jiaflix Enterprises and the China Movie Channel.
The 451 Media Group will grant the Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture key distribution rights and merchandising rights in Greater China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as a component of their partnership. The said company has also ventured in the distribution for the products and brands of toy manufacturing companies, Hasbro and Mattel.
Bay along with John and Anthony Gentile and Douglas Nunes founded 451 Media Group, which is dedicated in building up intellectual property (IP) and turning premium content into transmedia brands. The Gentiles are known for their corporate resume which includes established toy lines: Micronauts, Sky Dancers and Visionaries.
Nunes who is 451's Chief Operating Officer made clear in The Wrap that: "This strategic long-term partnership isn't just the only significant foreign undertaking that materialized in Hollywood at the moment. STX Entertainment had also recently sealed the deal with a private Chinese company owned by the Huayi Brothers.
Although the greater majority of Bay's Hollywood film projects have earned billions in income, the director has been consistenly been scoffed at for the non-stop visual action style in almost every frame.
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