When Chen Zhixi took the helm of Wanda Movie as chairwoman in early 2024, she wasn’t simply stepping right into a management function — she was stepping right into a legacy. However the actress-turned-producer had a singular query in thoughts: Why hasn’t the flavour of cinema — fairly actually — modified in 20 years?
“I requested my group, ‘Why are our cinemas nonetheless promoting the identical popcorn as twenty years in the past?’” Chen recollects. “Customers have been affected person and constant, but it surely’s time we give them extra — extra decisions, higher experiences, better emotional worth.”
Seventeen months into her tenure, Chen is steering Wanda Movie — homeowners of one in all China’s largest cinema chains — into daring, diversified territory. The corporate’s newest strategic pivot, dubbed the “Tremendous Leisure Verse,” was unveiled this week in Shanghai. Designed to reimagine the cinema as a hub of life-style and leisure, the initiative displays Chen’s broader mission: redefining what it means to go to the flicks in an period dominated by streaming and cell media.
A New Cinematic Worldview
Structured round a “1+2+5” framework, the Tremendous Leisure Verse technique consists of one overarching idea (the “verse”), two market tracks (home and worldwide) and Wanda Movie’s 5 core enterprise areas: cinema exhibition, movie and TV manufacturing, strategic investments, the toy and IP division Ying Shi Guang and on-line gaming.
“The time period ‘Tremendous Leisure Verse’ may sound summary,” Chen says, “but it surely’s actually a few worldview — a totally immersive leisure life-style. We are going to supply VR, AI, and we are going to embody our self-made manufacturers, similar to snacks, offline leisure actions, dwelling furnishings and all this stuff that add worth to life. Folks can’t solely watch movies, they will have nice meals, they will have enjoyable, they will take pleasure in life.”
Underneath Chen’s route, Wanda Movie plans to introduce self-developed manufacturers and providers throughout its 700-plus Wanda Cinema places in China, which collectively account for greater than 15 % of the home market and home greater than 6,100 screens. The goal: elevate the moviegoing expertise far past the display screen.
Reinventing the Multiplex
Among the many most concrete upgrades within the pipeline is a brand new cinema star-ranking system — a hotel-style information to assist audiences higher perceive the standard of their theater expertise earlier than stepping within the door. It’s one in all a number of strikes meant to modernize an trade Chen believes has clung too tightly to outdated fashions.
“A few years in the past, all we needed to watch had been black-and-white televisions however now now we have streamers, now we have all these apps once we wish to discover content material, and all this stuff could be down-loaded onto our TVs,” says Chen. “Private computer systems had been initially used for very fundamental applications and for training and at present they’re used for each a part of our lives whether or not that be work, studying or leisure. However over that point, whether or not it’s in China or the world, the cinema trade has caught to a conventional mannequin. What we’re doing is pondering of the way to interrupt the normal means and to make our cinemas supply extra to the customers.”
To bolster non-box workplace income, Wanda Movie has additionally begun integrating life-style retail instantly into its cinema complexes. A major instance is its funding in LuckHaHa, a coconut water model with formidable retail aspirations. The objective is to open 308 LuckHaHa shops inside Wanda theaters by yr’s finish — a part of a broader plan to succeed in 1,000 shops nationwide.
“It’s attainable to incubate tremendous manufacturers in such an setting,” Chen notes. “We hope that these manufacturers can develop not solely in our Tremendous Leisure Verse, but additionally independently outdoors the theater setting.”
Gaming, Live shows and a World Play
Wanda Movie has additionally begun exploring crossover alternatives in stay leisure and gaming. One standout initiative concerned a collaboration with the blockbuster gaming franchise Genshin Impression, which generated a formidable RMB 64 million ($8.8 million) in gross merchandise quantity by way of an in-theater cosplay and fan occasion.
“[Gamers] would not have an acceptable place to fulfill,” says Chen. “So, by way of this occasion, we proved that high-net-worth players who love … cosplay on the web genuinely take pleasure in having such a gathering on the cinema, enjoying collectively, and assembly one another.”
Globally, Wanda Movie is leveraging its possession of Hoyts, the second-largest cinema chain in Australia and New Zealand, to test-drive a few of its new concepts overseas. With a 28 % market share throughout Australasia and management of promoting powerhouse Val Morgan (97 % share), Wanda is uniquely positioned to export Chinese language manufacturers and tradition — and to import a brand new normal for theatrical experiences.
“We are able to introduce Chinese language manufacturers to Australasia and may introduce Chinese language movies to be performed and broadcast in Australasia,” explains Chen
From Onscreen to the C-Suite
Chen’s journey from on-screen expertise to trade powerhouse is emblematic of the very transformation she’s main at Wanda Movie. After starring in hits like Misplaced in Thailand and Miss Unfortunate, she pivoted to producing (Hiya Mr. Billionaire, Goodbye Mr. Loser) and later served practically a decade as president of Shanghai Ruyi Tv. Her appointment marked a definitive shift in Wanda Movie’s trajectory, particularly following its transfer from actual property big Dalian Wanda Group to streaming and content-focused China Ruyi Holdings.
Now, as she appears to be like to redefine the way forward for cinema, Chen is clear-eyed about what’s at stake.
“We want to consider what we are able to do with our theaters,” says Chen. “We have to stimulate and enhance the non-box workplace income within the theater. We are able to’t solely keep loyal to the normal methods. In any other case, we’re going to lose the younger era.”