Alibaba Pictures to Invest in Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” Movie
Beijing, China, ---- 24 June 2015 - Alibaba Pictures Group Limited (SEHK code: 1060; "Alibaba Pictures"; the "Company") announced today that it has signed an agreement with Paramount Pictures Corporation (“Paramount Pictures”), under which Alibaba Pictures will invest in its first Hollywood blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and become an official partner for the promotion of the movie in China.
Alibaba Pictures and Paramount Pictures will collaborate in the areas of online ticketing, merchandising and promotion of the movie. The investment in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the start of Alibaba Pictures’ international journey as the Company continues to explore collaborative opportunities with more movie studios overseas.
Alibaba Pictures has established a presence in Los Angeles to pursue investment and other forms of collaboration in Hollywood, the hub for the global film industry. The cooperation with Paramount Pictures is a strong alliance that has deep synergies for both parties. It also reflects Alibaba Pictures’ commitment to developing and distributing high-quality content to moviegoers.
By integrating Alibaba Group’s big data technology, understanding of the Chinese consumers and overarching e-commerce ecosystem, Alibaba Pictures looks to tailor high-impact, integrated promotional campaigns for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, to effectively engage China’s hundreds of millions of moviegoers. Alibaba Group’s Taobao Movie, an application that allows online ticketing and advance seat selection, will be one of the major ticketing platforms for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Taobao Movie also interlinks with Alibaba Group’s mobile shopping app Mobile Taobao with significant user bases, and a related third-party online payment platform Alipay, which provides consumers with various access to Taobao Movie to buy tickets.
The parties will also cooperate in online ticketing and merchandise, where ticket buyers will be able to purchase Paramount authorized Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation products through Taobao Movie and other affiliated platforms under the Alibaba Ecosystem. The partnership is trying to lead an innovative approach toward movie marketing, merchandise promotion and ticket sales that can potentially transform regular Taobao users to moviegoers through integrated solutions.
“Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is our first step toward internationalization and Alibaba Pictures looks forward to collaborating with more international movie studios where we can consolidate resources, technologies and talents to establish a world class integrated entertainment platform for the film industry ,” said Zhang Qiang, CEO of Alibaba Pictures.
"Last Fall, Jack Ma, Brad Grey, Zhang Qiang and our teams met in Los Angeles to talk about ways our companies could cooperate together,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures. “We hope today’s announcement is the first of many collaborations between us. Alibaba’s commitment to offering its customers innovative programs, including one-of-a-kind retail and entertainment experiences in China, make them perfect partners for us on the launch of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and we are thrilled to be working with them to create a successful campaign for one of our studio's most popular franchises."
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Paramount Pictures is one of Hollywood’s major motion picture studios. It has produced classic movies such as The Godfather and Forrest Gump and successful commercial franchises such as Transformers, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.
Mission: Impossible is one of Paramount Pictures’ major franchises, accumulating over $2 billion dollars in box office around the globe. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation will be released this summer.
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About Alibaba Pictures Group Limited Alibaba Pictures Group Limited is listed on both The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (stock code: 1060) and the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (stock code: S91). Alibaba Pictures is the flagship unit of Alibaba Group’s entertainment arm and is principally engaged in the film and TV production and distribution business in China.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
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