Huayi Bros’ Wang Zhongjun living his own fairytale
October 8, 2013 Leave a comment
Huayi Bros’ Wang Zhongjun living his own fairytale
Staff Reporter
2013-10-08
Wang Zhongjun, founder of Huayi Brothers Media. (Photo/CNS)
In China’s entertainment and capital industry circles, few can compare with Wang Zhongjun, chairman of Shenzhen-listed film company Huayi Brothers Media, a media industry source once said. Wang, born in Beijing in 1960, has served in the military, studied overseas and worked as a magazine publisher and photographer; he founded Huayi Brothers Media with his younger brother Wang Zhonglei in 1994, marking the start of his journey to develop a media empire. Some of his fans like his extravagant lifestyle but others have criticized as a wily and arrogant businessman. He reportedly owns seven large mansions and two European-style villas in suburban Beijing, in addition to numerous limousines.In the yard of one of his properties he has more than 500 trees, many of which are over 100 years old. He has spent more than 30 million yuan (US$4.9 million) to sponsor the Beijing Green Equestrian Club, where approximately 60 horses are stabled.
The media tycoon has also amassed an extensive collection of oil paintings and sculptures, demonstrating his affinity for both the arts and business.
He has invested in a movie theme park based in the Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu province in eastern China, adjacent to Shanghai. The park is expected to be completed in 2014 or 2015.
Some have questioned whether the park will be a success, especially now that Shanghai Disney Resort and Universal Studios have won approval for their plan to build a theme park in Shanghai and Beijing respectively. Wang has responded to these doubts, saying, “You haven’t seen my design. If you had, you would know why it will be a major attraction.”
Wang says visitors to his theme park will be able to explore scenes based on the Tang Dynasty, a golden age in China’s history, and interact with ancient figures played by actors, an experience he said couldn’t be found at Disneyland.
Wang also noted that some of the attractions offered by Universal Studios are targeted at young children and “lack Chinese elements.”
One market source called Wang a great storyteller, saying, “[He] just has charisma. When you sit in front of him, few can resist (his charm),”
A word that is always on his lips is “imagination,” whether in the movies or TV shows or in games. It is this imagination that continues to incite both interest and controversy.
This year, Huayi Brothers has acquired several companies and its market value has surged by 28.184 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion) to reach 37.455 billion yuan (US$6.1 billion).
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