The control of cinema leader Wanda Film (002739) may change.

On December 6, Wanda Film announced that the company’s indirect controlling shareholder, Beijing Wanda Cultural Industry Group Co., Ltd., and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing Hengrun Enterprise Management Development Co., Ltd., and the company’s actual controller, Wang Jianlin, intend to transfer their combined 51% equity in Beijing Wanda Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wanda Investment") to Shanghai Ruyi Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Ruyi Investment").

Wanda Investment is the controlling shareholder of Wanda Film. Wanda Film said that if the above matters are finally implemented, it will lead to a change of control of the company.

In view of the uncertainties in the above matters, Wanda Film will suspend trading from the opening of the market on December 6, 2023 (Wednesday), and it is expected that the suspension time will not exceed 2 trading days. On the morning of December 6, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has announced that Wanda Film plans to plan a change of control, and the stock will be temporarily suspended from the opening of the market on December 6. Trading will resume after the company discloses relevant announcements through designated media.

Shares have been transferred several times this year

Since the beginning of this year, Wanda Film has undergone several equity changes. According to the 2022 annual report, Wanda Investment directly holds 38.99% of Wanda Film’s shares.

In March, Wanda Investment’s concerted action, Wanda Culture Group, reduced its holdings of Wanda Film 43.5653 million shares through the block trade system, accounting for 1.999% of the company’s total share capital. In April, Wanda Investment announced a reduction plan to reduce its holdings of Wanda Film shares by no more than 65.38 million shares, accounting for 3% of the company’s total share capital.

Entering the second half of the year, Wanda Film’s equity transfer accelerated.

On July 10, Wanda Investment signed a share transfer agreement with Lu Lili, agreeing that Wanda Investment will transfer its holding of Wanda Film 180 million shares to Lu Lili, accounting for 8.26% of the company’s total share capital.

On July 17, Wanda Investment and its acting party, Xinxian Rongzhi Industrial Management Consulting Center (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Xinxian Rongzhi"), signed the "Share Transfer Agreement", and Wanda Investment transferred its holding of Wanda Film 177 million shares to Xinxian Rongzhi, accounting for 8.14% of the company’s total share capital.

After the transfer of the above agreement is completed, Wanda Investment holds 436 million shares of Wanda Film, with a shareholding ratio of 20%. Wanda Investment and its concerted actors together hold 673 million shares of Wanda Film, accounting for 30.9% of the company’s total share capital.

Before the proposed transfer of 51% of Wanda’s investment, on July 20, 2023, Wanda Culture Group had signed an Equity Transfer Agreement with Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television").

Wanda Cultural Group intends to transfer its 49% stake in Wanda Investment to Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television. After the transfer is completed, Wanda Cultural Group indirectly holds 222 million shares of Wanda Film through Wanda Investment, with a shareholding ratio of 10.2%. Wanda Cultural Group and its concerted actors directly and indirectly hold 460 million shares of Wanda Film, with a shareholding ratio of 21.1%.

According to Qichacha, as of December 6, Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television held a 49% stake in Wanda Investment, Beijing Hengrun Enterprise Management Development Co., Ltd. held 29.8%, Wanda Culture Group held 20%, and Wang Jianlin personally held 1.2%.

Wanda Film Industry Leader

Wanda Film has long been a leader in domestic theaters.

Lighthouse data show that since 2023, the national film box office has reached 51.45 billion yuan, of which Wanda cinema box office 8.94 billion yuan, far more than the second 4.481 billion yuan. Wanda cinema attendance 190 million, with an average of 15 people per game, all in a leading position in the industry.

Wanda Film also ranks first in the country all year round. Wanda Film’s cinemas and screens rank first in the industry. Since 2023, 9 of the top 30 cinemas in the country have been Wanda Studios.

According to the third quarter report of 2023, from January to September this year, Wanda Film’s domestic theaters achieved a box office of 6.22 billion yuan (excluding service fees), an increase of 67.6% year-on-year and 5.2% over the same period in 2019; the number of people watching movies 150 million, an increase of 68.7% year-on-year, an increase of 3.7% over the same period in 2019.

As of September 30, 2023, Wanda Film had 877 open theaters and 7,338 screens in China, including 709 directly-operated theaters, 6,159 screens, 168 light-asset theaters, and 1,179 screens. The company’s cumulative market share in the first three quarters was 16.5%.

"Post-80s" Colliming takes over

Shanghai Ruyi Investment, which plans to take over 51% of Wanda’s investment, and Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television, which previously took over 49% of Wanda’s investment, are both controlled by Ke Liming.

Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television is a subsidiary of China Ruyi Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Ruyi" 00136.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company. China Ruyi owns 100% of Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television. Tencent is one of the major shareholders of China Ruyi.

On December 6, Chinese Confucianism rose more than 9% in intraday trading, and its market value rose to HK $22 billion.

"Confucianism" can be called a dark horse in the film industry in recent years. According to Lighthouse data, Shanghai Confucianism Film and Television has produced 43 works in recent years, with a total box office of 17.677 billion yuan and a total box office of 7.434 billion yuan. These include well-known works such as "Hello, Li Huanying", "Vanished Her", "Walking Alone on the Moon" and "Send You a Little Red Flower".

Ke Liming’s other main body, Beijing Ruyi Xinxin Film Investment Co., Ltd., has also produced 5 works, with a total box office of 1.438 billion yuan, including "To the Youth We Will Eventually Die", "Small Times 4", "Old Boy’s Raptor Crossing the River" and other well-known works.

According to the financial report, Colliming is a post-80s generation, now 39 years old.He worked as a senior analyst at a hedge fund management company. He graduated from Griffith University in Australia with a bachelor’s degree in risk management in 2005 and a master’s degree in money and banking in 2006.

According to the delisted Shanghai Fukong previously disclosed, Ke Liming himself led some project personnel to join Huashi Film and Television Investment (Beijing) Co., Ltd. in March 2011. Ke Liming served as the general manager of Huashi Film and Television and filmed film and television works within the main body of Huashi Film and Television.

It was during this period that Ke Liming and his team participated in the planning and production of the movie "To Youth", the TV series "The Woman of the Swordsman Family", and the movie "Tiny Times 1 and 2" and many other works. In December 2012, Ke Liming left China Vision Film and returned to Ruyi Film as the general manager. Since then, Ruyi Film’s business has developed rapidly. It began to plan the TV series "No War in Peking" and the movie "Old Boy’s Raptor Crossing the River" that year, and achieved good responses.

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　　Mother-in-law’s tattooing is a long-standing and educational story among the people. According to a gentleman on the phone, it is acceptable for Yue Fei’s descendants to remarry his ex-wife Liu, and they can’t accept it without her mother-in-law’s tattoo. In fact, purely emotionally, why am I willing to deny this story that still inspires China people’s patriotism? But unfortunately, there is no account of this matter in the Chronicle of the King of Hubei written by Yue Fei and Sun Yue Ke. The following is the only note in Volume 9 of the Nazi Compilation of the Kingdom of Hubei:

　　The first minister was filial by nature, and he was troubled by the northern territory. His mother ordered him to join the army to serve the country, and he could not bear it. After repeated interest, I had to stay with my wife and foster mother and cross the river from Emperor Gaozong alone. Hebei is trapped, lost and stolen, and the voice is completely separated. I have been asking for a visit day and night, but I haven’t got it for several years. Russia has a visitor from my mother, saying, "And my mother sent a message: Speak for me, encourage the holy son of heaven, and don’t think of my sister." I secretly sent people to meet him, but I was blocked by the hustle and bustle. Eight out of ten people went back and forth, and then returned. My first minister was grateful and wept, and thanked me for being unfilial.

　　It can be seen that although my mother-in-law is an ordinary peasant woman, she is deeply aware of the righteousness, and it is enough to be revered only in terms of this record. The original record of Yue Fei backstab’s four words "Dedicated to Serving the Country" can be found in The History of Song Dynasty, Volume 380, Biography of He Zhu, but during the interrogation of Yue Fei:

　　Flying naked and showing the back, the back has the four words of "serving the country faithfully" of the old Nie, which goes deep into the skin.

　　This shows that the tattoo on Yue Fei’s back is years old. Of course, the two most original records quoted above cannot provide proof of mother-in-law’s tattooing. Reasonably, my mother-in-law, as an ordinary peasant woman, was generally afraid of not being able to read, and tattooing at that time was a special skill. In the eighth chapter of The Water Margin, it is said that Lin Chong was "stabbed far away from the military state" and "called a writer and stabbed his cheek". The twelfth time that Yang Zhi was sentenced, he also "called a literary craftsman and stabbed two lines of gold seals, overlapping with the left-behind department of Beijing Daming Mansion to serve as an army", indicating that not everyone in the Song Dynasty had the skill of tattooing people casually.

　　Even in terms of ancient romance novels or operas, Yue Fei’s Breaking the East Window, which was compiled in Volume 11 of Quanyuan Opera, was analyzed by the editor, and there were traces of modification by the Ming Dynasty. His 18th poem describes that Yue Fei was interrogated on Wednesday and replied: "If Yue Fei had this matter, would he be willing to stab people in the skin with the words’ serving the country faithfully’ since childhood?" It is difficult to judge whether this passage is the original words and phrases of Yuan opera or the reviser of Ming opera, but it also shows that Yuan opera may still follow historical records. Since then, it may have been written by Yao Maoliang when Chenghua was in the Ming Dynasty. (The sixteenth legendary story of "Loyalty" describes the same plot. Yue Fei replied: "Your honor is on the top, and Yue Fei has been engraved on his body with the words’ serving the country faithfully’ since he was a child. Please examine it carefully."

　　There is still no story of mother-in-law tattooing in the Romance of the Great Song Dynasty published by Ming Jiajing. Volume 1 of the novel only says that Yue Fei was in Jingkang, and when he saw Hu Ma, Song Bing cowered, and all the heroes in the countryside came, he went into the mountains to be the enemy. Fei said,’ A gentleman is not famous in the history books, but a thief who steals from the dog and lives in the world, is it ok?’ It is the four words of’ loyalty to the country’ that are tattooed on the back to show the meaning of not being evil. " Volume 7 of the novel says, "Yue Fei takes a confession, then splits his clothes and turns his back. Compared with Wednesday, there are four big black words, which are deeply rooted in people’s skin."

　　At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong wrote the legend of Jingzhong Banner, and his second fold, Yue Hou Nie Bei, compiled the story of Yue Fei asking Zhang Xian to stab him in the back. The excerpt is as follows. Sheng (Yue Fei) said, "Zhang Xian, you brought a knife and impressed on my back the words’ serve the country faithfully’." At last (Zhang Xian) said, "I’m afraid of your master’s pain." "I was furious," he said, "Alas, I am not afraid of Yue Fei’s death, so I am afraid of pain!" At the end, he said, "In that case, the villain is bold!" At the end, he said, "It’s finished." The student said, "Let me forget it." "At the end, I should be introduced by Nie, and the outside (pale head) and the students should be dressed." At the end, I said, "Sir is determined to serve the country, so why bother to endure this pain?" The student said, "Zhang Xian, all courtiers now flatter the Lord and forget the monarch behind his back. I’ll engrave these four words on my back today to wake up those who forget the Lord and betray the monarch and ask him to look back." It seems that the author deeply felt that "civil officials love money, military officials cherish death" in the late Ming Dynasty, and made this remark.

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