By Kelvin Chan, Business Writer
HONG KONG (AP) --Paramount Pictures said Friday it has inked a co-financing deal with two Chinese companies for the Hollywood studio's slate of movies over the next three years.
Under the terms of the deal, Shanghai Film Group and Huahua Media will also set up an office on Paramount's lot later this year, the studio said in a statement.
The Chinese companies will provide roughly $1 billion to finance at least 25 percent of Paramount's films, according to a person familiar with the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly.
Film industry publications cited the same figures.
Paramount is planning to produce 15 to 17 films in 2017.
It's the latest China-Hollywood tie-up, as both sides aim to beef up their presence in each other's movie industries.
Chinese investors have been expanding into entertainment companies overseas in a bid to boost the country's international cultural influence, also known as "soft power," as well as acquire expertise. Foreign producers, meanwhile, are seeking greater access to China's growing film market.
Last year, Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group teamed up with Sony Pictures to make big-budget films while Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners partnered with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's media arm to co-produce films for global audiences.
Paramount Pictures has already cooperated with Huahua on several films including "Transformers: the Age of Extinction" and "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back." Shanghai Film Group was an investor in the latter movie.
Paramount, whose corporate parent Viacom was embroiled last year in a bitter management battle, has been struggling to produce hits.
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More