CAA sets up film co-production fund with China

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has established a $150m co-production film fund with Chinese company Bona Film Group.

By Nick Goundry 26 May 2017

CAA sets up film co-production fund with China
Shanghai

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has established a $150m co-production film fund with Chinese company Bona Film Group.

The money will be channelled into US-China co-productions, and into Chinese-language features, with CAA retaining distribution rights in North America and selected worldwide territories.

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich has secured investment of $80m for Midway, the first film to be financed from the fund.

The movie will tell the story of the Battle of Midway in the Second World War in 1942, in which the US Navy inflicted a crushing ocean-based victory against the Japanese six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“With Bona, we have a strategic partner that brings an unmatched level of expertise of the Chinese film distribution landscape and a shared commitment to helping grow the Chinese film market,” said Roeg Sutherland, head of CAA's global film finance and sales group, in a statement.

“In addition to furthering CAA's film packaging work within China, the fund creates and expands opportunities for the agency's filmmaker and talent clients on a global basis.”

CAA has been heavily involved with China’s film industry for years, having opened its Beijing office 12 years ago.

For more on filming in China and for local contacts see our production guide.


Hollywood’s interest in China continues to grow. Warner Bros. China opened a Beijing office in March two years after setting up Flagship Entertainment Group with China Media Capital to co-produce Chinese-language projects.

Also in March, Dwayne Johnson announced that his big-budget action movie Skyscraper is set to film in China later this year.

The dynamics of US-China co-productions are under scrutiny since big-budget feature The Great Wall – made in China in English with Matt Damon leading an international cast – underperformed at the international box office.

Main page image: FreeImages.com/Gary Tamin. Article image: iStock.com/Chuyu

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich has secured investment of $80m for Midway, the first film to be financed from the fund.

The movie will tell the story of the Battle of Midway in the Second World War in 1942, in which the US Navy inflicted a crushing ocean-based victory against the Japanese six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“With Bona, we have a strategic partner that brings an unmatched level of expertise of the Chinese film distribution landscape and a shared commitment to helping grow the Chinese film market,” said Roeg Sutherland, head of CAA's global film finance and sales group, in a statement.

“In addition to furthering CAA's film packaging work within China, the fund creates and expands opportunities for the agency's filmmaker and talent clients on a global basis.”

CAA has been heavily involved with China’s film industry for years, having opened its Beijing office 12 years ago.

For more on filming in China and for local contacts see our production guide.


Hollywood’s interest in China continues to grow. Warner Bros. China opened a Beijing office in March two years after setting up Flagship Entertainment Group with China Media Capital to co-produce Chinese-language projects.

Also in March, Dwayne Johnson announced that his big-budget action movie Skyscraper is set to film in China later this year.

The dynamics of US-China co-productions are under scrutiny since big-budget feature The Great Wall – made in China in English with Matt Damon leading an international cast – underperformed at the international box office.

Main page image: FreeImages.com/Gary Tamin. Article image: iStock.com/Chuyu

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