How Star Wars Can Come Back and Win in China

Star Wars is officially the “New Coke” of China. Chinese consumers gave it a try. Actually, multiple tries. But they just don’t like it. This is the big take-away of the Last Jedi in China. First, Chinese consumers went to the Force Awakens, which made $52M its opening weekend. Then fewer went to the Rogue […]

How Alibaba Uses Big Data in Chinese Entertainment – Alex Zhang, ex-Alibaba Pictures.

Alex Zhang was one of the first five employees at Alibaba Pictures (launched in 2015), Now an independent film producer, he sits at the intersection of rapidly rising Chinese entertainment, its changing relationship with Hollywood and its increasing collision with the tech world (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.). Alex visited Peking University in late 2017 and spoke […]

Why Disney Is Continuously the Top of the Big 6 Studios – Alex Zhang, ex-Alibaba Pictures.

Alex Zhang was one of the first five employees at Alibaba Pictures (launched in 2015), Now an independent film producer, he sits at the intersection of rapidly rising Chinese entertainment, its changing relationship with Hollywood and its increasing collision with the tech world (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.). Plus he’s a really cool guy. Alex visited Peking […]

Why Tencent Video, iQiyi and Youku Are So Successful – Alex Zhang Ex-Alibaba Pictures.

Alex Zhang was one of the first five employees at Alibaba Pictures (launched in 2015), Now an independent film producer, he sits at the intersection of rapidly rising Chinese entertainment, its changing relationship with Hollywood and its increasing collision with the tech world (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.). Plus he’s a really cool guy. Alex visited Peking […]

What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About Chinese Entertainment. An Interview with Alex Zhang, Ex-Alibaba Pictures. (Video)

Alex Zhang was one of the first five employees at Alibaba Pictures (launched in 2015), He sits at the intersection of rapidly rising Chinese entertainment, its changing relationship with Hollywood and its increasing collision with the tech world (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.). Note: I wrote about how Alibaba is disrupting entertainment here. Alex has recently left Alibaba […]

How Alibaba Pictures is Disrupting Chinese Entertainment

Two plus years into Alibaba’s push into entertainment, its movie arm, Alibaba Pictures, has a growing pipeline of produced and acquired content. It is regularly doing domestic and Hollywood deals in film production, financing and distribution. And it is making unconventional moves in cinema software, online videos, ticketing apps and film crowdfunding. Putting it together, […]