Dalian Wanda and Disney are in hot competition in China. The Dalian Wanda Group has just opened its second theme park in China in competition with Disney who opened its first park in Shanghai in June. Dalian Wanda opened its first park back in May in Nanking.
The new theme park cost around 34 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) to build. Located in Hefei, the largest city in Anhui province in eastern China, the park also offers a shopping mall and hotels. The company intends constructing up to 20 more parks like this across China over the next 4 years.
The owner of the company, known also as Wanda or Wanda Group, is Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China. His goal is to establish China’s own global brand based on Chinese culture and step back from Western influences and imports.
Market.biz reported earlier on the Dalian Wanda Group’s increasing Hollywood presence. The company recently closed a deal with Sony Hollywood, increasing the group’s presence in the movie capital. Dalian Wanda also owns controlling interests in US production company Legendary Entertainment, American cinema group AMC and the Australian Hoyts cinema chain.
The Chinese theme park investments are just another way in which Wang Jianlin is fighting against western influences increasingly encroaching on traditional Chinese culture. His immediate aim is to focus more on the Chinese aspect and involvement in any movies involving his companies.
Disney’s presence in China is taking the form of a huge complex situated in Shanghai. Dalian Wanda is taking the route of small multiple theme parks across China, costing less to visitors and offering fewer attractions.
Nevertheless, Wanda knows its own citizens and believes the Chinese will respond well to this approach. Meantime, the differing Dalian Wanda and Disney Chinese theme park concepts will compete. Time will tell if Wang Jianlin’s desire to make Disney Shanghai unprofitable, or at least short-lived, will be fulfilled.
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