China's Tencent Pictures, the film arm of online giant Tencent, unveiled 21 new TV and film projects on Sept. 17, all adapted from copyrighted content in cooperation with famous Chinese directors. This is the company's latest move to tap into valuable IPs in gaming, film and TV.
The list of new projects contains film adaptations of several Chinese best-sellers, including "The Tibet Code," ten fantasy Tibetan adventure novels written by author He Ma, which have sold a combined 10 million copies. There will also be an adaptation of a series by history writer Ma Boyong about Chinese antiques.
A scientific adventure series first published on Tencent’s comics channel is another of the adaptations-to-be. Its scriptwriter will be Zhang Xiaobei, one of the best Chinese science fiction screenwriters and critics.
Chinese filmmaker Lu Chuan, who directed the 2016 nature documentary "Born in China" and won a Golden Rooster for 2004's "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol," also revealed plans to work with Tencent. Although Lu didn't reveal any details, he said his ambition goes beyond IP-adapted films, crossing over into comic books, animated series and video games.
Along with the list of new projects, Tencent also released a trailer of its film adaptation of "Kong: Skull Island," which is now being produced in partnership with Hollywood production company Legendary Pictures, scheduled to be released on March 10, 2017. This is the second time Tencent has partnered with Legendary Pictures, after the two invested in "Warcraft," the videogame adaptation of popular online game World Of Warcraft in September 2015.
