Wanda Cinema Line and IMAX’s Decade of 200 Acts, a Look at the Era They Experienced

1905 movie network news 　An incident that took place in 2007 revolutionized the life of Dalian movie fan Liang Liang.Ten years ago in May, a Wanda Cinema was completed in South China Mall, a large shopping complex in Wanjiang District, Dongguan, causing quite a stir among movie fans.

Unlike previous cinemas in the area and across southern China, this Wanda Studios has a huge IMAX screen, 27.6 meters wide and 21.3 meters high, which can accommodate 503 spectators to watch the movie at the same time. The IMAX screen was hailed as "the first screen in Asia" at the time, but in the pre-2007 era of social media, this reputation only quietly attracted the yearning of many die-hard movie fans, including Liang Liang in Dalian.

Liang Liang

In 2009, when Ah Liang spent two whole days sitting in the Wanda Cinema of South China Mall in Dongguan, people around him thought he was crazy. Only he knew that the shock and satisfaction were not worth his more than a year of preparation and waiting for this trip south; he was willing to sit in the theater like a sweet dream and did not want to wake up. Liang Liang is now an employee of Wanda Cinema.

　In 2008, when Liang Liang was trying to save money for a trip to Dongguan, Wanda upgraded two studios in Changsha and Changchun to IMAX studios. A movie fan named Liu Yicheng watched the IMAX version of "Adventures of Fantasy Elves" at the Eurasian store of Wanda Studios in Changchun that year, and was shocked by the clarity of the IMAX screen and the vividness of the elves, as if opening the door to a new world. The movie ticket was treasured until an online selection in 2016. Liu Yicheng used the movie ticket to board a flight to Los Angeles to participate in Wanda’s IMAX Roots Tour to visit the IMAX North American headquarters.

Liu Yicheng

Like ordinary audiences, Director Zhang Yimou first came into contact with IMAX in 2010, when James Cameron’s "Avatar" was born, and its amazing visual effects reputation spread from abroad to China, becoming a hotly debated movie keyword in the era of Weibo. There were long queues outside the only 16 IMAX theaters in the country, and Director Zhang was also in the queue to buy tickets.

"At that time, there were very few IMAX halls, we had a long queue, and we had to make an appointment in advance. It seemed that it would take a week or two to get tickets. This was the first time I saw such a situation." Zhang Yimou recalled the experience of watching Avatar back then. In addition to the "super enjoyment" of the film, it also caused him to think about the future direction of the film industry: "The reason why movies are different from TV and other media is that it is the art of the big screen. So when I saw IMAX, especially IMAX 3D, I thought it was a trend in the future of film development."

January 4, 2010 IMAX3D "Avatar" released in China

"Avatar" set a box office of 168 million yuan on 16 IMAX screens in mainland China that year, a record that was not surpassed until 2014. Wanda Cinema also became the first cinema chain in China to break through 1 billion yuan in annual box office on September 8, 2010.

The fate of Director Zhang and Wanda and IMAX has echoed 6 years later. Directed by him and produced by Wanda’s legendary film industry, the first true Sino-US co-production blockbuster in Chinese film history was released in more than 370 IMAX theaters across the country on December 18, 2016. As of today, the IMAX box office of the film has reached 120 million yuan. This is the second time he has brought IMAX into his movie dream.

In 2011, after the hit of "Avatar", Zhang Teng, a high school student, watched an IMAX movie for the first time in Baotou Wanda Studios, and he has been involved in it ever since. At the age of 17, founding the IMAX Inner Mongolia fan club became the proudest experience in his life. In the countless movie viewing activities organized by Wanda Studios, as a die-hard fan, he has learned a lot about the technological changes of IMAX and the development of Wanda IMAX theaters. Sometimes even some IMAX engineers and Wanda Studios staff will be asked by him. After graduating from college in 16 years, he came to Beijing to join a new media operation company and serve IMAX.

Zhang Teng

It was also in this year that Wanda’s IMAX cinema network expansion officially entered the fast lane, opening 40 IMAX theaters across the country. With a growing fan base, Wanda and IMAX were well-prepared for the eve of a full-scale explosion in the film market.

In 2012, an all-time strong film list became a carnival for movie fans and IMAX fans. Chinese moviegoers ushered in the revival of the Marvel Universe, the 3D rebirth, the dreamlike and the perfect conclusion of the Nolan director’s trilogy series. That year, the 2D scene of Atango climbing the Burj Dubai with his bare hands filmed on IMAX cameras "scared many fans out of their hearts". Director Tsui Hark brought IMAX 3D technology into the world of Chinese film and martial arts for the first time.

On January 28, 2012, the IMAX version of Mission Impossible 4 was released in China.

From 2013 to 2015, the Chinese film market experienced explosive growth. In 2013, Wanda Cinema Line announced that it would build 120 more IMAX theaters, and later officially became the largest partner of IMAX in the world. IMAX China 200-screen and Global 1,000-screen also landed in Hangzhou and Taiyuan Wanda Studios. While the film market was booming, Chinese-speaking filmmakers began to actively learn from the Hollywood film industry model, and visual effects production and photography became entry points for exploration.

In 2014, the famous photographer Wang Yu was invited by director Xu Anhua to serve as the director of photography, and won the best cinematography at the Hong Kong Film Awards the following year. In the spring of 2016, Wang Yu flew to Canada and spent an afternoon at the IMAX headquarters in Toronto, especially the camera department, to learn about the different models and functions of IMAX cameras. In 17 years, his first film as a director is expected to be released this year. "I hope the next film can be shot with IMAX cameras, and I will also prepare for this goal," said Mr. Wang Yu.

The famous director of photography, Wang Yu

In this golden age of Chinese film, the cinema network established by Wanda Cinema Chain and IMAX for many years has witnessed and participated in the whole process of industry upgrading, allowing films to return to the essence of dreams and experiences, and providing a bigger stage for well-made works. At the end of 2015, it refreshed the Chinese film visual effects benchmark and won the IMAX Chinese film championship with 180 million results, which has not been surpassed so far.

It was also in December that Wanda IMAX selected nearly 130 senior fans across the country to serve as Wanda IMAX experience officers. Liang Liang, Liu Yicheng, and Zhang Teng, who were the earliest WeChat group administrators to serve as experience officers, met for the first time in the group, only to find that despite the fact that they had similar experiences and trajectories in their lives, the encounter was like a reunion after a long absence.

In 2016, the film market experienced a slowdown not seen in many years. The increasing standards of film content and the diverse entertainment methods of audiences pose new challenges to the entire film industry. Su Yun, who joined the IMAX Cinema in Dongguan Wanda South China Mall as a projectionist in 2007, is now a mid-level engineer. He was involved in the process of upgrading the legendary cinema to the first IMAX laser cinema in Asia in 2016. Su Yun said he felt like he was being pushed into a new era. In August 2016, Wanda signed the largest cinema contract in IMAX history with IMAX, and will build 150 more IMAX theaters.

Su Yun

On November 24, 2016, Wen Jiaxiang, the store manager of Xiuying Store of Haikou Wanda Cinema, and a team of dozens of people completed the most ceremonial hanging work in the entire IMAX theater construction process. The 10.5-meter-high and 20.19-meter-wide screen took the team two hours to see a flat screen. Wen Jiaxiang knew that they were about to start a big fight.

Wanda IMAX200 screen was successfully hung in Wanda Studios Haikou Xiuying Wanda Plaza Store

On January 7, 2017, the Wanda IMAX 200 screen was grandly opened at the Wanda Studios Haikou Xiuying Wanda Plaza Store, marking the tenth year of the collaboration between the two brands. Interestingly, looking back at the few films in the IMAX theater in 2007, the IMAX 2D version of "Transformers 1" was listed.

This year, the series that has repeatedly broken Chinese box office records will also celebrate its tenth anniversary. Michael Bay also became the first director to use two IMAX 3D cameras to shoot in real time. "Transformers 5" is expected to create new visual wonders. For Wanda Cinemas, IMAX and thousands of dedicated fans and filmmakers, the times are recorded by the film, and the film will always be the best gift.