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American entertainment giant ‘should not have come to China’ says Dalian Wanda Group chairman, who predicts Shanghai Magic Kingdom will price itself out of existence
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, whose Dalian Wanda Group is launching a chain of theme parks and entertainment complexes around China, has taken aim at rival Walt Disney ahead of the Magic Kingdom’s opening next month in Shanghai.
Disney “should not have come to China,” and Wanda aims to surpass the rival entertainment company as the world’s largest tourism company by 2020, Wang told state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Sunday.
The chairman and founder will preside over the opening of a Wanda City featuring its own theme park, movie complex and hotels in Jiangxi province next to Shanghai this weekend.
Though Wang has jeered at Disney before, his latest comments signal an escalation in the rivalry between the world’s biggest entertainment company and China’s largest as both prepare to open multi-billion-dollar parks.
At stake is dominance of China’s burgeoning entertainment industry as the number of middle-class Chinese consumers is expected to swell.
A rendering of Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis, backed by Wang Jianlin, that will include one of the world’s largest movie-production facilities, a theme park, and a 300-berth yacht club. Photo: SCMP
“One tiger is no match for a pack of wolves,” he said on the talk show. “Shanghai has one Disney, while Wanda, across the nation, will open 15 to 20.”
Wang, who often vies with Alibaba Group Holding Chairman Jack Ma for the title of China’s richest person, forecasts the conglomerate will reach US$100 billion in revenue and US$10 billion in net profit by 2020.
The conglomerate, which acquired Hollywood film company Legendary Entertainment for US$3.5 billion earlier this year is now the world’s largest cinema operator.
Wang said that Disney lacked innovation in its business model, and he could not comprehend how Disney spent US$5.5 billion on a park similar in scale to Wanda’s Jiangxi park. With such steep costs,
Disney would have to charge high prices, which would turn away customers, he said. By comparison, the Wanda City complex in Nanchang is a 21 billion yuan (US$3.2 billion) project, according to the company’s website.
Shanghai Disney Resort, seen from the air, will on June 16. Photo: Xinhua
Over the next 10 to 20 years, Wanda must make Disney be unprofitable,” he said. “Every park of ours has its own business model, with constant innovation that combines indoor and outdoor activities. So I think that Disney’s prospects in China, at least financially, don’t look good to me.”
Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
That Disney planned its 390-hectare park outdoors in a city like Shanghai, where summers are rainy and winters are cold, revealed the company’s lack of innovative thinking, he said.
While Wang acknowledged that Disney, as the world’s largest tourism business, is a very good company, he’s confident that “Wanda will win out.”
Disney’s vast intellectual property rights had become a burden, and Disney seldom researched new business models, he said.
“The days of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck being able to create a frenzy are over,” said Wang. “They are entirely cloning previous intellectual property, cloning previous products with no innovation.”
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
