Chinese real estate and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group is reportedly in talks with US studio Legendary Entertainment to buy a majority stake in the Hollywood production company. Having already acquired AMC, if the deal pushes through, Asia's richest man Wang Jianlin will stage the biggest invasion of Hollywood since Columbia Pictures was procured by Japan's Sony almost three decades ago.

Like Us on Facebook

Wanda Group is set to sign the deal worth at least $1 billion, according to an insider. Legendary Entertainment has been behind major blockbuster hit movies such as The Hangover series, The Dark Knight Saga, Pacific Rim and Clash of the Titans - to name a few.

Legendary Entertainment is no stranger to the Chinese movie industry. In fact, the studio has been co-producing movies with China Film Co., the country's biggest and most prominent state-run film enterprise. One of the films they have worked on is the upcoming 3D science fantasy action picture "The Great Wall" featuring Matt Damon. 

Meanwhile, experts are anticipating that China's growing market will overshadow the American box office next year. Thus, closing the deal will potentially give Legendary an advantage to set up its stronghold. On the other hand, Legendary can enhance Wanda's production and distribution as well as its incursion into the US entertainment industry. 

Reuters, who first reported about forthcoming negotiation, claims that Legendary can be worth between $3 billion and $4 billion. Wang Jianlin has been vocal not only for his desire to expand Wanda across the United States, but also to make a consolidated entertainment industry traversing production, distribution and exhibition.

"There's no single company in the whole world that has a big-scale production base, and at the same time has screening and distribution channels," he said in an interview with The Telegraph. "Wanda Group is the first one in the world."

TagsHollywood production, China Film Co., film enterprise