Internet giants in scramble to grab space on big screen

Actress Fan Bingbing stars in a movie adapted from Guo Jingming's novel, Legend of Ravaging Dynasties.

Tencent's "pan-entertainment" strategy aims to establish a string of entertainment platforms to connect more and more users.

Besides, within the next two years, Tencent plans to team up with leading video-sharing site Bilibili.com to produce at least 20 animated series.

In a related development, Tencent is also seeking alliances in Hollywood.

One example of this is fantasy epic Warcraft, based on a namesake games series.

The movie has been co-financed by American studio Legendary Pictures and Tencent Pictures.

Tencent is, however, not the only Internet giant creating a buzz at the movies. Compatriot Alibaba is also flexing its muscle in the movie market.

After investing in Tom Cruise's action epic Mission: Impossible－Rogue Nation, Alibaba Pictures, the film arm of the Internet giant, will reportedly produce an animated movie adapted from My Fair Princess, one of China's most popular TV series.

Award-winning actress Zhao Wei, also the main star of the 1998 series, will direct the film.

Alibaba plans to buy out leading video-streaming site Youku Tudou. This is seen by industry players as an indication that the e-commerce giant wants to have its own platform to release films online.

But as Internet magnates eye the movie market, industry veterans are concerned.

Xu Zheng, the director of the box-office hit Lost in Hong Kong, says that while the Internet can help with movie promotion and marketing, it is not as successful when it comes to developing quality material.

"Big data research cannot always accurately predict when audiences will laugh or cry," Xu says at the 2016 Boao Forum for Asia.