China’s Wanda Film has officially changed its name to Ruyi Film Entertainment, while retaining the Wanda cinema brand, widely recognisable among local audiences as China’s largest exhibitor.
The renaming was announced on April 19 and has since been reflected on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, on which Wanda Film has been a publicly listed company since 2015.
The change in ownership was completed in 2024 when Ke Liming of China Ruyi Holdings became the controlling stakeholder. Ruyi is a production and online streaming company linked to Tencent, the technology company known for leading Chinese messaging app WeChat.
Wanda Film’s parent company Dalian Wanda Group is a conglomerate founded by tycoon Wang Jianlin with real estate as its core business. The group started selling its assets amid China’s deleveraging campaign, including its majority stake in US cinema chain AMC Theatres in 2021 and Wanda Film.
Following the name change, Ruyi Film chairperson Chen Zhixi issued a company letter on April 20, acknowledging the urgency to be one step ahead in a changing market and the need to develop offline entertainment experiences through expanding the theatre as a pure screening venue into a diversified entertainment complex.
The data released in her letter indicated that six of Wanda cinemas were among the top 10 highest grossing cinemas nationwide during the recent Chinese New Year. Pegasus 3, in which it co-invested and co-distributed, was the highest grossing film in this period. The company operates more than 700 Wanda cinemas and has backed nearly 200 productions over the last two decades.
The company letter also highlighted a return to profit forecast for 2025, with net profit of $70.4m-$80.6m (RMB480m-550m).
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