Wanda Cinema's new "owner" has a net worth approaching Wang Jianlin

Ask AI · Why did Wanda Film’s performance fluctuate after Li Ming Ke took over?

Radar Finance Original · Edited by Ding Yu · Edited by Meng Shuai

With more than 20 years in operation, Wanda Film—once carrying Wang Jianlin’s grand film dream—will soon be “renamed and rebranded.”

On March 27, Wanda Film issued an announcement stating that the company will change its name to Yuyi Film Entertainment Co., Ltd., and the stock abbreviation will also be changed to “Yuyi Film.”

Radar Finance’s review found that compared with today’s “form-level” change, Wanda Film’s “spirit” actually began changing as early as three years ago.

Take the timeline back to 2023. Under the helm of film-and-television newcomer Li Ming Ke, China Yuyi launched a series of capital operations. It first obtained 49% of the shares of Wanda Film’s controlling shareholder, Wanda Investment, ahead of mid-year, and then at year-end planned to acquire the remaining 51% of Wanda Investment shares.

The following year, after the highly anticipated share transfer transaction finally concluded. With the deal completed, Wang Jianlin formally stepped aside, and Li Ming Ke smoothly took over Wanda Film, becoming the new person steering the company.

However, after Li Ming Ke became the new actual controller, Wanda Film’s performance has looked like it was riding a roller coaster—rising and falling unpredictably. In 2024, the company recorded a loss of 940 million yuan in net profit attributable to shareholders.

Last year, Wanda Film succeeded in turning a loss into a profit, and it expected full-year profit of 480 million yuan to 550 million yuan. But its fourth-quarter performance was not as expected: it anticipated a single-quarter loss of 158 million yuan to 228 million yuan.

Of note, in the “2026 Hurun Global Rich List” released in March, Li Ming Ke appeared with a net worth of 8.5 billion yuan. However, his wealth shrank by 1.0 billion yuan compared with the 9.5 billion yuan listed in the “2025 Hurun China Rich List.”

Meanwhile, Wang Jianlin—who once topped China’s richest-people ranking—saw his wealth on the “2026 Hurun Global Rich List” drop to 10 billion yuan, far below his peak period.

A 20-billion-yuan film giant, “renamed and rebranded”

Tianyancha shows that Wanda Film was established in January 2005, and its original first-largest shareholder was Wanda Investment.

Even before this Wanda Film rebranding, Wanda Investment had already moved first to complete its name change. Tianyancha indicates that on March 16, Wanda Investment underwent changes to its industrial and commercial information, and the company name was changed to Yuyi Investment.

More than ten days later, on March 27, Wanda Film disclosed its rebranding announcement: to better align with the company’s strategic development direction, it planned to change its name to Yuyi Film Entertainment Co., Ltd., and change the stock abbreviation to “Yuyi Film.”

Of note is that in the announcement, Wanda Film stated that after this rebranding, Wanda Cinemas—one of the company’s important cinema brands—will continue to provide users with high-quality movie-watching and offline entertainment services.

Wanda Film also emphasized that the change of the company name and the stock abbreviation in this instance is consistent with the company’s actual circumstances and strategic development plan, complies with relevant laws and regulations and the provisions of its Articles of Association, and does not involve any situation that would harm the interests of the company or its shareholders.

It is understood that after changing the stock abbreviation, the company’s stock code “002739” will remain unchanged. After changing the company name, the company’s legal entity will not change, and it will not affect the validity of legal documents and contracts already signed by the company.

In addition, Wanda Film disclosed that it has signed a “Trademark Authorization Agreement” with Shanghai Yuyi Film and Television. Shanghai Yuyi Film and Television agreed to grant the company, free of charge, an exclusive right to use its “Yuyi” series of trademarks that it has already legally registered and owns for Class 41 “film projection” services. It will also grant, free of charge, an ordinary licensed right to use the approved goods/services other than Class 41 “film projection” services. The authorization period runs from the date the agreement is signed until the date the authorized trademark rights terminate.

According to Sina Finance, this brand refresh by Wanda Film signals that since the control change, the new management team’s resource integration and governance optimization has officially entered a substantive closing stage; going forward, it will no longer be limited to the traditional positioning of exhibition terminals.

It is reported that after the rebranding, Yuyi Film will focus on “super scenes + super IP” under the super entertainment space strategy, upgrading online and offline entertainment experiences, and going deep into the entire cultural and entertainment industry chain.

Among them, “Yuyi” represents the gene of content creation; “film entertainment” demonstrates the company’s determination to focus on offline scenarios as the core and deepen its commitment to diversified entertainment experiences.

In the future, Yuyi Film will strive to evolve from a traditional film company that covers content production, distribution, and exhibition into a global cultural and entertainment brand loved by users.

Saying goodbye to the “Wang Jianlin era,” Wanda Film changes its “owner”

As a real-estate tycoon who once vied for the position of China’s richest person, Wang Jianlin’s film dream began in 2003, when Wanda Group officially announced its move into the film industry to the outside world.

To quickly secure a foothold through cross-industry entry, Wanda invested heavily to bring in the Hollywood legacy film company Warner Bros. to back it up. In January 2004, Wang Jianlin and Miller Oakes, president of the Warner Bros. International Theaters Company, formally signed a cooperation agreement for the joint construction of the “Warner Wanda International Cinemas.”

The agreement stipulated that Warner would help Wanda Group build multi-screen cinemas of a first-class standard in all Wanda commercial plazas under construction and planned to be built, provide comprehensive technical support for the design and construction of the cinemas, and be responsible for the management and operation of the cinemas after they were completed.

Once the timing was right, the U.S. Warner company and Wanda Group would jointly operate the cinemas as a venture; the largest film exhibition group in China would emerge.

In the same year, Wanda Group invested 120 million yuan (excluding civil engineering and construction costs) to build, in one move, the Tianjin Wanda Film City, the Nanning Wanda Film City, the Wuhan Wanda Film City, the Harbin Wanda Film City, and the Dalian Wanda Film City.

At the end of 2004, given Wanda’s outstanding contributions to the investment, construction, and development of cinemas, the National Radio and Television Administration’s Film Affairs Administration exceptionally approved the establishment of Beijing Wanda Cinema Line Co., Ltd. Immediately afterward, on January 20 of the following year, Beijing Wanda Cinema Line Co., Ltd. was formally established.

Later, due to policy and operating issues, Warner and Wanda Group’s cooperation entered its final stage. On June 28, 2006, the parties terminated their cooperation. Wanda then entered an era of branded cinemas, which became the most important turning point for Wanda’s cinema line development.

In the early days, Wang Jianlin was full of confidence in the film industry. He once remarked—“Film is an industry without a ceiling.” In 2006, Wanda’s cinema line secured a box office of 151 million yuan and ranked fifth nationwide.

At that time, cinemas evolved from being merely a supporting product of Wanda’s commercial plazas into one of the group’s four pillar industries. After that, Wanda’s cinema line surged forward all the way, with box office rankings continuously climbing nationwide.

In 2015, Wanda Film successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, earning the title of “China’s first cinema line stock.”

In 2018, Wanda Film’s capitalization process accelerated. In February of that year, Alibaba, Wen Tou Holdings, and Wanda Group signed a strategic investment agreement in Beijing. Alibaba acquired 12.77% of Wanda Film shares held by Wanda Group for 51.96 yuan per share.

Among them, Alibaba contributed 4.68 billion yuan and Wen Tou Holdings contributed 3.12 billion yuan, becoming Wanda Film’s second- and third-largest shareholders, respectively. Wanda Group remained Wanda Film’s controlling shareholder, holding 48.09% of the shares.

That year, Wanda Film was at its peak. It achieved full-year box office revenue of 9.56 billion yuan, up 8.9% year over year; and attendance of 230 million, up 7.5% year over year.

Among them, domestic box office was 7.98 billion yuan, up 10.1% year over year, and attendance was 210 million, up 7.8% year over year. Core indicators such as box office, attendance, and market share ranked first nationwide for 10 consecutive years.

However, good times did not last. As Wanda Group’s debt crisis worsened, Wanda Film—a quality asset that once carried Wang Jianlin’s film dream—was ultimately placed “on the shelf.”

In July 2023, Wanda Film’s indirect controlling shareholder, Wanda Culture Group, signed a “Share Transfer Agreement” with Shanghai Yuyi Film and Television, a subsidiary of China Yuyi. The former planned to transfer its 49% stake in Wanda Film’s controlling shareholder, Wanda Investment, to Shanghai Yuyi.

In December of the same year, Wanda Culture Group, Beijing Hengrun, and Wang Jianlin, along with Yuyi Investment, signed share transfer agreements. They planned to transfer the 20%, 29.8%, and 1.2% stakes in Wanda Investment they each held (for a total of 51% stake in Wanda Investment) to Yuyi Investment for a total transfer price of 2.155 billion yuan.

In April 2024, the aforementioned share transfers were completed. At this point, through Wanda Investment controlled by Yuyi Investment and Shanghai Yuyi Film and Television, Li Ming Ke indirectly controlled 20% of Wanda Film’s equity. This also means he replaced Wang Jianlin and officially became Wanda Film’s new actual controller.

Performance swings unpredictably, with full-year profit turning into a single-quarter loss

After taking over Wanda Film, Li Ming Ke put Chen Xi—who has a Yuyi background—front and center. The woman, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama’s acting program, became chairman and president of Wanda Film.

However, in the first year after Li Ming Ke obtained control of Wanda Film, both Li Ming Ke and Chen Xi faced significant performance challenges.

In 2024, Wanda Film’s revenue and net profit both fell. Revenue decreased 15.44% year over year to 12.362 billion yuan. Net profit attributable to shareholders turned from profit to loss, recording a loss of 940 million yuan.

For this poor performance in that year, Wanda Film said that it was mainly affected by the significant decline in the national box office that year, which put short-term pressure on its cinema line operations. Box office for its domestic direct-operated cinemas was 6.47 billion yuan, down 25.1% year over year, and attendance was 140 million, down 23.7% year over year.

Wanda Film also said that its large loss in 2024’s operating results was mainly due to recording asset impairment provisions. Specifically, it recorded 355 million yuan of inventory price-decline provisions, 196 million yuan of goodwill impairment provisions for Shanghai Wanshikeda Film and Television Culture Media Co., Ltd., and 133 million yuan of bad debt provisions for receivables.

At the end of January this year, Wanda Film released its 2025 annual performance forecast, and its performance improved markedly. It successfully turned a loss into a profit.

The performance forecast showed that Wanda Film expected net profit attributable to shareholders in the full year of last year to be between 480 million yuan and 550 million yuan. Non-GAAP net profit was expected to be between 320 million yuan and 390 million yuan.

Wanda Film said that in the reporting period, it achieved box office revenue of 7.678 billion yuan (including service fees), up 18.53% year over year. Attendance was 163 million, up 14.76% year over year. Its market share remained the industry’s number one position for 17 consecutive years.

As of the end of 2025, Wanda Film had 714 direct-operated cinemas and 6,179 screens, and it opened 24 newly opened direct-operated cinemas during the year.

However, according to Wanda Film’s earlier disclosure of its 2025 third-quarter report, in the first three quarters of last year, the company recorded net profit attributable to shareholders of 708 million yuan, up 319.92% year over year.

Based on this estimate, Wanda Film recorded a loss of approximately 158 million yuan to 228 million yuan in the fourth quarter of last year.

Also according to Jiemian News, during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday box office period, Wanda Film had 6 cinema complexes among the national TOP10, 65 among the TOP100, covering 19 provincial box office champions and 154 city box office champions. The film it participated in producing and distributing, “Pegasus 3,” won the Spring Festival holiday box office champion.

Going forward, under Li Ming Ke and Chen Xi’s stewardship, will Yuyi Film be able to recreate the past glory of Wanda Film? Radar Finance will continue to monitor the situation.