China’s Dalian Wanda Group gives $20 million to film academy’s museum
The Chinese media conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group has donated $20 million to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for its film museum. In recognition of the gift -- the museum’s second-largest to date -- the museum’s film history gallery will now be named the Wanda Gallery.
The Dalian Wanda group owns AMC Theatres, and its head, Wang Jianlin, has said he wants to invest $10 billion in U.S. companies in the next decade.
“The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a global cultural institution and the Dalian Wanda Group’s support of the project speaks to the worldwide importance and the appeal of the movies,” said museum campaign chair Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Co. “Their gift to the academy museum is a huge boost to our efforts to design and build the world’s leading movie museum.”
As part of a larger partnership with the Dalian Wanda Group, the academy said in a news release that it would extend its global programming reach and advise the Dalian Wanda Group on film screenings and symposia in China.
“Our relationship with the academy is an important part of our role in the global motion picture industry,” said Wang. “I am, and the Dalian Wanda Group is, very pleased to partner with the academy and support the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.”
The only donation more generous than that from Dalian Wanda is the $25 million gift from music executive David Geffen. The academy is in the middle of its $300-million capital campaign for its museum, which is slated to open in 2017 on the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
ALSO:
AMC Theatres chain owner Wang Jianlin is China’s richest man
Motion Picture Academy unveils ambitious plans for film museumDavid Geffen donates $25 million to academy film museum at LACMA
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