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Alibaba Pictures’ inaugural film will be a comedy written and directed by 30-something author Zhang Jiajia, the company announced Sunday in Beijing. Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai will produce the movie, which will star Tony Leung and is slated for release this year. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba plunged into the filmmaking business last year, buying a controlling stake in Hong Kong-based ChinaVision Media Group for more than $800 million and changing its name to Alibaba Pictures. Alibaba aims to leverage its dominant position in online sales and payments, along with reams of data on consumer behavior and preferences, to push into the entertainment arena. In addition to...