Search Giant Baidu Puts $303 Million into Nuomi Pictures Film Fund

Baidu’s Film Branch, Nuomi Pictures, shared plans to invest US $303 M in thirty or more movies in a variety of genres. The announcement came at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival, where Baidu (the Google of China) explained how the company hopes its strengths working with big data, and as an online ticket provider, will give it an edge in the market. Competitor Alibaba/Alibaba Pictures (China’s Amazon/Amazon Studios equivalent) has made similar claims about their ability to leverage big data to create winning films, but Nuomi appears to be doubling down on their commitment to the space. Nuomi was purchased by Baidu in 2013 and has worked on several film projects since then, but they say their future will focus more heavily on IP, theaters, derivatives, and equity investments in balance with their current content/advertising operations.

This is a summary of an original China Film Insider article.