Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In March 2015, the New York Branch of Bank of China provided a $17 million USD loan to TIK Films (US) Inc.— the Delaware-incorporated Los Angeles-headquartered United States wholly-owned subsidiary of Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co. Ltd.— for the TIK Films cooperation project with Lions Gate Entertainment (U.S.). The project was to involve a total of $1.5 billion USD in investments for production and distribution across 14 films over a period of 3 years, such as Now You See Me 2, Gods of Egypt, and Witch Hunter. On March 10, 2015, TIK Films (US) Inc. and TIK Films (Hong Kong) Limited — also a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co. Ltd. — entered into a theatrical cooperation agreement with Lions Gate, marking the largest collaborative film-related endeavor between a Chinese company and a foreign enterprise. Per the deal, TIK films agreed to contribute a minority share of Lions Gate's production or acquisition costs of “qualifying” theatrical feature films, released during the three-year period ended January 23, 2018, and participate in a pro-rata portion of the pictures’ net profits or losses similar to a co-production arrangement based on the portion of costs funded. Gods of Egypt (released in 2016) grossed about $150.7 million worldwide against a $140 million production budget. As a result of the bad sale, Lionsgate ultimately lost up to $90 million, although its financial exposure was mitigated to under $10 million due to the use of tax incentives (46% Australian rebate) and foreign pre-sales. There are no available reports or filings ndicating that TIK Films defaulted on—or struggled with—the repayment of the USD 17 million loan.