Los Angeles, CA/Beijing – January 23, 2018 – Legendary Entertainment has named Jiang Wei (“Wayne”) CEO of Legendary East, Legendary Entertainment’s Chinese studio dedicated to producing and marketing local language films, international co-productions and executing the marketing of Legendary Entertainment’s films in Mainland China. The announcement was made today by Joshua Grode, CEO of Legendary to whom Wei will report.
“Wayne’s deep experience in handling production, marketing and distribution of both local productions and films from the major studios throughout China makes him a terrific addition to Legendary Entertainment and Legendary East. He brings leadership, strategic sensibility, and sector expertise to this most important market. Mary and I both look forward to working with him to expand Legendary East, its capabilities on the ground in China, and production and marketing resources,” stated Grode.
In his new role Jiang Wei will be responsible for leading the operations for Legendary East including energizing its local language and official co-production capabilities, overseeing China based marketing of all filmed entertainment projects plus harnessing the distribution opportunities alongside Legendary owner, Wanda. He is expected to work closely with Mary Parent, Legendary’s Vice Chairman of Worldwide Production to manage the strategic release of content in the region.
“I am deeply honored to be given the opportunity to join Josh and Mary in building Legendary Entertainment and Legendary East into a world-class next generation entertainment studio. My country is undergoing tremendous growth and change in its entertainment business and Legendary is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this change,” stated Wei.
Legendary East has a full team based in Beijing focused on developing local and co-production motion pictures and television programing, licensing and merchandising of movie and television related products and marketing of Legendary’s global franchise film and television projects. It is unique in its expertise in marketing entertainment projects in China to drive outsized performance.
Jiang Wei joins Legendary from Shaw Brothers Holdings Limited where he served as Executive Director. Throughout his career, Jiang Wei has held positions at Sony Pictures, where he worked on the development and distribution of the Academy Award® winning film CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; EDKO Films Limited as Chief Representative of Great China and General Manager where he focused on the distribution of Universal Pictures titles in mainland China including MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, THE BOURNE LEGACY, FAST FIVE, FAST & FURIOUS 6, and BATTLESHIP; as well as the Vice President of Urban Cinema Branch of China Film Distribution and Projection Association.
Jiang’s extensive experience in film distribution includes his work on titles including FEARLESS, KUNG FU HUSTLE, SECRET, LUST, CAUTION, THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, SOPHIE’S REVENGE, OCEAN HEAVEN, COLD WAR and FINDING MR. RIGHT. From 2013 to 2016 Jiang served as Managing Director of Gravity Pictures where he produced and distributed films including BLACK & WHITE EPISODE 2, FLEET OF TIME, SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW and LET’S GET MARRIED.
In 2017, China’s box office revenue rose 13.45% to just over $8.5 billion and the country’s domestic films accounted for 54% of all recorded ticket sales. Legendary Entertainment’s KONG: SKULL ISLAND was among the top ten highest grossing films for the year with more than $168 million in box office grosses.