Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi.com, speaks during a press conference where iQiyi.com announced the launch of its movie production company on July 17, 2014. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

Writing their own tickets

Big plans for tiny times

"Traditional movie companies have three functions, namely production, distribution and promotion. IQiyi, on the other hand, will use its own Internet features and develop a fourth function of Internet operation," said Gong Yu, CEO of the website.

Gong said the new function will include crowdfunding, mining and analyzing movie-related big data, selling tickets online, creating and selling movie derivatives such as computer games, and interactive advertising.

It has been a growing trend in the Internet industry to invest in the film industry. During the Shanghai International Film Festival, Tencent Video announced its expansion into the film industry by investing in six films including Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, a highly anticipated and star-studded 3-D fantasy film.

Youku, another video website in China, has also supported young directors in a special program. By offering financial help and inviting veteran directors as tutors, the effort has helped 48 start-up directors since 2009. The result is 18 Internet series and 60 short films, which have been viewed 2 billion times on the website.

One of them, Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon, the sequel to a phenomenally popular short film of the same name in 2009, made it onto big screens and is now showing nationwide, cementing Youku’s step into cinemas.

By purchasing nearly 60 percent of the share of China Vision Media Group, Alibaba Group has also established a movie company, reportedly with Jet Li as an independent non-executive director. Baidu has also set up a Los Angeles studio. Reportedly with an investment of 40 million dollars, their first production will be the 3-D animation Kong, which was adapted from the Chinese fantasy classic Journey to the West.