Bangalore: Alibaba Pictures Group Limited (“Alibaba Pictures”, HKSE: 1060, SGX: 91S) said Monday that it is delighted that Green Book, a film it jointly produced, won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 91st Academy Awards (The Oscars), held in Los Angeles on 24 February local time.
The movie, co-produced by Participant Media, DreamWorks Pictures and Alibaba Pictures, and distributed by Huaxia Film Distribution Company in China, had also previously been awarded Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay at the 76th Golden Globes last month. Its three Oscars, including the Best Picture, made it the biggest winner at this year’s Academy Awards.
Green Book’s win at the Oscars is a milestone for Alibaba Pictures. The Alibaba Group unit is the only affiliate of an Internet company to ever co-produce a film that won Best Picture.
Green Book, set in 1962, is inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by African-American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), an Italian-American bouncer who served as Shirley’s driver and bodyguard. The film debuted in America in November last year and scored 94 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, an American review-aggregation website for film and television. It has received 54 nominations globally and won 18 awards to date. The movie will hit the big screens in Mainland China on Friday this week and is one of the most-anticipated titles of the year so far in the world’s fastest-growing entertainment market.
Investment in Green Book underscores Alibaba Pictures’ global development strategy. The company drives collaboration with Hollywood movie companies and brings critically-acclaimed Hollywood titles to Chinese audiences. In recent years, the company has broadened the geographies and genre of its productions, challenging itself in terms of aesthetics and technology.
Recently, Alita: Battle Angel, a motion-capture sci-fi movie written by James Cameron hit the big screens in Mainland China. Taopiaopiao, Alibaba Pictures’ online ticketing platform has also become the primary online marketing and sales outlet for the movie. Other popular titles under Alibaba Pictures’ global efforts include Mission Impossible: Fallout, in collaboration with Paramount Pictures, as well as A Dog’s Purpose and A Dog’s Journey, in collaboration with Amblin Partners. A Dog’s Journey will debut in America in May while Ugly Dolls, another joint production with Huaxia Film Distribution and STX Entertainment will be released this summer.
Alibaba Pictures also co-produced and co-distributed the hit Chinese sci-fi movie the Wandering Earth which has generated over RMB4 billion in box-office sales in China.
