An era ends and Chinese culture takes over Huayi

Text | Rhino Entertainment, author｜Nan Rumin, editor｜Pu Fang

Huayi Brothers, once the “big brother in film and television”, was taken over by Chinese Culture.

This is undoubtedly an important turning point in the film industry and a landmark event. Because Huayi Brothers is undoubtedly an important reference in the film industry, and its collapse reflects that the industry has entered a new era. As the entire industry chain goes cold, the fate of Huayi Brothers is undoubtedly a true reflection of the current industry. At this point, the former film and television giant company has basically completed a round of reshuffle.

The former top brother in film and television——Huayi Brothers

On September 16, Huayi Brothers suddenly announced that the company’s board of directors reviewed and approved the signing of the “Reorganization Investment Agreement” and “Supplementary Agreement” with Chinese Culture, confirming that Chinese Culture was the company’s pre-reorganization case reorganization industry investor. If the reorganization is successfully implemented, the company’s controlling shareholder will be changed to Chinese Culture and the actual controller will be changed to Li Ruigang.

Although the process has not been completed yet, it can be basically announced in advance that Huayi, once the number one film and television company, the first film and television company, and even half of the film and television industry, has officially come to an end. There is no sudden collapse, only step-by-step disintegration. The collapse of Huayi Brothers is similar to the path of most giants in the industry, and has witnessed the rise and fall of the industry for 20 years.

Judging from the data, Huayi Brothers’ market value reached its peak in June 2015, once approaching 90 billion. At this moment, its market value is only 4.828 billion, and its market value has evaporated by 95%. A collapse of this magnitude is basically a true portrayal of the film and television industry. The bursting of the bubble and the coldness of the market have caused the collapse of this former giant.

Huayi Brothers was founded in 1994. In the early years, Wang Zhongjun, Wang Zhonglei and Feng Xiaogang joined forces to create a series of classic Lunar New Year movies, establishing their position as the industry’s top brother in one fell swoop. At its peak, it recruited nearly half of the artist managers. However, in recent years, it has suffered losses for eight consecutive years from 2018 to 2025, with a cumulative loss of 8.5 billion yuan, and will finally be officially “hatted” on April 30, 2026.

According to actual operation projects, Huayi Brothers has long existed in name only. In the past three years, the only project he has controlled is “Laifu Hotel”, with a box office of 56.45 million. The jointly produced projects include “Volunteers 3”, “Chang’an Lychee”, “Sunflower”, “749 Bureau”, “Dog Formation”, “Breakup List”, etc. Not only are most of them losing money, but the number has dropped significantly. Strictly speaking, Huayi Brothers is no longer a film and television company.

The Chinese Culture Group that took over the business is a master of capital operations. It owns Noon Sunshine, Shaw Brothers and UME Cinemas. As the industry has experienced a downturn in recent years, Chinese Culture has still withstood the pressure and achieved good revenue. From 2023 to 2025, Chinese Culture’s revenue was 4.571 billion yuan, 4.022 billion yuan, and 3.178 billion yuan respectively; its net profits were 287 million yuan, 363 million yuan, and 297 million yuan respectively. As of the end of 2025, the company’s net assets were 6.691 billion yuan. At this moment, this report card is already very rare.

The merger of the two may not be about hugging each other for warmth in the cold winter, but each has its own helplessness and calculations. From the perspective of the Huayi brothers, this seems to be a sign of reinforcements that are expected to revitalize the entire chain. From the perspective of Chinese culture, it is not a simple rescue, but more like a precise industry bargain hunting. Although Huayi Brothers does not have any valuable assets, Chinese Culture has used very low costs to obtain a ticket to the A-share listing platform and make up for its shortcomings in film production. Perhaps this is what they value.

Giant companies collapsed one after another

If we go back to 10 years ago, the film industry was at its most brilliant moment. The giant companies at that time included Huayi Brothers, Wanda, Bona, LeTV, Beijing Culture, Guangguang, etc. In addition, Internet companies Maoyan and Alibaba (now changed to Damai) have entered the market one after another. Now 10 years have passed, the industry has undergone earth-shaking changes, and giant companies have also experienced a complete reshuffle.

With the takeover of Huayi Brothers, it also means that an era has completely come to an end, and the era of several giants has been turned upside down. Now, 10 years later, when I look back at these companies, I feel sad and sighing.

First of all, Huayi Brothers needless to say. Wanda Pictures has been acquired by Ruyi Pictures from 2023 to 2024, completing a staggering “snake swallows the elephant” performance. Think back to how heroic Wanda Pictures was in the past. This spending money, especially the strength of the theaters that swept through thousands of armies, made it invincible and became an absolute overlord. Now the Wanda era is completely over.

Let’s look at LeTV Pictures. This once huge Internet film and television company eventually formed an unprecedented bubble. Thinking back to those days, it was such a glorious existence. In 2016, 11 films were released, all of which grossed over 100 million in box office; they established a strong local distribution model that has been influential to this day; they signed a contract with Zhang Yimou to jointly create works; and created many blockbuster projects such as “Tiny Times”. It came and went in a hurry, and now LeTV has long withdrawn from the stage of history.

The legend of Beijing culture is still familiar to us. Successive bets on super hit hits such as “Wolf Warrior 2”, “The Wandering Earth”, “I’m Not the God of Medicine” and “Hello, Li Huanying” have turned Beijing culture into a “hit making machine”. Nowadays, with the collapse of many projects such as the “Fengshen” series and a series of financial problems, it has long been lost to everyone and has withdrawn from the ranks of first-tier companies.

The collapse of Bona is a spiral, with success and failure as the main theme. It started with the sales of “Changjin Lake”, “Operation Red Sea”, “Captain of China”, and “Taking Tiger Mountain”, and also declined due to the collapse of “Operation Dragon”, “Sidu” and other projects. Now that Bona’s theaters are closing, huge losses have affected the entire company’s layout, and it is already in a very difficult position.

The only one who survives is Guangwang. One “Nezha” alone is enough for Guangwang to continue to be in the industry for another 10 years. If I had to say what the light did right, it would be: be cautious! Even in the bubble era, Ray rarely produced big-budget movies. With the precise strategy of youth film + animation, Guangguang’s risk awareness has been achieved to the extreme.