Singapore-based media and entertainment companymm2 Asia, together with Taiwan’sMan Man Er have entered into a commercial term sheet agreement with Taiwanese intellectual property companyMillion Star(Huaxing) Entertainment.
The yet-to-complete deal would see mm2 and Man Man Er jointly explore commercial opportunities for the more than 600 IP rights managed by Million Star. As part of the deal, Man Man Er and mm2 Asia plan to buy a strategic stake in Million Star. The details will only become available when the companies complete due diligence, but as a Singapore public company mm2 is required to inform investors of significant deals. The notification occurs a day ahead of the opening of the Asia TV Forum in Singapore.
Million Starwas founded in 2011, as an agency for pop musicians and actors. It later added representation of IP rights for novels and comics, as well as for directors and scriptwriters. The company is now focused on IP development for film and television.
Mm2 says that the partnership and investment will allow it to extend its market regionally and internationally and to better promote Asian IP to global audiences.
“We are seeing increasing demand for strong, multi-territory Chinese-language content in recent years; accelerated by the adoption of mobile technology and competition between streaming platforms,” said Melvin Ang, executive chairman of mm2 Asia. “Million Starrepresents a huge library of works that can appeal to the entire Chinese diaspora and beyond; with a huge range of genres ranging from historic and fantasy, to contemporary drama and science fiction. There is so much potential to be explored and we are excited to see where it will take us,”
The two companies are already in business on a project, “Agent From Above” based on IP rights represented by Million Star. The Taiwanese fantasy series was recently announced by Netflix as part of its upcoming Chinese-language slate. The series is producedby mm2 Entertainment and Taiwan’s Good Films Production for Netflix.“Agent From Above”is rooted in a universe of “gods, monsters, humans and ghosts” inspired by traditional Taiwanese beliefs. The series follows a former drug addict who is recruited to do the bidding of legendary Chinese god San Tai Zi as redemption for his sins.Directed by Lai Chun-yu, the show stars Taiwan’s Kai Ko, Wang Po-Chieh, Hsueh Shih-ling, Buffy Chen and Johnny Yang.
“Chinese literature and lore have some of the most compelling stories, with themes and characters that can hold their own against any Hollywood superhero. Journeys may be universal but as filmmakers and creatives, we can do so much to bring them into the modern era. And this is very exciting,” said Chen Chi Yuan, Man Man Er’s GM.
