Ricco Capital Holdings, a Hong-Kong-based merger and acquisition boutique, and Panda Media Partners, a joint venture of Fidelis Entertainment and Stan Lee‘s POW! Entertainment (OTCQB: POWN), have joined forces to create Magic Storm Entertainment, a film financing partnership to develop and produce a new franchise of Stan Lee‘s superheroes for the global marketplace, including China.
Magic Storm Entertainment will develop film projects that leverage Stan Lee‘s global legacy, with new entertainment content that is positioned to appeal to Asian markets and broader global audiences. Details of the first film project will be released later this summer.
Magic Storm Entertainment will be based in Los Angeles. Fidelis Entertainment‘s Eric Mika has been appointed CEO. Eric will oversee all future entertainment business development opportunities for Ricco Capital. Magic Storm Entertainment is represented by James Thoma, Reed Smith, LLP.
Stan Lee, chief creative officer of POW! Entertainment and co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, Hulk and hundreds of other superhero comic book characters, said, “I have been eagerly awaiting this great opportunity, a chance to combine the best of American superhero epics with the best of Chinese and Asian classical film-making for a motion picture that would be excitedly received worldwide.”
Gill Champion, CEO of POW!, exclaimed, “We are delighted with this partnership that Fidelis has brought to POW! from China. Together we will seek to produce universally appealing films and franchises that provide a powerful platform for our brands to reach a growing consumer audience throughout China and Asia, as well as the rest of the world. Our first project will be announced in the very near future.”
“Stan Lee is a global icon whose characters and brands have generated more than $6 billion US at the global box office and sparked vast international toy, video game and merchandise sales,” said Wu Siu Chung, chairman of Ricco Capital Holdings. “Magic Storm Entertainment will leverage that appeal with Ricco Capital‘s development fund.”
“We are delighted that Ricco Capital emerged as partners who fully understand the business value of Stan Lee‘s comic book characters and his larger brand, specific to China,” said Eric Mika, chief executive officer of Fidelis Entertainment. “Stan Lee‘s work has always been ground-breaking, and his new characters and stories will be even more relevant to film audiences in China and beyond. Magic Storm Entertainment will not only enable these stories to reach Stan‘s global fan base, but also provide a market entry platform for global brands into China and Chinese brands to the West.”