‘xXx 4’ Expands H Collective and iQIYI’s Hollywood-China Funding Pact (EXCLUSIVE)

Vin Diesel’s upcoming “xXx 4” has been set as part of an expanded Hollywood-China partnership between The H Collective and Chinese streaming giant iQIYI.

Under a three-film agreement, iQIYI will also invest in horror pic “The Beast,” from H Collective president of production Sherryl Clark, and a currently untitled Manga project.

The two companies already have a three-picture co-production pact. The new agreement expands it to a six-film deal.

Los Angeles-based H Collective, which was established last year, seeks to develop and produce films that can be equally profitable in China and the rest of the world. One of its early investments was “Wolf Warrior 2,” which is the highest grossing film of all time in China, earning over $850 million at the local box office.

Action comedy “Counter Spy,” written by former Marvel executive Craig Kyle (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Iron Man”) from an original draft by David Rothenberg and Lionel Enns, is expected to be the first film flowing from the H Collective-iQIYI deal. Production is slated to begin in early 2019.

Earlier this year, the H Collective acquired the “xXx” franchise with Vin Diesel’s One Race Films. The new film It sees Diesel reprising his role as Xander Cage for director D.J. Caruso, as well as a deal with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group to distribute and market up to four films per year globally outside of China.

“The expansion from co-production and distribution to investment was a natural progression for our partnership,” said H Collective CEO Nic Crawley. “Having iQIYI financially support our ideas and slate is not something we take lightly. As our company wraps our first year, where we’ve proudly hit all targets, and we now enter our second year with a very strategic positioning.”

“With our great resources and proven track record of success in China, we believe that we can produce successful English-language films together with The H Collective. And we can achieve better box office results in the global market, especially in China,” said president of iQIYI Pictures Ya Ning.

IQIYI, which floated on NASDAQ earlier this year and currently enjoys a $19 billion market capitalization, is one of China’s leading streaming platforms. It boasts over 500 million monthly users and some 60 million paying subscribers, and is using original production of film, TV and short form content to drive conversion from ad-supported usage to a recurring subscription model. IQIYI is currently enjoying success with smash hit 70-episode costume drama series, “Story of Yanxi Palace”; with a streaming run of 39 consecutive days, it has been viewed over 15 billion times.

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