Chinese media conglomerate Dalian Wanda has made a $20 million donation to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its museum, which plans to name a gallery after the company, AMPAS announced Tuesday.
The donation is the second-largest to the Academy Museum’s $300 million capital campaign, after a $25 million commitment from the David Geffen Foundation. To recognize the gift, the Academy will name the museum’s film history gallery The Wanda Gallery.
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“The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a global cultural institution and the Dalian Wanda Group’s support of the project speaks to the worldwide importance and appeal of the movies,” said museum campaign co-chair Bob Iger. “Their gift to the Academy Museum is a huge boost to our efforts to design and build the world’s leading movie museum.”
The Academy says its fundraising effort, launched last year and co-chaired by Annette Bening and Tom Hanks, is now more than half complete.
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Dalian Wanda, one of China’s largest exhibitors, acquired AMC Entertainment, the second largest theater chain in the United States, for $2.6 billion last year. Besides culture and entertainment, the company also has massive global holdings in commercial real estate and retail industries.
The Academy unveiled details in April about its Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which will include 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, labs and galleries and a 15,000-square-foot landscaped public plaza. It’s on track to open in 2017.