Hosting the First Chinese Exhibition of Harry Potter's "Forbidden Forest", "Unique Culture" Completes Ten-Million-Level Angel Round Financing | Exclusive Report by 36Kr
Author | Zhong Yixuan
36Kr has learned that "Weiyi Culture", a company focusing on immersive panoramic entertainment experience services, recently completed a ten-million-level angel round of financing. The investor is Shangjia Investment (Hainan) Co., Ltd. This round of financing will be used for key businesses such as the development of immersive panoramic projects and the operation of self-owned IPs.
Weiyi Culture was founded in 2023. Currently, it has two core business segments, namely immersive panoramic entertainment experience projects and a series of developments around its self-owned IP "Verdant Green Universe".
In recent years, through integrated services such as IP authorization, operation, promotion, and ticketing agency, Weiyi Culture has assisted the successful implementation of multiple immersive entertainment ecosystems, including theme parks and large-scale exhibitions. For example, the "Forbidden Forest" of Harry Potter, Jurassic World Theme Park, Shenzhen K11, Xi'an Dachengzhi Food Fantasy City, and the theme exhibition of "The Longest Day in Chang'an". In addition, Weiyi Culture also plans to incubate and develop self-owned IPs. Currently, it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the copyright company of "Verdant Green Universe" to share IP copyrights and jointly carry out the incubation, production, and commercial transformation applications of film and television IPs.
Hosting the First Chinese Exhibition of Harry Potter's "Forbidden Forest"
On October 1, 2025, the first stop of Harry Potter's "Forbidden Forest" in China will land in Shenzhen. Weiyi Culture is the co-host.
As a global top IP, the current development of the Harry Potter series can be roughly divided into four segments - the "Wizarding World" represented by Universal Studios, the "Studio Tours" in Tokyo and London, the "Magical Fantasy" in Singapore, and the recently popular Harry Potter's "Forbidden Forest" in Shenzhen.
The first stop of Harry Potter's "Forbidden Forest" in China is selected to land in Longhua District, Shenzhen. As the co-host, Weiyi not only directly participates in the full investment of the project but also is responsible for the six-month operation, promotion, and total ticketing work of the project.
Jiang Wei, the founder, told 36Kr that it was very difficult to cooperate with such a super IP. First of all, it was a test of the hosting ability. The foreign party particularly valued the past qualifications of the hosting team. The team needed to have the ability to host large-scale performances and projects, be familiar with the ability to restore large-scale IPs, and have the ability to implement projects in a short time. Chen Tao, the co-founder of Weiyi, has held many large-scale concerts over the past decade. He also co-hosted the large-scale online music festival in 2023 with ByteDance. He has rich experience in project implementation.
In addition, Weiyi took on the project of the Jurassic World Theme Park in China (under planning and construction) four years ago. Jiang Wei revealed that Weiyi also participated in the landing planning of the Shenzhen K11 commercial complex six years ago. "This experience in Hong Kong-funded projects is also something the foreign party values," he said.
From the official
Before entering China, the "Forbidden Forest" had been exhibited in many countries, but the approval process for the venue in China is much more difficult than that in foreign countries. Chen Tao mentioned that although this project is an exhibition activity, in China, as long as the number of people it can accommodate exceeds a thousand, it must be approved according to the specifications of large-scale performance activities. Therefore, the "Forbidden Forest" in China is much more complicated than in foreign countries in terms of approval difficulty, security requirements, and fire prevention requirements.
In the Harry Potter series, the Forbidden Forest is a restricted area of Hogwarts. It is said to be inhabited by dangerous creatures such as werewolves and three-headed dogs. This psychedelic, eerie, and mysterious forest is one of the important parts of the Harry Potter wizarding world and deepens the fateful confrontation between Harry and Voldemort.
As a night tour project, it is not easy to bring the original work to reality. Jiang Wei mentioned that at the beginning, just choosing the venue was a difficult task - they had to find a forest in the urban area. It not only had to be a dense forest but also needed to meet the requirement of being closed for six months of operation. In addition, this dense forest could not be too far from the city center. It was best to have convenient transportation, otherwise, it would be inconvenient for tourists.
He still remembers that Weiyi provided more than 10 venues in cities such as Chengdu, Changsha, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. It was not until the last one that the foreign party was finally satisfied. Jiang Wei said that the currently confirmed venue for the "Forbidden Forest" is located in Niuhushui Greenway, Guanlanhu Street, Longhua District. There is a golf course nearby. While meeting the condition of a dense forest, it also meets the supporting requirements of the surrounding subway, hotels, and shopping malls.
In addition, the foreign party has extremely high requirements for the restoration degree of the "Forbidden Forest" itself, almost approaching a 1:1 ratio. Even small items such as a thermometer or a 2B pencil need to be strictly restored according to the drawing standards. As for most of the core props, they need to be shipped directly across the ocean to the venue in Shenzhen after the end of the previous exhibition in France.
Chen Tao, the co-founder, also admitted that there are very few truly top-level night tour projects in China. Most of the existing night tour exhibitions are based on traditional Chinese customs or myths and are strongly related to tourism and holidays. Their consumer conversion ability is not strong. "The 'Forbidden Forest' will be a night tour project with strong scarcity in China, as it meets the three conditions of being a derivative of a large IP, an immersive project, and having a six-month exhibition period," Chen Tao said.
Learning from Marvel to Build a Self-owned IP Universe
While developing immersive panoramic projects, another core business segment of Weiyi currently is to build a self-owned IP universe. Currently, the company is developing the incubation, production, and commercial transformation applications of film and television IPs centered around the "Verdant Green Universe".
In recent years, the IP industry has witnessed an explosion, especially in the Chinese fashion trend track. Many high-quality film and television works have emerged. Take "Ne Zha: Rebirth of the Demon Child" as an example. The film's final box office reached 1.5446 billion yuan, successfully topping the domestic box office chart and ranking fifth on the global box office list.
In addition, according to Zhiyan Consulting, in 2024, the market scale of China's Chinese fashion trend economy has increased from 12.2666 billion yuan in 2018 to 22.9223 billion yuan, showing an amazing growth rate.
However, these sporadic explosions do not mean that the entire Chinese IP industry chain has matured. Currently, Chinese original IPs still face problems such as an imperfect R & D mechanism, an incomplete industrial supporting system for IP authorization, and an insufficient transformation from fan economy to creative economy.
Chen Tao also told 36Kr that so far, taking "Ne Zha" and "The Myth of Black Wukong" as examples, most of the development of existing Chinese IP elements comes from well - known and widely - spread public - domain IPs such as "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods". There are very few truly self - incubated IPs. In addition, the derivative development of these IPs has not exceeded their achievements in the film and television field. Chen Tao said that although Chinese fashion trend movies have achieved high box office in recent years, they are relatively cold in the market. "Even for the most popular 'Ne Zha', which has a box office of more than 1 billion yuan, the derivative development and other IP development are still limited to simple reproductions of the Ne Zha image or some basic co - brandings. It is far from reaching the derivative strategy commonly used in the Hollywood international film and television industry."
The reason, according to Jiang Wei, is that Chinese IPs do not lack stories, but the story iteration rate is relatively low. He took Marvel as an example. Marvel has hundreds of self - owned IPs and dozens of core IPs. The intertwined storylines of different characters support Marvel's vast universe. The reason why Universal Studios and Disney have become world - famous theme parks also lies in the diverse scenarios and characters constructed by their IPs, which can enhance the amusement experience and interactivity. This cannot be achieved by the extreme development of a single IP.
Therefore, different from the previous logic of original IP creation, Chen Tao told 36Kr that the framework of the "Verdant Green Universe" is modeled after Marvel.
The term "Verdant Green" first appeared in the dance - drama poem "Only This Verdant Green" at the 2022 Spring Festival Gala. This dance - drama depicts the story behind the famous painting "A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains" by the Northern Song painter Wang Ximeng. It became popular overnight due to its exquisite production. Even now, tickets for the national tour of "Only This Verdant Green" are still hard to come by.
After obtaining the authorization from the Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble, Weiyi Culture officially developed the IP of the "Verdant Green Universe". Its inspiration also originated from the above - mentioned background. The story tells of Wang Ximeng, who was only 18 years old at that time. In order to complete his painting, he went to an unknown world to find two unique raw materials of "Verdant Green". Thus, the historical picture unfolds.
Similar to Marvel, from the very beginning of IP creation, the "Verdant Green Universe" has taken into account the cluster effect. That is, it first creates a grand worldview, designs characters and scenes according to the Hollywood model. Its worldview will span multiple eras and integrate various dimensions such as Chinese style, animation, and science fiction. Jiang Wei told 36Kr that the preliminary development of the "Verdant Green Universe", including the worldview framework, character genealogy, chronicle, art design, movie script, and the TV series script jointly established with Netflix, has all been completed.
In terms of design concept, the "Verdant Green Universe" conforms to the Chinese fashion trend. The characters and pictures are all created according to traditional Chinese aesthetic styles. Chen Tao also revealed that there will be many scenes in the "Verdant Green Universe" that correspond to the real world, such as the landmark scenic spots in first - tier Chinese cities.
In short, different from the practice of having derivatives after the emergence of an IP, the core worldview of the Verdant Green Universe has been established, which facilitates the later linkage between stories and characters. Currently, the Verdant Green Universe has formed its own brand matrix plan. Twelve product systems including film and television, comics, short dramas, cultural and creative products, figurines, and cards have been designed.
Regarding the future plan of the "Verdant Green Universe" IP, Jiang Wei said that the team has already made preparations for a ten - year plan. "It must be a long - term strategy." In the short term, it is expected that an online big - screen movie of the "Verdant Green Universe" will be launched in about three years, and at that time, it will achieve three - dimensional development in film and television, entertainment, and products.
From the official
"Marvel, Disney, and Universal Studios have achieved their current success after decades of iteration. For China today, there are still huge opportunities in the economic transformation of the film and television industry, Chinese fashion trend, and derivatives. Regarding the future, we have our own judgment. More and more new self - owned IPs will emerge in China. Chinese culture should go global, and we will be more confident in our culture," Jiang Wei told 36Kr.
Regarding the founding team, Jiang Wei, the founder of Weiyi Culture, entered the design industry in 1999. Over the past two decades, he has participated in the architectural design and consultation of many domestic and foreign projects. He has participated in well - known domestic projects such as the Jurassic World Theme Park, Shenzhen K11, Nanning MixC, Hangzhou China Merchants Garden City, and Shenzhen Huaqiang Plaza. Chen Tao, the co - founder, has many years of in - depth experience in the film and television industry. He has hosted many large - scale star concerts and served as the general planner and director of the Jiangsu Satellite TV variety show "Chinese Bands". He has rich experience in large - scale event planning and cultural IP operation.
Views of the investor:
Li Tianyang, the founder of Shangjia Investment, said: "The cultural economy is currently in a booming stage. Among many enterprises, Weiyi Culture has a precise positioning. Jiang Wei, the founder of the team, has a clear strategic thinking, and Chen Tao, the co - founder, has rich industry experience. The company focuses on sorting out, creating, and extending industries around top - level international IPs and simultaneously creates self - owned content. The entire founding team is in a stage of steady and rapid development. The team culture always focuses on creating top - level product designs. In the future, it is very likely to become a unicorn company in the cultural economy field."
Shangjia Investment was initially established in 2021. Its core investors come from the domestic energy and financial fields. It focuses on investment and financing in the field of local policy - based economy and invests in areas such as regional economy and IP economy. Relying on a multi - dimensional model of policy environment, economic benefits, and capital empowerment, it creates a forward - looking and healthy rapid development channel for enterprises.