The industry's first strategic investment ticket, Wanda Film defines a 100-billion-yuan ecological closed-loop for image social networking.

When the lights in the movie hall came on after the screening, young audiences who were still lingering over Zootopia 2 didn't rush to leave. Instead, they made their way to the cinema lobby.

Some stopped in front of a vintage interactive camera. They tapped the screen with their fingertips to select a template, leaned back slightly, stood in the middle of the backdrop featuring characters like Nick and Judy from Zootopia, held movie-themed merchandise such as carrot popcorn buckets, posters, and dolls, and faced the camera. Sometimes they posed with Nick's signature head - tilted look, and sometimes they made cute or hearty laughing expressions. As the screen prompted, photos filled with joy slowly emerged from the camera. Looking at themselves snuggled up with the animated protagonists, they felt as if they had entered that magical animated world once again.

Some were attracted to the orange selfie booth on the other side. They either chose their favorite South Korean idol photo frames to create their life four - panel comics or selected themes like capybaras to enjoy a pre - Christmas moment with their friends... At this time, every smiling face frozen behind the lens might have nothing to do with the adventures and fantasies of Zootopia, but it was a full - fledged release of the little joys in life.

Scene of the special event for Zootopia 2 at Wanda Cinema - Taking photos with the vintage interactive camera

This little joy of freezing the wonderful moments of movie - watching is still rare in domestic cinemas today, but it may become a daily occurrence in the near future.

On December 12th, Wanda Film announced that it had completed a strategic investment in the intelligent selfie interactive entertainment brand "Pai Lifang". According to the plan, around the Spring Festival in 2026, Pai Lifang will complete the centralized installation of the first batch of intelligent selfie devices in Wanda Cinemas across the country. By then, for audiences at Wanda Cinemas, taking photos with their favorite IPs and making behind - the - scenes videos with audio may become a "standard" part of movie - watching. These vivid and exclusive happy memories will be perfectly integrated into daily life through social sharing.

This is also a crucial part of Wanda Film, the absolute leader in the industry, in building a wide - ranging social arena. In the world of Wanda Film, movie - watching is no longer just a simple visual experience of light and shadow. Instead, it has become a diversified and immersive happy journey that can be touched, taken away, and preserved.

Currently, the products sold at Wanda Film's directly - operated cinemas are constantly being refreshed. In addition to traditional popcorn and carbonated drinks, there are also self - developed snacks like "Three - bite Moments" and beverages like "Lucky Coconut" coconut water from its invested brand. Moreover, movie merchandise and trendy toys from brands like 52TOYS have become new consumption experiences at Wanda Cinemas.

It's worth mentioning that the space and scenarios of Wanda Film's cinemas are constantly being activated. Events such as pop - up shops, art exhibitions, and IP co - branding have become the "new normal" here. During the summer vacation this year, it transformed into a "Super Entertainment Anime Market", integrating IPs like Love and Producer, The Lanruo Temple, and "Daimeng Town" to provide the public with a unique experience of "movie - watching + interest - based socializing + IP consumption". During the National Day holiday, it co - branded with the phenomenon - level game Love and the Stars. Besides themed packages and derivatives, it also restored a real filming set to create an immersive on - site experience that blended the virtual and the real for players.

In the current era when experiential consumption has become the mainstream, the evolution of cinemas into multi - functional social spaces is inevitable. As a pioneer in the cinema industry, Wanda Film has already written a vivid footnote for this trend through its in - depth transformation. Now, by injecting image - based social interaction into the cinema space through Pai Lifang, it is not only breaking through the boundaries of the cinema scenario but also deeply interpreting and fulfilling its "Super Entertainment Space" strategy.

Pai Lifang selfie booth at Wanda Cinema in Wenzhou Longwan Wanda Plaza

Reshaping the Young Social Scene with an Immersive Ecosystem

The current consumer market is undergoing a profound transformation from the satisfaction of basic functions to the pursuit of deep - seated emotions.

Especially among the young consumer group represented by Generation Z, paying for "emotional experiences", "social sharing", and "value recognition" has become the new normal of consumption. Data reports show that more than 90% of high - spending "post - 2000s" users show strong potential to "pay for what they love". The popularity of brands like Pop Mart and the high demand for secondary - element IP merchandise are all examples of paying for "passion".

In the film industry, how can young audiences be attracted? How can new experiences for on - screen consumption be created? Wanda Film, the leader in the Chinese cinema industry, has given an answer: Break away from the traditional thinking of "movie - watching as the core" and start building a second growth curve centered around "IP derivatives + scenario experiences" around the cinema space to meet the deep - seated needs of Generation Z for a sense of belonging to a circle, emotional resonance, and shared memories.

Taking the secondary - element track as an example, Wanda Film has successively co - branded with multiple IPs such as Genshin Impact, Identity V, Love and Producer, and Love and the Stars to create dozens of derivative products from food to toys. At the same time, based on its more than 700 directly - operated cinemas, it has carried out a series of offline activities such as themed pop - up shops. Besides providing young people with a lot of emotional value, it has also reaped good returns.

For example, during the national linkage of Love and the Stars during the National Day holiday, Wanda Film set up 2 "Light and Shadow Shooting" stores, 100 "Heart - fluttering Screening" stores, and 605 "Love - filled Glimmer" stores. Multiple interactive sessions allowed young players to immerse themselves in the charm of the light and shadow world.

During this period, the average passenger flow in these cinemas increased by about 50%, and the offline exposure reached 160 million people, successfully converting IP fans into real consumers.

In terms of scenario innovation, Wanda Film has launched new consumption scenarios such as customized "Pain Hall" screening areas and IP plot experiences. Cinemas have gradually become new social gathering places for the young group. According to statistics, more than 85% of Wanda Cinema's customers are under 25 years old, and 44.3% are under 20 years old.

Judging from the feedback of multiple popular IPs launched by Wanda Film in the past two years, these young groups are becoming the new main consumers of Wanda Film. For example, the cooperation between Wanda Film and Genshin Impact once created a GMV of more than 64 million yuan, and the box - office conversion exceeded 10 million yuan. The movie - watching conversion rate of Wanda Film's overall co - branding activities is about 30%.

From the trend recognition brought by IP co - branded derivatives to the deep resonance created by multi - scenario immersive experiences, Wanda Film has gradually built a full - link operation model of "IP - content - scenario - communication - conversion". With this model, Wanda Film's business layout targeting the young group has formed a complete closed - loop from the demand side to the experience end.

Wanda Film's IP co - branding activities attract young audiences to the cinema

This strategic investment in Pai Lifang has further upgraded this closed - loop. This cooperation is by no means a simple superposition of scenarios. As a company covering the entire film industry chain including investment, production, promotion, distribution, and screening, Wanda Film's profound film heritage is an irreplaceable core advantage. Introducing Pai Lifang essentially extends the film IP and emotions from the screen to an interactive, portable, and shareable offline physical space. This is not only a supplement to the experience but also a deep expansion from the content scenario to the ecosystem. It can be predicted that relying on Wanda Film's rich reserve of film and television IPs, more film works will be transformed into immersive social experiences accessible to audiences through creative combinations with Pai Lifang in the future, constructing a unique content consumption closed - loop. If the cinema used to offer young consumers a beautiful but fleeting experience, now, with the support of images, this beauty will finally become a memorable joy.

The New Wave of Image - based Social Interaction and the Future Imagination of Wanda Film's "Super Entertainment Space"

The image - based social interaction that Wanda Film is currently deploying is not a new thing. As early as the millennium era, it became a trend, and it had a cute name at that time - photo booth stickers.

For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, taking a photo booth sticker with a border pattern with friends in a roadside shop was a beautiful memory that could not be missing from their youth. Now, it has made a comeback as "life four - panel comics" and has become a new favorite of Generation Z. The difference is that its new feature is the binding with the fan economy and IP culture.

In the Chinese market, Pai Lifang is a leader in this field. Since its operation in June 2020, its business has covered 33 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, more than 160 core cities, and has served over 10 million users in total.

In the industry, it is the first domestic brand to adopt the operation model of "intelligent image + IP derivatives". Its pioneering "passport photo + photo booth sticker + portrait photo" trinity model, combined with more than a hundred international top - tier IPs such as life4cuts and Mini Force, as well as star themes like Mayday, and integrated with technologies such as AI beauty and intelligent filters, has quickly become a new trendy favorite among Generation Z.

Especially this year, Pai Lifang has held more than 160 IP - themed pop - up shops and star tour linkages, setting off waves of enthusiasm in the young people's social sharing field.

Such brand influence and IP resources are exactly the important tools for Wanda Film to deepen its strategy of the super entertainment space. Therefore, Wanda Film, with its forward - looking vision, has officially made a deep - seated capital - level binding with Pai Lifang.

It is reported that around the Spring Festival in 2026, the first batch of Pai Lifang devices will be centrally installed in Wanda Cinemas. Throughout the first half of the year, it is expected that about 300 cinemas will be equipped. In the future, Pai Lifang will gradually cover all of Wanda Film's more than 700 directly - operated cinemas.

Pai Lifang selfie booth at Wanda Cinema in Beijing CBD

The cooperation between Wanda Film, the leader in the cinema industry, and Pai Lifang, the leading platform for offline image - based social interaction, not only has the potential of a strong - to - strong combination but also sets a precedent in the industry, becoming the first milestone - style move for film companies to layout the social entertainment track.

In the current era of social media, taking photos, checking in, and then sharing has become an important part of young people's offline consumption. As a high - frequency offline scenario, cinemas naturally have the potential to create "social hits". However, in the current domestic market, image - based social experiences are mostly concentrated in shopping mall scenarios, and the cultural content hardly has any IP attributes, let alone a connection with cinemas.

This time, Wanda Film has joined hands with Pai Lifang to deeply integrate image - based social interaction with cinemas, providing a reference model of "scenario - based + socialized" immersive experience for the entire industry.

It can be predicted that domestic cinemas will start to have their own exclusive image - based social arenas. By then, audiences can not only experience and enjoy rich and unique shooting theme scenarios, exclusive cinema ticket stubs, and Easter egg posters and other interesting interactive gameplay but also incorporate the experience of popular IP culture into their daily lives at any time.

With the support of Pai Lifang's "image - based social arena", Wanda Film can build a panoramic ecological blueprint of multi - entertainment consumption scenarios. This is not only a breakthrough in the boundaries of the cinema experience but also a deepening and extension of Wanda Film's "Super Entertainment Space" strategy.

In November last year, Wanda Film released the concept of building a super entertainment space. In June this year, Chen Zhixi, the chairman and president of Wanda Film, proposed to deepen the "Super Entertainment Space" strategy. She said that Wanda Film will introduce interactive facilities such as photo booth machines to create immersive experiences and social value for Generation Z and continuously enrich the ecosystem of the super entertainment space.

It only took half a year from the proposal of the strategy to the implementation of the investment in Pai Lifang. It is not difficult to see Wanda Film's strong and efficient resource - integration ability and its determination to deeply cultivate the young consumer ecosystem.

In the future, relying on Wanda Film's "1+2+5" strategic layout and its film heritage across the entire industry chain, there may be more room for deepening the cooperation between Wanda Film and Pai Lifang.

For example, in terms of scenario extension, the two sides will promote the layout of equipment in core urban business districts, transportation hubs, characteristic cultural blocks, and overseas markets to make image - based social interaction cover a wider range of consumption scenarios. For example, the Shanghai Metro has reached a cooperation with Pai Lifang, an investment of Wanda Film, and Pai Lifang devices will be installed in important transportation hubs in Shanghai to reshape the interactive experience of urban life. In terms of content innovation, it may deeply integrate with film promotion nodes to create limited - edition shooting themes linked to released films, exclusive interactions for star offline activities, or explore innovative group - photo gameplay based on film content, or combine trendy toys, games, and other businesses to enrich the content and form of image interaction and create a more diverse and cross - border image - based social arena.

Centering around the cinema, Wanda Film will organically integrate IP, technology, and multi - consumption scenarios. This cooperation with Pai Lifang is just the beginning. In the future, Wanda Film will also cooperate with more "social scenario" forces to create a larger entertainment ecosystem space. This is the key for Wanda Film to consolidate its brand's youthful vitality and strengthen its leading position in the industry.