Wang Jianlin, the founder of Dalian Wanda Group and China’s richest man with a net worth of $34 billion, just threatened to destroy the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland park opening mid-June.
In an interview, he said, “The frenzy of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the era of blindly following them have passed. [They are] entirely cloning previous IP, cloning previous products, with no more innovation.”
He has plans for his own chain of theme parks and threatens to overtake Disney, targeting China’s growing middle class. He also criticised Shanghai Disneyland theme park for glorifying American culture.
His first theme park, Wanda City, opened in the southern city of Nanchang mid-May. His plan also includes opening from 15 to 20 amusement parks across China, with a goal to attract 200 million tourist visits by the end of year 2020.
“Disney didn’t believe that China has Wanda. They shouldn’t have entered China. We have a [saying]: one tiger is no match for a pack of wolves. Shanghai has one Disney while Wanda, across the nation, will open 15 to 20,” said Wang.
Let’s just wait and see..