【Epoch Times October 08, 2026】 Hong Kong-listed company “Visionary Group,” with Stephen Chow as executive director and major shareholder, sold its wholly-owned subsidiary “Visionary Cinemas Investment Company” for a symbolic price of 1 Hong Kong dollar on October 6. This transaction marks Stephen Chow’s complete abandonment and exit from the physical cinema market in mainland China.
Financial data released by Visionary Group shows that “Visionary Cinemas Investment Company” has been performing poorly in recent years, posting continuous losses over the past two fiscal years. In the fiscal years ending in March 2025 and March 2026, the operational losses were 2.543 million and 1.2 million respectively. According to the latest unaudited financial statistics within the company as of the end of August 2026, the company’s net liabilities reached a staggering 8.6 million Hong Kong dollars, becoming a heavy financial burden for the group.
According to the Hong Kong Economic Journal, despite selling for a symbolic price of 1 Hong Kong dollar, Visionary Group stated that after shedding the related liabilities and operating costs, the owners of the company are expected to take a realized gain of around 5.4 million Hong Kong dollars from the transaction, achieving a financial turnaround effect.
Regarding the sale of cinema assets this time, Visionary Group officials stated that after a thorough review of the group’s financial performance, business, and operational conditions, the board unanimously deemed the sale to be an appropriate move. This not only effectively strengthens the group’s cash flow and improves its working capital structure but also reallocates existing resources to other potential business opportunities.
The report stated that after the completion of the transaction, Visionary Group will no longer operate any physical cinema businesses and will focus on behind-the-scenes production in the future. Due to the bleak business performance of physical cinema lines compared to the strong box office appeal of films personally directed and produced by Stephen Chow in mainland China, such as his recent film “Kung Fu Women’s Soccer” grossing over 2.2 billion Chinese yuan in the mainland market, as opposed to approximately 13.65 million Hong Kong dollars locally, he believes that the core pillar of business lies in the mainland market.
After divesting from physical cinema lines, Stephen Chow will no longer invest in high-assets, low-return offline cinemas, but will instead channel existing funds and core resources back into creating major IP content, AI film and television development, and other core projects.
Some commentators have pointed out that Stephen Chow’s decision to sell off this time does not signify his failure in mainland China but rather his choice to withdraw money from “unprofitable bricks (cinemas)” and invest it all into “the most profitable brains (creativity)”. However, the future prospects of the mainland Chinese film and television market may require several more films from Stephen Chow to validate this strategy.