BBC Studios celebrates cinema deal for Our Blue Planet

Orient International is taking Our Blue Planet, the giant screen film version of the BBC’s natural history series Blue Planet II, to China.

Produced by long-time collaborators BBC Earth and OceanX Media, Oceans: Our Blue Planet is directed by Mark Brownlow (Blue Planet II, Tiny Giants) and Rachel Butler (Blue Planet II, Shark), and narrated by Kate Winslet (Titanic, Revolutionary Road, Snow Bears). Ji Guanlin narrates the Chinese version.

Following the deal with BBC Studios, Orient will have the exclusive distribution rights to both 2D Dome and 3D Giant Screen formats for Our Blue Planet in China. The China Science and Technology Museum in Bejing is the venue for the ocean exploration film’s Asian premiere, beginning in April 2018.

“In the last two years, we have seen BBC’s natural history content gaining huge traction in China. BBC’s blue chip natural history titles, Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II and the BBC Earth film, Earth: One Amazing Day have all been extremely successful with audiences in China. We hope that this larger than life, immersive experience of the 2D Dome and 3D Giant Screen formats will enhance and extend the experience of our premium natural history content,” said Kelvin Yau, GM, Greater China, BBC Studio.

Ji Sheng Jun, vice president of Orient International (Holding) Company, said: “We are very pleased to once again partner BBC Studios to launch Oceans: Our Blue Planet in China. We pride ourselves on delivering quality content for science and technology museums across China, and BBC Earth’s premium natural history content is a natural fit for us. We are excited for the premiere of Oceans: Our Blue Planet and hope that families and school groups will visit the museums to learn more about our watery worlds”.

Orient has also been licensed to distribute BBC Earth Giant Screen films Tiny Giants and Earthflight, of which the latter was recently distributed to another two science and technology museums in Daqing and Liaoning.

Each film is 40 minutes long and will run between six months and a year in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenyang and Hefei, as well as Hong Kong.