The collaboration between Jack Ma and Steven Spielberg is just the latest proof of Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Report aggressive digital strategy, as well as of Hollywood's international appeal.

Alibaba's announcement this weekend that it had purchased a minority stake in Spielberg's Amblin Pictures, formerly Dreamworks Studios, follows investments by Chinese conglomerates Dalian Wanda Group and Fosun International in the U.S. movie business. Qatari sports and TV group beIN Media Group, a spin-off of Al Jazeera Media Network, acquired the parent of independent studio Miramax earlier this year. Japan's Softbank (SFTBY) and Sony (SNE) - Get Report have also been players on Hollywood lots.

For Alibaba, the purchase is about more than the global scrum for premiere films and TV. Ma's conglomerate is targeting content that it can plug into its offerings such as its Youku Tudou online streaming platform and TMall Box Office subscription service, in addition to its hugely popular Taobao Marketplace and other e-commerce shops.

"They have decided to go well beyond their core e-commerce business," said Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities. "They have a multi-screen strategy where they want to participate in every different screen the consumer is going to go to."

The strategy aims to bring new content to its online platforms, as well as to extend its e-commerce reach to new outlets. "They have the ability to use that content to get more engagement form the consumer through watching videos, but also open up abilities to do commerce on different screens that are not desktop or mobile, such as a television," Luria noted.

Alibaba shares rose 2.0% on Monday but were down 2.4% to $105.89 on Tuesday morning.

Ma's e-commerce group made a major play in Chinese media in 2014, when the company spent $804 million to boost its position in ChinaVision Media Group. Now known as Alibaba Pictures, the business trades publicly in Hong Kong.

Alibaba Pictures has backed Paramount Pictures projects such as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Star Trek Beyond. Earlier this year, shareholders of Paramount parent Viacom (VIAB) - Get Report had urged the New York media group to explore the sale of a stake in the studio to Alibaba or to Amazon.com (AMZN) - Get Report .

Alibaba Pictures' President Zhang Wei described the hunt for U.S-produced content on Alibaba's own news site, Alizila.com.

"There is a lot of hot money from China floating around Hollywood right now, and we've had quite a few people approaching us about wanting a partnership," she said. Studios are looking for funds and for help entering the Chinese market.

Other "hot money" is coming from Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which acquired film studio and comic book publisher Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion this year. Legendary's portfolio includes the Dark Knight trilogy, Jurassic World and others. The studio had previously raised $250 million from SoftBank in 2014.

Shanghai conglomerate and investment group Fosun International teamed with Sony to back newly formed Studio 8 Holdings, which is working with Academy-Award winning director Ang Lee on its first picture, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

Chinese companies are not the only interested parties. Former Al Jazeera unit beIN Media bought the parent of Miramax earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the partnership between Ma and Spielberg is getting right to work this weekend. Alibaba Pictures will market and distribute fantasy-adventure pic The BFG, which Amblin co-produced with Disney (DIS) - Get Report , starting with its release this Friday in China.