Tencent Boards Tom Hanks' Mr. Rogers Film 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood'

During its annual slate presentation at the Shanghai film festival, the company also showed a personal video message from Arnold Schwarzenegger about the latest 'Terminator' movie.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent’s Tencent Pictures has boarded TriStar Pictures’ A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.

The company unveiled the news at its annual slate presentation during the Shanghai International Film Festival on Monday. The film, set for a November release in the U.S., is about a cynical journalist (Matthew Rhys) who begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write a profile piece about TV icon Fred Rogers (Hanks) with the writer’s perspective on life transformed after the encounter.

The company also showed a personal video message from Arnold Schwarzenegger about the latest Terminator movie, in which the star said he and Linda Hamilton would visit China to promote the film.

"In 2019, Tencent Pictures will continue to participate in international projects, including Wish Dragon, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Monster Hunter, Terminator: Dark Fate and Top Gun: Maverick and so forth,” the company said in an announcement. It highlighted that in 2018 it established its own distribution arm, “enabling filmmakers around the world to reach film lovers in China.”

“Through our literature, comic, game, music and other content businesses, we are able to cultivate IPs and turn them into compelling stories on screens,” said Edward Cheng, vp Tencent Group and CEO of Tencent Pictures. “We help Chinese culture to go out” to the world. Films made in China have become competitive on the world stage, the company also said.

The presentation took place at the Shanghai 1862 Theatre and was followed by a party.

Tencent owns minority stakes in leading Chinese studios Huayi Brothers Media and Bona Film Group, as well as movie ticketing service Maoyan. The company also operates growing film and TV production banners of its own. For example, last year, China Literature, the publicly listed e-books unit of Tencent, acquired powerhouse film and TV studio New Classics Media for $2.25 billion. Overseas, Tencent holds stakes in Skydance Media, STX Entertainment, Snap and Tesla. It also is one of the lead local partners of power agency Endeavor's Beijing-based joint venture, WME-IMG China.