(Jan 18): JQ Pictures Holdings Ltd, the Chinese movie producer and distributor, plans to seek about US$100 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Beijing-based studio aims to list its shares in the first half of this year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. JQ Pictures, founded in 2012 by chairman Qin Hong, plans to file a listing application with the Hong Kong stock exchange as soon as this month, one of the people said.

JQ Pictures would join China Film Co, the nation’s biggest distributor, and Imax Corp’s Chinese business in selling shares to fund expansion in the world’s second-largest movie market. Chinese cinemas brought in 45.7 billion yuan of box office revenue last year, a figure that’s set to grow 15% in 2017, according to UOB Kay Hian forecasts.

A representative for JQ Pictures didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

JQ Pictures was one of the producers of “SoulMate,” the coming-of-age romance directed by Derek Tsang that won two awards last year for best leading actress at Taipei’s Golden Horse Film Festival. It helped make “Railroad Tigers,” an action comedy playing in theaters this month that stars Jackie Chan as an ordinary worker fighting Japanese invaders in the 1940s.

It’s also working with Hong Kong director Peter Chan on a biopic about tennis star Li Na. The company was the Chinese distributor of “Paddington,” the movie featuring a lost Peruvian bear found at the London railway station of the same name, its website shows.