Dalian Wanda is celebrating the official opening of its Qingdao Movie Metropolis mega-development.

The US$7.9bn (£5.7bn) scheme covers more than 400 acres and includes a theme park, 30,000sq m waterpark, yacht club and hotels, as well as the vast movie studio and film production facilities.

Retail, restaurants and a huge cinema complex complete the mix.

At the official opening, today (Saturday 28 April), Wanda CEO Wang Jianlin said: "This is the largest investment the global film and television industry has ever seen – it will turn Qingdao into a global hub for film".

Dalian Wanda has been open about its ambitions to build a world-class movie making machine. Parts of the studio opened in 2016 and were responsible for action adventure film The Great Wall, with Matt Damon.

The company has also acquired Legendary Entertainment, the studio responsible for Godzilla and Jurassic World.

The Qingdao development was announced in 2013 as Wanda’s Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis, with a budget of US$8.2bn, ambitions to build a theme park to rival the biggest in the world and a completion date of 2017.

At the time, Wang Jianlin said: "My target is for Wanda to be one of the world's biggest companies in the culture industry; this is why I haven't retired yet.

“Whether we can attract foreign production companies to come to Qingdao depends on the market. They will definitely come as long as production costs are low."

The Qingdao Movie Metropolis has 32 high-tech studios, with 10 more under construction, including the ‘world’s largest studio’ at 10,000sq m and an integrated outdoor and indoor underwater studio.