BEIJING, Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, China's leading online entertainment platform, announced that the cumulative revenue-sharing, a model where production partners share earnings with iQIYI based on viewership, box office for its AIGC film series "The Ferry Man" has surpassed RMB 8 million (US$1.2 million) as of September 23, marking a new milestone for the series. This comes as the third instalment, "The Ferry Man: The Dream of the Princess", debuts on October 1 on iQIYI and iQIYI International.
Produced by iQIYI and GHY Culture & Media, the series' first two titles, "The Ferry Man: Butterfly Dream" and "The Ferry Man: The Dream of the Celestial Maiden", were released simultaneously on August 22 on iQIYI and iQIYI International, and quickly gained commercial traction, reflecting growing market confidence in iQIYI's AI-driven premium content.
Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, "The Ferry Man" is an established IP spanning long-form drama, online films, musicals, and short-form series, blending mythology, folklore, and contemporary themes. The new films use AI production to render classical Chinese philosophical imagery as cinematic worlds.
Redefining Production Efficiency
The success of "The Ferry Man" series demonstrates a robust end-to-end AIGC value chain, one that successfully integrates production efficiency, market validation, and strong financial returns. By incorporating AI into its core workflow, iQIYI has fundamentally optimized the filmmaking process.
According to Zhichao LI, producer of the series, the first two films moved from project initiation to launch in less than four months. "AI significantly improved efficiency during the preparation and production stages," Li said, noting that the script development and post-production processes remained largely consistent with traditional film and television workflows.
During production, AIGC was used to generate visual assets for concept design, sets, props, and other art elements, which could then be directly turned into video based on the director's creative requirements. This simplified parts of the traditional production process, including physical shoots and scene transitions, while giving creators greater flexibility. For a key scene in "The Ferry Man: The Dream of the Celestial Maiden", AI generation also streamlined a process that would traditionally involve months of visual effects and green-screen production, significantly improving production efficiency and making complex scenes more feasible to produce.
Leveraging Digital Assets for Long-Term Value
Unlike traditional productions, "The Ferry Man" series builds lasting digital asset value through AIGC. The three lead actors licensed their likenesses and provided their own voiceovers, with digital character assets, scenes, and props developed as standardized, reusable assets. These assets enable the upcoming third film to maintain visual consistency while significantly reducing production costs, establishing a scalable model for serialized content development.
Market Validation through Data-Driven Models
The commercial performance of "The Ferry Man" series further validates the viability of AIGC content as a financially sustainable production model. Through iQIYI's revenue-sharing model, the series recovered its full production costs within the first week and surpassed RMB8 million in cumulative box office within the first month, with figures continuing to grow. This rapid market feedback also enables producers to adjust subsequent creative decisions in a timely manner, reducing the time and cost of iteration.
The series also builds on iQIYI's continued exploration of long-form AIGC filmmaking, following "Mystic Tales - The Spider Lady's Vendetta" — China's first AIGC internet feature film released under an Internet Drama and Film Distribution License.
iQIYI Press
press@qiyi.com
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iQIYI AIGC Series "The Ferry Man" Exceeds RMB 8 Million in Revenue-Sharing as Third Instalment Debuts on October 1
Company to Redomicile to Singapore; Partnership Approves Centalion as New Global Brand
GENEVA, Oct. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The employee partnership that owns Gunvor Group Ltd (the "Company") has voted to change the name of the Company to Centalion Group Ltd to reflect its evolution under a new ownership structure, leadership model, and strategic outlook for the future. The Company concurrently announces its intention to redomicile its corporate headquarters from Cyprus to Singapore.
"The name Centalion reflects who we are: one team, moving together, at the heart of the global energy markets," said Gary Pedersen, Chairman and CEO of Centalion. "We're making this move from a position of strength. Together we have built a disciplined, entrepreneurial firm that is accelerating our position as one of the world's leading physical energy and metals traders. Singapore and our new identity are the next chapter in that story."
The intended move of the Company's corporate headquarters to Singapore, where it has maintained a presence since 2006, is supported by the country's well-established legal and business environment, deep financial and trading infrastructure, and international business community. Centalion's main trading offices will, in addition to Singapore, remain in Geneva, Switzerland, and Houston, Texas, where the Company's Chairman and CEO is based.
Alongside the intended relocation, the Company is unveiling a new identity: Centalion. The rebranding marks the next stage in the natural evolution of the business following the completion of the December 2025 management buyout. It further supports the strength of the Company's trading activities across the energy spectrum – including crude oil, refined products, natural gas and LNG, power and battery storage, biofuels, and carbon credits – complemented by a growing metals and minerals trading business and significant global shipping operations. The Company is also increasingly active as an investment partner of choice in gas- and power-related infrastructure in various regions around the globe.
Centalion traded record volumes in the first half of 2026, supported by a global workforce of more than 2,000 people, and continues to expand across its trading hubs in Calgary, Geneva, Houston, London, Singapore, and Stamford.
Renaming and Rebranding Process
The decision to rename and rebrand followed a full partnership referendum held in July 2026, after six months of employee engagement and external market-positioning research conducted by world-leading brand specialist Landor. The name "Centalion" reflects a group that moves as one, capturing the strength and unity of the partnership and its commitment to upholding and maintaining the Company's leading position in global commodities trading. More than simply an "oil trader", the Company's future will continue to be built upon the breadth of its current business by advancing growth in the physical energy, metals and minerals markets, and related investments supporting the new energy economy and promoting global energy security.
Notes on Rebranding and Redomiciling
The Company's new name and brand, Centalion (Sen-TAL-yon; rhyming with "battalion"), will be used from today; however, the rollout of the new identity across the Company's subsidiaries, trading offices, and other locations worldwide will take place over the coming months. Relationships with counterparties, banks, vendors, and other business partners are unaffected by the change, as neither the Company's legal personality nor its rights and obligations will change, with all existing contracts and arrangements of the Company remaining intact.
Similarly, the redomicile of the Company to Singapore will involve the transfer of the existing legal entity to a new location rather than the incorporation of a new legal structure. The timing of the completion of this intended redomicile remains subject to the Company finalizing applicable local regulatory approvals and documentation requirements.
About Centalion Group Ltd
Centalion Group is one of the world's largest independent commodities trading companies, which creates logistics solutions that safely and efficiently move physical energy, power, metals and minerals from where they are sourced and stored to where they are demanded most. With investments in strategic infrastructure—upstream oil and gas production, terminals, refineries, power plants, batteries and storage—Centalion further generates sustainable value across the global supply chain. For more information, visit Centalion.com
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Gunvor becomes Centalion
Gunvor becomes Centalion
