Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners announced it struck a deal with China’s Alibaba Group to co-produce films for global audiences.

Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd. is buying a minority stake in Amblin Partners, the production company backed by Spielberg. It’s the latest in a string of Chinese-Hollywood ventures, a steady move by China to ramp up its presence in Hollywood — while Hollywood hopes to gain from China’s huge population to expand its audiences.

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Some estimates put the growth at 5,000 to 7,000 screens per year in China for the next 10 years.

No financial details were announced.

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Led by founder Jack Ma (one of China’s richest men), Alibaba is China’s biggest online commerce company, which is expanding into movie-making. Alibaba also owns the Youku Tudou online video service.

The partnership “marks an important milestone in our globalization strategy to reach Chinese and global audiences alike,” said Alibaba Pictures Chairman Shao Xiaofeng in a statement. “We will also leverage Alibaba Group’s ecosystem as a channel for Amblin Partners’ films to reach hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers.”

In the announcement, Spielberg said this: “There’s a lot in China that’s becoming more and more known, through media … and China’s tremendous renaissance.” He said he wants to “bring more of China to America and more of America to China.”