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Tong Liya poses for fashion magazine
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Clash of the robots
Machine battle reality show set to make debut.
The fighting arena weighs up to 230 tons, boasting bulletproof glass that can withstand the blast of a bazooka and reinforced steel protective plates.
Visitors are repeatedly reminded not to take photos, adding to the secretive nature of the surroundings.
But this is not a military base or sci-fi movie set - the studio on the southern outskirts of Beijing is actually the site of Clash Bots, an upcoming reality show featuring battles between robot combatants.
More than 30 teams of up to four people each from home and abroad are gathering for the program by iQiyi.com, one of China's major video-streaming media platforms.
While the show is set to go online in March, its producers are still keeping most of the details under wraps. But there are clear similarities with US TV series BattleBots, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines to be top gun in battles lasting three minutes.
Still, Chen Wei, vice-president of iQiyi and chief producer of Clash Bots, wants to develop something new for Chinese audiences, many of whom have little knowledge of what the games are like.
The Chinese arena, for one, is said to be larger than its US counterpart.
"I'm only a few months earlier than the general public in China to really know what robot combat competition is about," Chen says, smiling. "But it's worthwhile to have a shot because the game can help showcase young people's struggles and their energy."
In April 2017, when Chen's team first contacted the US side to express interest in the show, those in the West had their doubts. "Do you have robot combat in China?" one of them asked.
Chen himself was surprised to find out there were already dozens of teams ready for robot combat all over China.
"Robot combat may have decades of history in the United States and Britain," Chen admits. "But we don't want to copy others' established models."
BattleBots in the US premiered in 2000 but it was suspended in 2002 after five seasons amid changes in audience tastes. But when its sixth season returned in 2015, Chen says its audience ratings rocketed and revived huge interest in the sport again.
Gearing up
IQiyi is not the only one to ride the revival. Zhejiang TV first aired a similar show, King of Bots, in January. Youku.com, another main Chinese video-streaming media provider, is also set to roll out its
This Is Bots program later this year.
King of Bots has a format close to the US show. Its crew has invited action superstar Jet Li as the guest and Huang Jianxiang, one of China's best-known sports anchors, as the commentator.
The first episode of the show, which offers a quick pace and fierce fighting scenes, received a modest 0.3 percent audience rating, according to statistics from media research group CSM.
"Women still dominate Chinese audiences in variety shows," Yang Zhifan, a Beijing-based TV commentator, wrote in an article in January.
"It'll take time for female audiences to get used to combat robots in China."
Yang considers Kings of Bots to be a "good beginning" and he expects upcoming shows like Clash Bots to develop more diverse and expressive formats.
Chen from iQiyi is certainly confident of creating new genres for Chinese variety shows.
"It's easier to organize a competition," he says. "But a reality show needs more stories, which can also be the more interesting part."
Chen reveals that cameras in Clash Bots will also be placed in competitors' room to offer a closer look at how they design machines, draw up combat strategies and size up opponents. The players are like the characters in storylines who take on different roles so that people can become more attached to them, he says.
To better attract young viewers, the show is also banking on some star attractions - actors Li Chen, Lin Gengxin and Sheng Yilun; as well as actress and fashion icon Angelababy, also known as Yang Ying, will be invited to join the teams.
While the four celebrities are all fans of computer games, they are new to the machines, which weigh at least 110 kilograms each. Unlike the privileged position of coach or judge offered in other reality shows, they will have to rely significantly on other players for help to control the robots.
"When you control a robot, it's like adopting a child," Lin says. "Emotional links have to be nurtured between me and the robot. I can only play better after that."
"Some people may think that playing with these robots is only for men," Angelababy adds. "I don't think so. Gender doesn't matter and I've met many talented female players here.
"It's more about brains and agility than physical strength. We're at the same starting line."
In the flesh
The production team also wants to give equal play to ordinary competitors, to allow them to tell their stories. Most of them are simply interested in machinery - students, blue-collar workers or farmers - who became diehard fans of robot combat.
Zhao Lixin, a veteran actor for both stage and cinema, is the anchor for Clash Bots. He cites the Welsh team Princess of Wales, comprising a 12-year-old girl and her father, as an example. The girl, the youngest participant of Clash Bots, showed great creativity and talent by designing a pink, dragon-shaped shell for her robot, he says.
Combating a robot called Atomic Bomb, Princess of Wales was soundly beaten and the girl was devastated. But Atomic Bomb circled around the "pink dragon" and chose not to give it a final death blow.
Zhao asked the player controlling Atomic Bomb later why he stopped attacking his opponent.
"The player told me that because he found the father comforting his daughter, it would seem too cruel to topple it (Princess of Wales)," Zhao recalls. "He felt that participating in the game was like a gift given by the girl to her father, and she deserved some space to keep her dignity.
"At that moment, I understood what robot combat was about. Not just about fierce fights, but also the warmth and gentleness from kind hearts," says Zhao.
Yang, the TV commentator, considers the program to be a good attempt at broadening the appeal of combat robots, by adding more content that draws out people's emotions and to understand the competitors through their personal stories.
But focusing on the battles is still key, he says, because the robots are the main stars of the arena.
A robot must fight up to 19 game sets before it can win top spot but the machines will almost certainly not get through more than five sets before it needs major repairs, or be totally remade, he says.
"That will definitely add to the challenge," Chen says.
A smartphone game, online drama series, movie and theme park will also be developed from Clash Bots soon, he adds.
Perhaps even a machine hero like the tenacious boxer Atom in Real Steel, a 2011 Hollywood film starring Hugh Jackman, will rise in Chinese cyberspace later this year.
The producer also expects his upcoming show to trigger young people's aspirations for Chinese manufacturing. While the custom-made steel in robot combat can be produced in China, Chen confesses that many competitors prefer foreign electric engines for better stability and control.
"China is still lagging in some industry sectors," he says. "If the game becomes popular and more people get inspired by it, our technology will probably also improve."
Source: By Wang Kaihao | China Daily
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First Day of Chinese New Year Is a Box-Office Winner
(Caixin) The Year of the Dog may turn out to be a howling success for China’s movie industry.
Movie-ticket sales on Friday -- the first day of Chinese Lunar New Year — jumped by nearly two-thirds to 1.32 billion yuan ($208 million) compared to the same day of the holiday a year ago. Analysts say that signals another robust year ahead for the Chinese film industry.
Real-time ticket sales, including service charges for moviegoers who bought tickets online, surged above 900 million yuan around midday Friday. That exceeded the 802 million yuan in box office sales on the first day of the lunar new year in 2017, according to Maoyan.com, a Chinese box office tracking service provider.
Ticket sales for the seven-day holiday — which began on Thursday, on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year — are expected to handily beat the 3.3 billion yuan recorded during the previous holiday season due to rave reviews for several new big-budget productions, some industry analysts said.
Several Chinese-made productions are dominating domestic screens, including the second
installments of “Monster Hunt” and “Detective Chinatown” and the third installment of “Monkey King.”
“Monster Hunt Two,” a 3D film wrapping in fantasy, action, comedy and adventure, took in in 555.5 million yuan Friday, making it the highest-grossing film of the day, according to Maoyan.
“The Detective Chinatown Two,” a wacky adventure comedy set in New York’s Chinatown, came in second place, with 342.9 million yuan in one-day ticket sales on Friday, followed by “Monkey King Three,” the latest franchise adapted from the Chinese classic “Journey to the West,” which raked in 168.3 million yuan the same day.
“Operation Red Sea,” a patriotic action film on the evacuation of hundreds of Chinese nationals and foreigners from Yemen’s southern port of Aden during the civil war in Yemen 2015, took in 127.8 million yuan in box office sales.
“Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown Two” received 9.6 and 9.3 out of 10, respectively, in viewer’s ratings on Maoyan. “Monster Hunt Two” was given a 8.5 out of 10 by moviegoers on Maoyan, while “Monkey King Three” received a 7.7.
“Boonie Bear: The Big Shrink,” the only animation featured in the top five films of the day, received a 9.2 rating and grossed 75.5 million yuan on Friday.
In all of 2017, movie ticket sales reached 55.9 billion yuan, an increase of 13% over the previous year. That was a return to strong growth after 2016, which saw only a 4% year-on-year increase, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
However, some of the surge last year was due to service charges beginning to be included in box office sales figures.
Source: Caixin by Li Rongde
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Manhattan Mystery: Chen Sicheng Brings ‘Detective Chinatown’ Series to New York City
(CFI) Writer-director Chen Sicheng shot Detective Chinatown 2 in New York City for 40 days over the fall. It was the first Chinese-language production in the U.S. to use union crews. Starring Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran, it is a sequel to 2015’s hit action-comedy. Warner Bros. released it today on 115 U.S. theatre screens.
Toward the end of the shoot, working in the rain on location at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Chen and producer Shawn Yue sat down in a production trailer to talk.
It’s raining now, which you didn’t plan for. How has the weather affected the shoot?
Because we are on a very limited budget, there’s no other options but to keep going. We shot last week on Madison Avenue, a small sequence, but we shot in the rain, we shot in the sun, we shot in the smog.
If this were China, that would never happen. For continuity, the scene always has to be either shining or rainy. So we have to figure out a way to fix it in post.
Shawn Yue said you couldn’t get to two shots this afternoon.
That’s already fixed. Before the rain started, I was missing two shots. But after the rain stopped, we used a different angle that wasn’t covered before, so we got what we needed.
So what’s the most difficult part about shooting in New York City?
There are three major points about the difficulty of shooting in New York City. One, expensive. Two, expensive. Three, expensive. Very expensive.
This is a Chinese-language film, and Chinese films are hard to distribute globally. If this were an English-language film made at an American studio, we could put a lot more money into the budget.
But since it’s a Chinese-language film, there is a maximum amount you’re allowed to spend. But we chose to shoot in New York City anyway, despite the limitations.
But why pick New York City in the first place?
[Shawn Yue, laughing:] He wants to be tortured by the city.
When I was shooting Detective Chinatown, everyone who heard about it said, “Chinatown? That must be in New York City.” The Chinatown in New York is actually the most famous Chinatown all over the world. But we shot the first one in Thailand.
I’m determined to make Detective Chinatown into a big franchise. There will be part one, two, three and four. To achieve that, part two is actually more important than part one. If part two fails, there will be no franchise.
The first one in Thailand worked pretty well, but in order to raise expectations for the whole franchise, part two has to be way better than part one. That’s why I’ve come to the center of the universe, to New York, so everyone will feel this is an upgrade from Detective one.
What did shooting here add to the film?
No other place can compete with New York City. You’ve got super good locations here, plus all the locations I’ve found that people in China haven’t seen yet.
Number two, the infrastructure here is very good. Especially background actors, they’re the best I’ve ever used in my career. You put them in the background and you don’t have to pay special attention to them—they are the characters you want them to be. Plus, they’re very good actors.
New York is a melting, pot, very diversified, people from different races, different national backgrounds, different countries and cultures. You can’t fake that. We have access to the background actor who actually is from the background he is acting.
New York has a very bright side, a super-fancy, expensive, high-end side, and also a ghetto side, areas that make you feel unsafe. So we’ve been covering the fancy parts, but we also go to the bowels of the city, the deepest tunnels of the subway and train systems. We also go to what people normally call the unsafe areas to shoot.
I also wrote the script, and the way I write is to experience the city beforehand. A lot of the stories in the script came from when I visited for several weeks. So in the end we experience the diversity of New York, the fancy and the not-so-fancy; the safe part, the feel-good part, and also the dangerous part.
What do people in China think of New York?
Most have a very typical tourist perspective, thinking about Times Square, Central Park, Grand Central Station. More like a superficial concept of New York City. They don’t really know, they haven’t been given the opportunity to really access the diversity here.
Oh, and they think of Donald Trump.
The old stereotype from Hong Kong filmmakers made New York a place of gangs, fighting. Modern-day Chinese don’t see New York as a dangerous city. They probably see Paris as more dangerous.
So what was it like to shoot in New York’s Chinatown?
When I was shooting Detective Chinatown 1 in Thailand, the Chinatown there is just like Bangkok everywhere. It’s just an area of the city with a little bit of Chinese flavor.
Chinatown here looks like old China, it’s not like modern-day China. Chinatown is like old China in old times. But the thing about New York is that each area is unique. Harlem, Spanish Harlem, one has an African-American way of living, the other is more Hispanic. They’re not trying to influence each other.
That’s the character of New York City, you are allowed to be who you want to be, people don’t interfere with your life.
I’ll tell you, Flushing was the real shock. I go to Chinatown, okay, it’s Chinatown, it’s got a flavor I know. But Flushing—that feels like home, like modern-day China. It feels like a Chinese colony outside of China.
Can you talk about your career? You’ve been an actor, a writer, and now director. How did you get to this position?
That’s a question I would like to know the answer to. Because if I knew, I might be able do these interviews.
Listen, I think you first of all have to be true to yourself. You have to read a lot. You have to see a lot of movies, talk to other directors to get to know their films. But it’s difficult to describe my style, how
I direct. It’s like you take all the information, all the visuals to create a style. But then you have to be like a child. You have to be true to yourself, you have to let everything go, let the inner “you” guide you.
How do you balance technical details with getting good performances from actors?
Number one, even before you start shooting, you need an impulse, a very strong impulse, “I want to tell this story.” Then you play with scale, the thin line between enough and too much. Like yesterday, we were working with an actress who’s a good comedienne. She can act. But she’s too exaggerated, she’s doing too much, so you have to tell her, “Hold it back a little bit.”
Then you have to do a lot of takes, to let the actor and the DP know that we are getting close to that thin line of enough and not too much.
Do you let your actors improvise?
Occasionally. I have a background as an actor, so I know how to communicate with the cast. We don’t really have time to try out things. What’s important is the rhythm, you have to keep everybody at the same pace, and find the right rhythm for the film as a whole. Some directors can’t keep that rhythm steady.
So how do you do that?
I don’t know, maybe it’s a gift. Is it taste? Aesthetics? Usually we are working too hard to stop and think about it.
Have you been editing as you go along?
We tried that, but there’s so much pressure, you just can’t keep up.
When you do edit, does your vision of the movie evolve?
I don’t usually accumulate a lot of footage. I don’t try a lot of takes. I’m more like a “cutting in the camera” kind of guy. Especially this time. We are on a tight schedule. My friend put it this way:
“Forty days? Unbelievable.”
You’re a member of the DGA [Directors Guild of America]. Will that play a role in your future projects?
I’m not too eager to become what people call an “international” director. I’m more focused on the Chinese market. It’s good to use DGA standards in my own work, but I want to keep making Chinese films for the Chinese market. Because that market is big, and it’s growing very fast. The DGA has a lot of good directors to serve America. China needs good directors to serve the Chinese.
Asian films can reach the same technical and artistic levels as Hollywood films. Can you use your position to build a broader base of acceptance for Chinese-language films throughout the world?
That’s one of my goals, to expand the Chinese film audience globally, to get more people from the around the world to appreciate Chinese film.
Once upon a time, the Hong Kong film industry made a lot of films that were loved by the world.
Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat. But films from mainland China have never been that popular. They’ve never had a golden age, a global acceptance.
How will that happen?
A lot of Chinese comedies are very language-based, one person telling a joke to another so the audience will laugh. I want to try something else. I want the comedy to appear naturally in the storytelling, instead of relying heavily on language. If your movie’s heavily language-oriented, the people who don’t speak Chinese will never be able to understand it. But if you imbue the comedy into the story, make it naturally part of the storytelling, more people will be able to appreciate that.
Source: China Film Insider
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Actor Jing Boran poses for fashion magazine
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Chen Shu poses for photo shoot
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Yang Mi, Zhang Xinyu, Wang Like and Qi Wei pose for photo shoot
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This Is the World's Most-Watched Television Show
(Bloomberg) While Lunar New Year celebrations may be best known for food, fireworks and family reunions, in China the holiday is also epitomized by a single TV show.
Since 1983, viewing at least part of the Spring Festival Gala on the state-run China Central Television network, or CCTV, has been a national tradition. This year’s program will run for about four hours on Thursday night, and include songs, dance routines and comedy acts spotlighting China’s provinces and various ethnic groups. Spots about national heroes and key government projects -- such as the Belt and Road Initiative -- also feature.
While the number of viewers has been variously touted at about 700 million, Guinness World Records in 2012 said the show had unique viewership of 498.7 million, making it the globe’s “Most Watched National Network TV Broadcast.” By contrast, the audience for this year’s NFL Super Bowl, typically the most-watched show in the U.S., was 103.4 million viewers, according to NBC.
Still, even China’s state-run tabloid Global Times has conceded interest in the often rambling program is waning: “The gala was previously regarded as a must-watch for many in China on the Eve of Chinese New Year, but has suffered from a decline of viewership and popularity in recent years,” it said after the 2017 telecast.
Not to be deterred, CCTV’s producers have tried to lure younger viewers by adding acts like pop band TFboys to a lineup that traditionally features plenty of Chinese opera. The world’s most popular show will find out tonight whether these tactics can fend off competition from smartphones and social media.
Source: Bloomberg By Lee J Miller
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‘Monster Hunt 2’ Showcases China’s Improvements – and Ambitions – in Animation
(Variety) “Chinese animation is making great progress,” declared Raman Hui, director of “Monster Hunt 2,” the smash-hit hybrid of live action and animation that played in a Special Gala screening Sunday at the Berlinale.
Hui’s is no empty boast: His family-oriented adventure film has just taken in $190 million in three days at the Chinese box office over the lunar new year holiday.
“Monster Hunt 2” is the latest and highest-profile example of China’s leap forward in the animation business. Also over the holiday weekend, the fifth Boonie Bears movie, “Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink,” earned $40 million; Netflix has just picked up rights to the franchise’s third installment. And China’s Light Chaser Animation is making a series of increasingly high-quality 3D animations.
Hui spent his early career in Hollywood and was co-creator of “Shrek.” Speaking to Variety at the Berlin Film Festival, he said the improving Chinese animation industry allowed an increase in quantity and quality of CGI in “Monster Hunt 2.”
“When I first came back [to Asia], animators were mostly operators. I needed to tell them what to do and show them the steps. I’ve forced them to think, and they are doing so. That means I can ask the animators’ opinions more and ask for suggestions, where previously they’d be surprised that I was even asking,” said Hui. “I hope to see more of this. It is good for the industry.”
Doing a sequel did not necessarily make the production much easier. “That’s because we had a lot of new characters, such as BenBen the big monster,” Hui said, “and the CGI environment was a new task for me.”
But along with improved technical and imaginative flair, “Monster Hunt 2” features an increase in human star power, in the form of Tony Leung Chiu-wai (“In the Mood for Love,” “Grandmaster”), who plays a feckless but charming rogue.
“Our thoughts were mostly about that character. Above all, we wanted a really good actor,” said Hui.
“Tony is such a good performer that he pushed the animators, too. I encouraged them to raise their level and to match him.
“It was still hard for him,” Hui added. “He had to interact with monsters he could not see. Sometimes we’d use a ping pong ball to match his eye line. But other shots we’d have to take it away, and he’d simply have to remember.”
Producer Bill Kong encouraged Hui “to do more.” That push turned “Monster Hunt 2” into a multinational effort, with VFX provided by half a dozen companies on both sides of the Pacific, including Industrial Light & Magic and Whiskytree from the U.S., and China’s BaseFX in Beijing, Original Force in Nanjing, Trouper Visual Effects in Shanghai and CGCG in Taiwan.
A story outline for “Monster Hunt 3” already exists, Hui said. It has yet to receive a green light from Kong, but if it does, Hui’s thesis of “great progress” in Chinese animation may face a new test.
Source: Variety By Patrick Frater
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‘Monster Hunt 2’ Scores $190 Million as China Enjoys Half Billion Dollar Weekend
(Variety) Raman Hui’s family-friendly adventure, “Monster Hunt 2” earned $190 million to top the China box office over the first three days of the Chinese New Year holidays.
Though “Monster Hunt 2” ran out as winner, the box office bounty was widely spread. “Detective Chinatown 2” also earned $154 million in three days, and took the crown from “Monster Hunt” on Sunday. Data from Ent Group showed fantasy “The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women” earning $79.9 million, and actioner “Operation Red Sea” scoring $70.3 million. Chinese-made animation, “Boonie Bears” earned a cool $40.9 million in fifth place.
Together the top five films scored a record-breaking $543 million. The total is more than double the score achieved in the equivalent Chinese New Year weekend in either of the last two years. Last year, the session was worth $205 million. In 2016, the weekend cumulative was $224 million.
One explanation for the huge leap is that now that exhibition chains have built out multiplexes into fourth and fifth tier cities, cinema is the only viable form of modern entertainment in smaller markets. Another is that Chinese film makers have raised their game, and improved quality of their content since being shaken by a flat 12-month period between mid-2016 and summer 2017.
“Monster Hunt” enjoyed huge anticipation and record-breaking pre-sales. One of its selling points was its smack down the middle appeal to families. Many bought tickets in small groups. The star power of Tony Leung Chiu-wai gilded a picture with far-better visual qualities and an even more inoffensive story line than its 2015 predecessor, which ran on to earn $390 million.
Similarly, smart chase comedy, “Detective Chinatown” shifted a gear and relocated much of the action to a hyper-kinetic version of New York. It was rewarded with good word of mouth and the transfer of some screens away from “Monster Hunt.” Good word of mouth also lifted “Red Sea Operation” ahead of “Monkey King 3” on Sunday.
Understanding the mass appeal of local content in smaller Chinese cities, IMAX released giant screen versions of all three top films. “Monster Hunt 2” led the way with $7 million, followed by “Detective Chinatown 2” with $6.7 million. They combined for $15.1 million of IMAX box office for the 3-day weekend, IMAX’s best ever Fri/Sat/Sun result in China. Friday was the best single day result in IMAX’s history in China.
Source: Variety By Patrick Frater
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Stills from Jiang Wen's Hidden Man
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Qin Hailu poses for photo shoot
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Zhou Dongyu at fashion event in London
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Monster Hunt 2 premieres at Berlin Film Festival
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Huang Junjie and Xie Xin pose for fashion magazine
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Street shots of Zhang Xueying in NY for fashion week
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Zhang Tian'ai in Milan for fashion event
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Zhou Dongyu on red carpet for British Academy of Film Awards
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Yang Rong poses for photo shoot
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Headlines From China: Monkey King No Longer A Marketable IP?
(CFI) Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels and its characters have long been a favorite among Chinese audiences and there is at least one film adaptation released every Chinese New Year.
2018 is no exception, Monkey King 3, produced by Filmko Entertainment, and released on February 16, is the latest Journey-to-the-West-themed film.
Costing 550 million yuan ($86.7 million), the film opened to 170 million yuan ($26.8 million) in box office earnings, but was quickly overtaken by animation filmBoonie Bears: The Big Shrink; its projected ticket sales is under 1 billion yuan ($157 million), much less than that of Monster Hunt 2, Detective Chinatown 2, and Operation Red Sea. In the past few years, The Monkey King, The Monkey King 2, and Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, films based on the classic novel have all been box office winners.
Further, The Monkey King 3 is only rated 4.7 on review site Douban, making many question whether the moviegoers are tired of remakes of Journey to the West.
Source: China Film Insider
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