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Jiang Wen's new epic lauded by filmmakers and critics

July 15, 2018, 7:45 am
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Jiang Wen's new film "Hidden Man" was unveiled to great applause by fellow filmmakers and film critics at an outdoor venue in a remote location in Beijing on Tuesday. 
"This is a celebration, because Jiang Wen's films are always a festival for all Chinese filmmakers," actor Huang Bo said. 
The violent, tense, exotic, romantic and sexy "Hidden Man," based on the major characters and plotline of Zhang Beihai's novel, tells a story about a special agent's revenge amid romance and various conspiracies set in 1937 Beijing, when Japanese invaders were going to take over China. 
The film differs vastly from the original novel and is called "a unique wild imaginative adaptation" with Jiang's own "perspective and characteristics." The novelist Zhang previously said he didn't mind how Jiang would adapt his novel.
Jiang's premiere was also different. Rather than taking place in a normal movie cinema in the business district, it was held at an outdoor theater under the starry night in scenic Gubei Water Town in Miyun, Beijing, often billed as "China's Venice." The special location was actually where the screenplay writing team worked and the film wrapped up its shooting in the town a year ago.
With previous "Let the Bullets Fly"(2010) and "Gone with the Bullets" (2014), this is the last installment of a series of films loosely called "Jiang Wen's Republic of China Trilogy." Jiang adapted three different novels by different writers and put them in this so-called trilogy box to portray various people in the turbulent era before the New China was founded in 1949. 
Jiang also delicately recreated the old city of Peking (Beijing) from history in the film by using digital technology and set designs since many have forgotten how the old Chinese capital city looked like before 1949.
After "Gone with the Bullets" flopped at the box office in 2014, Jiang was absent for four years from the Chinese film industry to focus on this film - hoping to strike back. During the four years, Jiang only spared time to play a critically acclaimed role in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" in 2016 and learned vital experience from Hollywood production.
During the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival held in June, where Jiang served as chairman of the jury, "Hidden Man" was voted as "the most anticipated film" while Jiang was voted as "the most anticipated director" on the predominant social network Weibo.com at the event of the Weibo Film Gala. Later, even pop diva Faye Wong contributed a theme song to the film.
"Hidden Man" stars actor Eddie Peng, Jiang Wen himself, his wife and actress Zhou Yun alongside actor Liao Fan and actress Xu Qing. It has so far received an 8.2/10 rating on Douban.com, an online movie review aggregation website. The film opened on July 13 in theaters across China. 
Jiang's new debut will intensify the Chinese summer film season even more as the new film phenomenon "Dying to Survive" has already surpassed 2-billion-yuan (US$300 million) mark on Friday after its debut just a week ago.
Source: china.org
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Zhang Zifeng poses for fashion magazine

July 15, 2018, 7:46 am
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Actress Zhang Zifeng


Source: Xinhua
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Actor Wang Yibo poses for fashion magazine

July 15, 2018, 7:48 am
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Top star Zhao Liying poses for the fashion magazine

July 15, 2018, 7:53 am
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Actress Zhao Liying


Source: China Daily
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Posters from Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings

July 16, 2018, 8:24 am
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Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is set to be released on July 27, 2018.


Source: Xinhua
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China Box Office: ‘Dying to Survive’ Scores $69 Million, Holds Off ‘Hidden Man’

July 16, 2018, 8:26 am
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(Variety) Social drama “Dying to Survive” continued its domination of the Chinese box office, despite a challenge from new revenge drama “Hidden Man.” “Dying to Survive’s” $68.5 million take was the highest outside North America this weekend and the second highest worldwide.

By contrast, big-budget Chinese fantasy “Asura,” which was seen as a potential franchise-launcher, limped to third place in its opening weekend with a meager score of $6.88 million. The film, one of the largest-budget movies ever made in China, will be withdrawn from release, producer Zhenjian Studio announced on social media. It may be re-released at a later date.

The race between the top two finishers was closest on Friday, when pharmaceutical story “Dying” earned $18.3 million, according to data tracker Ent Group. “Hidden Man,” the highly anticipated tentpole from director-actor Jiang Wen, earned $17.9 million on its opening day. But in subsequent days it slipped, finishing with $46.5 million after three days.

Within those totals, “Hidden Man” enjoyed 506 IMAX screens in China, earning $2 million. “Dying to Survive,” also sharing the IMAX circuit, earned $1 million from 391 screens. Its 10-day IMAX cumulative take stands at $9 million.

After 11 days, “Dying to Survive” has a cumulative of $366 million.

Locally made animation “New Happy Dad and Son 3: Russian Adventure” took $3.49 million in its second weekend for fourth place. After 10 days, it has a cumulative of $17.5 million.

A trio of other holdover titles clustered together for fifth, sixth and seventh places. “Animal World” held on for $1.3 million, lifting its cumulative to $71.9 million after 17 days. “The Incredibles 2” earned $1.21 million for $50.7 million after 24 days. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” earned $1.11 million for a total of $249 million after 31 days.

Source: Variety By Patrick Frater
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China's First $100M Film Pulled From Cinemas After Disastrous Opening Weekend

July 16, 2018, 8:30 am
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(THR) In the long lead-up to its release, Chinese fantasy epic Asura was promoted as China's most expensive film ever made, with a production budget of over $110 million (750 million yuan). So perhaps it's unsurprising that the film's producers, which include Jack Ma's Alibaba Pictures, decided to take desperate action after the movie opened to just $7.1 million over the weekend.

Late Sunday evening in Beijing, Asura's official social media accounts posted a simple statement saying that the film would be pulled from cinemas as of 10 p.m. local time. After landing in theaters with limited fanfare, China's priciest picture ever would vanish from the scene entirely.

Asura is co-produced by Zhenjian Film Studio and Ningxia Film Group — two of the investors behind the successful Painted Skin fantasy franchise — along with Alibaba Pictures Group and other minority investors.

The statement announcing Asura's retreat from cinemas supplied no explanation for the unprecedented move. But a representative from Zhenjian Film, which is credited as lead producer, later told Chinese news site Sina: "This decision was made not only because of the bad box office.

We plan to make some changes to the film and release it again."

A spokesperson for the film declined to comment when contacted by THR on Monday.

The producers had hoped that Asura would serve as the kickoff to a major fantasy franchise — a property akin to China's own Lord of the Rings. The film is an original dramatization of ancient Tibetan mythology, with a vast set of characters occupying different heavenly realms. Teenage heartthrob Lei Wu plays the film's hero, a young boy who must embark on an epic journey to save Asura, a godly dimension of pure desire, after it is threatened by a coup from a lower kingdom.

Veteran Hong Kong actors Tony Ka Fai Leung and Carina Lau also star as mythical demigods.

Some in the Chinese industry have expressed skepticism over Asura's purported $113 million budget — most of China's biggest blockbusters, such as Wolf Warrior 2 ($870), have been made for about half that much — but it's clear that the film's backers spent heavily on foreign production talent and lavish visual effects. The film's costumes were designed by Oscar-winner Ngila Dickson (Lord of the Rings), while Hollywood veteran Martín Hernandez served as audio director (The Revenant, Birdman) and Charlie Iturriaga (Deadpool, Furious 7) supervised the VFX work. The film is the directorial debut of Hollywood stunt coordinator-turned-filmmaker Peng Zhang (Rush Hour 3, Twilight 1 & 2).

Adding a layer of intrigue to the saga, Asura's backers are now alleging sabotage.

Some 90 percent of all Chinese movie tickets are bought online and two mobile ticketing platforms currently dominate the market, Alibaba-owned Tiao Piao Piao and Maoyan, partially backed by Tencent. Both services supply average user review scores for every film on release — numbers that have the same controversial power as Rotten Tomatoes'"tomatometer ratings" or Metacritic's "metascores" in North America. A third influential Chinese review aggregator, Douban.com, operates independently of the ticketing services and is known to attract a more discerning, sometimes snarky, reviewer community.

Just as trolls have occasionally gamed Rotten Tomatoes ratings in the U.S., Chinese studios have sometimes alleged that their scores were unfairly hurt by fake negative reviews — or that the competition was boosted by purchased positive ones. Such ghostwriters for hire are known in China as "shuijun," a pejorative term that literally means “water army,” because companies pay them to “flood” forums with fake reviews.

Asura's producers are now alleging that they were targeted by a particularly aggressive "water army" attack. In a second social media post, they say they discovered a large number of 1/10 reviews for Asura posted to Maoyan by suspicious accounts immediately after the film's release. Describing the episode as "the shame of the industry," they say a sizable discrepancy soon emerged between Asura's early average scores on Maoyan (4.9/10) and on Alibaba's Tiao Piao Piao (8.4/10). The statement concludes with a series of pointed statements directed at Maoyan, questioning the integrity of the platform's rating system and asking when the company will take action to address such problems. The post also ends with some disparaging words for the shadowy, unknown perpetrators of the campaign, saying that "whoever is behind this is dirty, stupid and ridiculous."

Asura's disastrously small debut may be the result of more important factors than a temporary rigging of Maoyan's ratings, however (After all, the ticketing service is usually estimated to have a market share of less than 40 percent).

A more obvious explanation could be that the film opened against uncommonly strong competition.

During the same frame that Asura debuted to just $7.1 million, holdover blockbuster Dying to Survive added $69 million for an 11-day total of $366 million, while veteran actor-director Jiang Wen's much anticipated period action movie Hidden Man opened to a healthy $46.2 million. Both films also have been critical favorites: Dying to Survive ranks at 8.9/10 or higher across all Chinese platforms, while Hidden Man has an average score of about 7.4/10.

The available tracking data also suggests that the usual makers of a bomb — low audience interest, weak marketing — also probably played a part. "Based on our tracking, prerelease market heat for this movie was quite low — below average," a representative for Beijing-based market research firm Fankink told THR Monday.

Asura's score on Maoyan also moderated to 6.4/10 as the weekend progressed, while its rating on Alibaba's Tao Piaopiao dropped to 7.1/10 by Sunday. If Maoyan's score started unfairly low, Tao Piao Piao's may have been initially inflated (both ticketing services have since pulled Asura's scores, since the film is no longer on release). Meanwhile, on Douban, Asura has held to the uncommonly low score of 3.1/10. Fair play or the work of a water army? The Internet in China will soon have its say.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter by Patrick Brzeski
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Young actress Lin Yun covers fashion magazine

July 16, 2018, 8:33 am
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 Actress Lin Yun


Source: China Daily
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Top actress Shu Qi covers fashion magazine

July 16, 2018, 8:34 am
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Actress Shu Qi


Source: China Daily
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Palme d'Or Winner 'Shoplifters' Gets China Release Date

July 17, 2018, 8:47 am
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(THR) Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) is set for an Aug. 3 release in China, with Huayi Brothers distributing in cooperation with Road Pictures, which picked up rights for the film after its Palme d'Or triumph at Cannes.

Kore-eda's legal drama The Third Murder was the Japanese director's first film to get a Chinese release when it was screened by Road Pictures on the country's newly developing arthouse circuit in March and April.

The involvement of Huayi Brothers, which is expanding its slate of Hollywood and other overseas films, should ensure Shoplifters gets a much wider release, a Gaga representative told The Hollywood Reporter.

The story of a dysfunctional family of petty criminals, Shoplifters just spent its sixth weekend in the box-office top five in Japan and has become the director's biggest hit, bringing in $33.8 million (￥3.8 billion) in its home market so far.

Kore-eda is currently in France preparing for his next film, Le Verite (The Truth), his first production overseas, which is due to start shooting in October.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter by Gavin J. Blair
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China big-budget fantasy epic pulled after box office flop

July 17, 2018, 8:50 am
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(Reuters) - A Chinese blockbuster hopeful backed by Alibaba Pictures Group and with a reported budget of over $100 million, was abruptly pulled from cinemas after a lackluster opening weekend at the box office.

The move highlights the challenges facing China as it seeks to promote home-grown productions to rival imported Hollywood films. Several big-budget Chinese films have flopped while more modest productions have done well.

The latest disappointment “Asura” was billed as China’s next big-budget film after 2016’s “The Great Wall”, a $150 million U.S.-China co-production starring Matt Damon. It also failed to impress at the box office.

“Asura”, a fantasy epic based on Tibetan mythology, was yanked from cinemas by producers after it brought in a meager 49.5 million yuan ($7.4 million) and received a lowly rating of 3.1 on the Chinese movie review site Douban.

In a statement posted on the film’s official social media platform, the producers said Asura was pulled from Sunday night and apologized to viewers who would not be able to see the movie that took six years to make.

In a separate, earlier post the producers took aim at the mediocre ratings of the film on online ticket sales platforms, saying they believed they were the result of an “organized, premeditated” bid to manipulate the numbers.

Those behind the alleged manipulation were “contemptible, foolish and laughable”, and such action was a disgrace to the movie industry, the producers said.

Chinese media quoted unidentified investors as saying the film would be modified and re-released at an unspecified date.

Alibaba Pictures did not have an immediate comment.

Asura is something of a warning for Chinese producers on the perils of big-budget movie making.

Even as the fantasy movie flopped, another film with a budget reported to be around $15 million struck a chord with movie goers.

“Dying to Survive”, the real-life story of a Chinese cancer patient arrested for importing drugs from India, has made over $350 million, according to box office tracker EntGroup.

China, which is on track to overtake the North America film market, has become an increasingly important region for global producers looking to pump up their box office returns, despite a quota on
imported films and strict censorship.

Source: Reuters; Reporting by Adam Jourdan, Pei Li and John Ruwitch; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Darren Schuettler
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Gong Li to chair judges at the 55th Golden Horse Awards

July 17, 2018, 8:53 am
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Actress Zhao Liying spotted in France

July 17, 2018, 8:55 am
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Actress Zhao Liying attends the Prix de Diane Longines 2018 at Hippodrome de Chantilly on June 17, 2018 in Chantilly, France.


Source: China Daily
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Zhang Tianai releases new photos

July 17, 2018, 8:57 am
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Actress Zhang Tianai


Source: Xinhua
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Actress Sun Li covers fashion magazine

July 17, 2018, 9:01 am
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Actress Sun Li


Source: China Daily
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Chinese Version of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Yanked From Youku

July 18, 2018, 7:52 am
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(Variety) China’s version of “Saturday Night Live” has been taken down from streaming platform Youku, as has another talk show featuring famous presenters from Taiwan. The removals come during a time of heightened political control of the media by the Chinese government.

The Chinese version of “SNL” on Youku was announced last year. The show has been running for a few weeks on Alibaba-owned Youku, but it is no longer available. The fourth episode was supposed to drop this past Saturday but did not. Previous episodes were also taken down.

Another program pulled from Youku is “Zhenxiang Ba! Huahua Wanwu” (roughly translated as “Truth! Everything”). The variety talk show reunites Dee Hsu and Kevin Tsai, famous presenters from Taiwan who two years ago bade farewell to their long-running show “Kangsi Coming,” one of the most popular talk shows in the Chinese-speaking world.

Youku could not be immediately reached for comment on the removals.

Although the U.S. “SNL” regularly lampoons political figures, particularly Donald Trump, the Chinese version steered clear of sensitive political jokes, which are taboo under the ruling Communist regime. Earlier this month, China’s State Administration of Radio and Television issued a set of guidelines calling for Internet content that helps young people with proper ideological development.

On its official Weibo feed, “SNL China” said it was working on the quality of the show to match audience expectation, but did not state when the show would resume.

Despite the high expectations, “SNL China” received only a 4.9 rating out of 10 on Douban. One user wrote: “My curiosity has prompted me to check out ‘SNL China.’ But my will to survive has caused me to exit the show as soon as I could.”

A critic on Chinese website Huxiu wrote that acquiring the right to a make a Chinese version did not mean the soul of the original would be included. Unlike the original “SNL” in the U.S., the Chinese version stars two comedians as regular show hosts and is pre-recorded.

“‘Saturday Night Live’ is successful because it encourages the audience to reflect on the reality behind the jokes and comic skits. It also ridicules American politics and culture, but this is obviously not allowed in China,” the Huxiu critique read.

To avoid political jokes, the Chinese version turned to other topics. One episode discussed feminism in China, with a sketch set in a Stone Age matriarchal society intended to make fun of modern-day sexism. But it ended up making feminists look ridiculous, according to the Huxia critique.

The state radio and TV administration’s guidelines urged streaming platforms to produce programs that are educational, positive and protect young people from the wrong values, calling on local censorship boards to “clear vulgar and harmful programs.” Programs such as reality talent shows, or shows that promote excessive consumerism, hedonism and materialism, are among the targets.

“Huahua Wanwu” features celebrities revealing their shopping lists, with a lineup of some of the biggest names from mainland China and Taiwan. The show was taken down after just one episode.

The show announced on its official Weibo micro-blogging site that it is “working on” the matter and urged fans to be patient.

The Chinese version of SNL is the 10th iteration of the satirical show, with other versions being made in countries such as France and Finland. The original U.S. show has been on the air for more than 40 years.

Source: Variety By Vivienne Chow
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Chinese Hit Movie ‘Dying to Survive’ Injects Urgency in Drug-Price Push

July 18, 2018, 7:55 am
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(WSJ) A dark comedy dominating the Chinese box office this summer has tapped into public discontent about pharmaceutical costs, and is being linked to a new government effort to tamp down prices of cancer drugs.

The film, “Dying to Survive,” is loosely based on the real-life exploits of Lu Yong, who smuggled cheap versions of a leukemia medication from India for resale to Chinese patients struggling to afford the genuine article. The low-budget film has taken in nearly 2.5 billion yuan ($374 million), since its release July 5, already making it the No. 6 highest-grossing movie in Chinese box office history, according to Beijing-based research firm EntGroup.

In addition to filling theaters, “Dying to Survive” has sparked an outpouring of comments on social media. In its first week, the film generated more than 200 posts topping 100,000 views on social-media app WeChat , according to web-tracking firm newrank.cn.

Costs for certain drugs have long been an issue in China, where government insurance doesn’t cover everything and people with severe diseases can have big out-of-pocket expenses.

Last week, the Chinese State Medical Insurance Bureau summoned representatives from 10 foreign and eight domestic pharmaceutical companies to begin preliminary discussions on cutting cancer drug prices, state media reported Sunday.

“The timing of the movie and recent government actions to crack down on drug prices are not accidental,” said Roger Liu, a former pharmaceutical industry executive who now runs his own drug-consulting firm.

Officials from the State Medical Insurance Bureau didn’t immediately respond to calls for comment.
Beijing has been campaigning to reduce drug prices for several years. In May, China removed import tariffs on cancer drugs.

Mr. Lu, on whom the film is based, imported an Indian knockoff of Glivec, which is made by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG . In the film, the drug company and its product are identified by Mandarin names that sound similar to Novartis and Glivec. In the film’s English subtitles, however, the company is simply called “Novartis.”

A Beijing-based spokeswoman for Novartis Oncology (China) declined to comment on the movie.

But she said Novartis has a program to help low-income Chinese patients cover the cost of its cancer drugs. The program had helped more than 60,000 patients from 2003 through last year, she said.

Zhou Zijun, an associate professor at Peking University’s School of Public Health, said Novartis had to invest significant sums to develop the drug, and said such innovation should be rewarded with reasonable profit.

“In order to grab eyeballs, the best way for a movie is to have good guys and bad guys, but it’s not fair to Novartis,” Mr. Zhou said.

Chinese filmgoers like Zhang Yulin, however, say the film captures the pain many families experience when a loved one gets cancer and can’t afford good treatment.

Dr. Zhang, a Beijing physician, said she hadn’t been to the movies in years but felt compelled to see “Dying to Survive.”

“It is real life,” said Dr. Zhang, who saw the film Sunday afternoon in Beijing. “I know patients who had leukemia ended up losing both lives and money.”

Source: Wall Street Journal 
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Jiang Wen epic Hidden Man proves a hit at China box office

July 18, 2018, 7:56 am
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(China Daily) Opening to a box office haul of over 300 million yuan ($44.9 million), Jiang Wen's latest epic Hidden Man may have proved a hit with domestic audiences, but it has still failed to knock off Dying to Survive from the top of China's box office charts.

As the sixth film by the acclaimed actor-director, Hidden Man was adapted by Jiang from a martial arts novel by Zhang Beihai, which follows the struggles of a young secret agent as he tries to take on the invading Japanese forces in Beijing in 1937.

With a stellar cast led by Eddie Peng, Jiang himself, Zhou Yun, Liao Fan and Xu Qing, the movie hit Chinese theaters — including more than 500 IMAX screens — on July 13, grossing around 330 million yuan to date.

Although the movie has been widely acclaimed by critics and fans, it still hasn't managed to surpass the phenomenal success of the Xu Zheng-starring Dying to Survive, an emotional story about a leukemia sufferer trying to secure affordable medicine, which has raked in 2.5 billion yuan since it opened on July 5.

Occupying the second slot in China's box office charts, Hidden Man is followed by animated feature New Happy Dad and Son 3: Adventure in Russia, and Animal World in fourth position.

Source: By Xu Fan | chinadaily.com.cn
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Zhang Yimou's new epic to dominate national holiday

July 18, 2018, 7:59 am
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Zhang Yimou's new period historical epic "Shadow" is set for National Day holiday release and will showcase unprecedented Chinese visuals in the martial arts production.
The eminent Chinese director worked on the script with his team for three years before taking almost two years for filming and post production. Set in the period of the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history in the third century A.D., it tells the story about a "nobody," who had been imprisoned since he was eight years old and refuses to accept his fate as a puppet double, fight his way to gain back his freedom.
Le Chuang Entertainment, formerly Le Vision Pictures, Perfect Village Entertainment, Tencent Pictures, and Bona Film Group produced the film, and stars included Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai, Wang Qianyuan, Hu Jun, Wang Jingchun, Guan Xiaotong and Wu Lei. Variety magazine polled its international team of critics last December to select the 20 most anticipated films of 2018, and "Shadow" is one of them. 
Deng Chao will play two roles in the film; one as a local military officer, the other as the officer's shadow double. It is interesting to note, the actor's real-life wife, actress Sun Li, will play the role of the officer's wife in the film.
The film will be unique, even for Zhang's unique martial arts universe which includes the film "Hero," since "Shadow" employs unprecedented classical artistry of Chinese ink wash painting integrated into the film. The director said he is inspired by the beautiful and poetic scenery of China through history, and he believes the implicit and introverted approach will provide the audience with a distinctive visual experience.
Distributors of "Shadow" announced on Wednesday its release date for Sept. 30, the eve of China's 7-day National Day vacation, in an attempt to dominate the holiday film season which serves as a golden opportunity and platform for Chinese films to profit and make their mark in history.
Source: china.org by Zhang Rui
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Qin Lan poses for fashion magazine

July 18, 2018, 8:03 am
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