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Cai Wenjing poses for photo shoot
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Warner Bros. to Rerelease Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' Trilogy in Hong Kong, Taiwan
The news comes as cinemas in Hong Kong and Taiwan cautiously reopen after an enforced lockdown related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The trilogy will be screened in select cinemas, including Imax, ahead of the still slated release of Nolan's latest film, Tenet, on July 17.
In Hong Kong, Batman Begins (2005) will be screened June 4, The Dark Knight (2008) on June 11 and The Dark Knight Rises (2012) on June 18. In Taiwan, the films will be released from May 29.
The upcoming rerelease of The Dark Knight trilogy in Hong Kong follows Warner Bros.' rerelease of a 4K remastered version of The Matrix in the territory earlier this month.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter by Abid Rahman
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Hu Ge poses for photo shoot
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Zhang Xueying poses for photo shoot
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Xuan Lu poses for photo shoot
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Chen Shu poses for photo shoot
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Landi Li poses for photo shoot
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Disney's streaming chief Mayer to become TikTok CEO
Mayer led the successful launch of the Disney+ streaming service in November but in February was passed over as Disney’s new chief executive.
Mayer’s appointment will be effective June 1, when he will also become chief operating officer of ByteDance, the Chinese company said.
TikTok, which allows users to create short videos with special effects, has become wildly popular with U.S. teenagers doing viral challenges that pair dances with music clips from the app’s library. TikTok has hinted at ambitions to build a music streaming business, announcing in January that it was partnering with U.K.-based music rights agency Merlin to expand its musical selections.
ByteDance’s Chinese ownership, however, has sparked concerns in Washington about TikTok’s handling of personal data. The company uses sophisticated artificial intelligence to make video recommendations based on users’ behavior on the app.
In November, the U.S. government launched a national security review of ByteDance’s $1 billion acquisition of social media app Musical.ly, which became TikTok. Two senators introduced a bill to ban federal employees from using TikTok on government-issued phones.
One of those senators, Republican Josh Hawley, said TikTok previously told him its executives could not testify before Congress because they were located in China.
“But this new executive lives in the USA,” Hawley wrote on Twitter on Monday. “I look forward to hearing from him. Under oath.”
To appease concerns, ByteDance has stepped up efforts to separate TikTok from much of its Chinese businesses and has made several high-profile executive hires in recent months. It appointed former Microsoft intellectual property chief Erich Andersen as global general counsel in January, after hiring Vanessa Pappas, a veteran YouTube executive, to run its U.S. operations last year.
Speculation over Mayer’s future began swirling in February after Disney named Robert Chapek as chief executive officer. Mayer, who has a “loud and forceful” style, according to a former Disney executive, was seen as a dealmaker who had only recently been put in charge of a large profit-and-loss division. His relative lack of operating experience was a main reason he did not get the top job, the former executive said.
A ByteDance spokesman said the company had “no reservations” about Mayer’s operational experience. “Any company in our sector would be delighted have him onboard.”
Under Mayer’s leadership, Disney+ collected more than 50 million subscribers in five months.
Disney named Rebecca Campbell, a 23-year company veteran, to replace Mayer as head of the direct-to-consumer and international division, which includes the streaming media units Disney is counting on to drive future growth.
Source: Reuters; Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles and Katie Paul in San Francisco; additional reporting by Helen Coster and Echo Wang in New York and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler
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Top China Exec Talks 2020 Theatrical Lineup, Including Two From Zhang Yimou
China’s cinemas shuttered in late January to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. A bevy of blockbusters expecting to see record box office returns over the Lunar New Year holiday were pulled at the eleventh hour and have not been given new release dates.
But new information from Fu Ruoqing, chairman of major state-owned distributor Huaxia, says audiences will be able to catch the delayed Chinese New Year films “The Rescue,” Dante’s epic actioner about the Chinese coast guard, and Stanley Tong’s “Vanguard” in the second half of 2020, as well as Zhang’s new spy thriller “Impasse.”
“There will definitely be some large-scale movies released during the summer period, and the National Day release window will exhibit the same surge as last year,” he said in a video interview with a state broadcaster.
Although China’s top administrative body has recently given cinemas the green light to reopen, no orders to actually do so have been issued, with insiders now predicting that theaters will not resume operations until early June. No specific release dates have been issued yet.
Beyond “Impasse,” Zhang, the celebrated helmer of “Shadow” and “Red Sorghum,” will also be executive producing a new propaganda film backed by the faltering studio Beijing Culture, which will debut during China’s National Day holiday on Oct. 1, Fu said.
The film, whose Chinese title roughly translates to “Me and My Hometown,” is modeled on last year’s National Day propaganda juggernaut “My People, My Country.” Authorities let that title linger in theaters long enough to become China’s eighth-highest grossing film of all time with a box office gross of $446 million, above “Dying to Survive.”
Zhang Yibai (“Fleet of Time”) is listed as the new film’s “executive planner” and Ning Hao (“Crazy Alien,” “Breakup Buddies”) as executive director. Both directed shorts included in “My People, My Country” as well.
“Me and My Hometown” will consist of five shorts helmed by a who’s who of China’s most bankable directors. Ning, Xu Zheng (“Lost in Russia”), and Chen Sicheng (“Detective Chinatown 3”) will direct their own, while Yan Fei and Peng Damo, the duo who co-directed box office hit “Hello Mr. Billionaire,” will team up for one, and Deng Chao (“Shadow”) and Yu Baimei, who co-directed rom-com “The Breakup Guru,” for another.
It has begun shooting this month. Chinese reports note that Chen arrived in the southwestern province of Guizhou on Monday with his film crew, along with actor Dong Zijian (“Mountains May Depart”), and “Detective Chinatown 3” A-listers Liu Haoran and Wang Baoqiang.
“This film is a relaxing, joyful, emotional comedy,” said Fu, emphasizing that its release will not be delayed by the coronavirus. He said that another film, whose name roughly translates to “Almost Home,” is also set to debut on National Day.
There remains no indication of when audiences might be able to catch a glimpse of “One Second,” Zhang’s Cultural Revolution-set ode to cinema that was abruptly pulled by censors from the Berlin International Film Festival in 2019.
Source: Variety by Rebecca Davis
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Shen Yue poses for photo shoot
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Guli Nazha poses for photo shoot
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Chen Yao poses for photo shoot
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Guli Nazha poses for photo shoot
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Zhang Tianai poses for photo shoot
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Shanghai Film Festival Is Postponed Due to Coronavirus
Organizers said on Wednesday that they were unable to go ahead as planned with the 23rd edition of the A-list festival, which was to have run June 13-23. They were careful not to describe the festival as canceled, but they were unable to advise the new dates.
“Despite the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparations for 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival have progressed steadily thanks to the generous support and deep engagement of the entire film community at home and abroad. We are deeply grateful for what you’ve done for us, and we hereby apologize for any inconveniences caused by the postponement,” they said in a statement. “The new dates for the 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival will be announced as soon as possible.”
The Shanghai event is not the first film festival in Asia to be halted due to the impact of the virus outbreak. The Beijing International Film Festival, in China’s capital, had its physical manifestation canceled and was replaced earlier this month with a much smaller, online-only showcase. But Shanghai is the most prestigious in the region to have suffered this fate.
The announcement comes at a time when much of China is now emerging from stay-at-home regimes into a post-coronavirus new normal and economic activity is gaining speed. The giant Shanghai megalopolis, in particular, had escaped the worst effects of the coronavirus compared with other cities. Despite being one of the world’s largest cities, Shanghai has recorded only 666 cases of the virus and 7 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.
The decision to postpone the mid-June likely has two main causes. First, while China is busily restarting its economy, the authorities are very aware of the possibility of second or third waves of infections. That has been the case in Wuhan, where the first cases of the COVID-19 virus were discovered, and where the city authorities were this month caught out by new infections . In reaction Wuhan has now ordered the testing of 11 million people in the city.
In order to prevent imported infections, China has so far largely kept its borders closed. No date has yet been announced for when cross-border travel restrictions will be lifted.
The other factor is likely to be another date uncertainty, this one concerning when mainland China’s movie exhibition sector will reopen. Central authorities have said that cinemas may reopen, but they have largely left it in the hands of city and provincial authorities to make local decisions. While some commentators and surveys have suggested that the Chinese public is looking forward to the collective cinema experience, few are suggesting that box office will immediately return to its normal trajectory.
Source: Variety by Patrick Frater
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Liu Tao poses for photo shoot
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Sun Yi poses for photo shoot
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Song Qian poses for photo shoot
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Janine Chang poses for photo shoot
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Lang Lang Intl Music Foundation to stage virtual concerts
Each concert will last 20 to 30 minutes, the foundation said in a press release Wednesday. Lang Lang has had his performance recorded, which will be played at the concert together with the performances from his Young Scholars program. After the concert, there will be a live question-answer session involving the audience. All concerts are free.
Lang Lang is a world-famous Chinese pianist. The foundation aims to educate, inspire, and motivate the next generation of music lovers and performers. The Young Scholars Program has been in place since the foundation's launch in 2008. Being a music education initiative, the program is designed to identify and support talented young pianists in their professional development, and in the delivery of live performances.
Play It Forward is a community service initiative launched for the Young Scholars, through which the foundation brings classical music performances to schools, retirement homes, and community centers across the United States.
Source: Xinhua
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