Trinity CineAsia has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In, the Hong Kong period action drama that will screen at Cannes next month, in a deal with Media Asia.
Directed by Soi Cheang, the highly anticipated feature is set to be released in Hong Kong and China on May 1 before it plays in the Midnight Screenings section of Cannes. An opening date in the UK and Ireland has yet to be announced but Trinity CineAsia said it is “scheduled for release across cinemas nationwide soon after” the festival, which runs May 14-25.
Distribution deals were...
Directed by Soi Cheang, the highly anticipated feature is set to be released in Hong Kong and China on May 1 before it plays in the Midnight Screenings section of Cannes. An opening date in the UK and Ireland has yet to be announced but Trinity CineAsia said it is “scheduled for release across cinemas nationwide soon after” the festival, which runs May 14-25.
Distribution deals were...
- 4/29/2024
- ScreenDaily
"The reason you can sleep soundly, isn't the Walled City. It's the people inside it." So let them fight! Ha. An official trailer is already available now for this Hong Kong action movie titled Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. It was recently announced as one of the Midnight premieres in the line-up at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival coming up this May. It's also opening in China and Hong Kong first right at the beginning of May before heading to France after to premiere in Europe. The film is an adaptation of the manhua City of Darkness by Andy Seto. It stars the action legend Sammo Hung as well as Louis Koo as Tornado (龍捲風), a martial arts master who is regarded as a legend in Kowloon Walled City. It's also produced by Wilson Yip Wai Sun and John Chong. The film follows the troubled youth Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam...
- 4/16/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
China’s Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group and Hong Kong’s Media Asia Group announced a slate of new projects today at Filmart.
Among the new projects are Born Evil Seed by Time Still Turns The Pages director Nick Cheuk; crime thriller The Other One by Fung Chih Chiang (A Witness Out Of The Blue); and mystery thriller Behind The Scene, directed by David Lee Kwong Yiu and produced by Andrew Lau.
Alibaba Pictures president Li Jie and Media Asia Group CEO Yip Chai Tuck both attended the joint press conference held in Filmart’s Moonlight Theatre, which saw director Soi Cheang,...
Among the new projects are Born Evil Seed by Time Still Turns The Pages director Nick Cheuk; crime thriller The Other One by Fung Chih Chiang (A Witness Out Of The Blue); and mystery thriller Behind The Scene, directed by David Lee Kwong Yiu and produced by Andrew Lau.
Alibaba Pictures president Li Jie and Media Asia Group CEO Yip Chai Tuck both attended the joint press conference held in Filmart’s Moonlight Theatre, which saw director Soi Cheang,...
- 3/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Hktdc Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (Filmart) and EntertainmentPulse opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Hkcec). From 13 to 16 March, over 700 exhibitors will showcase films and TV shows to global buyers and build connections.
Comprising eight exciting events, including Filmart and EntertainmentPulse, the Entertainment Expo launch ceremony was officiated by Mr Kk Chan, the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Raistlin Lau, Acting Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Ms Zhou Jihong, First-Grade Counsel, International Cooperation Department, National Radio and Television Administration, Mr Zhang Guo Yi, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hksar, Ms Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (Hktdc), Mr John Chong, Chairman...
Comprising eight exciting events, including Filmart and EntertainmentPulse, the Entertainment Expo launch ceremony was officiated by Mr Kk Chan, the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Raistlin Lau, Acting Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Ms Zhou Jihong, First-Grade Counsel, International Cooperation Department, National Radio and Television Administration, Mr Zhang Guo Yi, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hksar, Ms Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (Hktdc), Mr John Chong, Chairman...
- 3/17/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Kowloon Walled City — one of Hong Kong’s most famous landmarks, or infamous trouble spots, depending on your point of view — fell prey to the developers’ bulldozer 30 years ago. But it remains an icon of the territory’s gritty spirit and is being painstakingly re-created for action thriller feature “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.”
The film is a beacon for how Hong Kong cinema is now evolving. Directed by hot-shot Soi Cheang, whose “Mad Fate” recently played in Berlin and is set for imminent local release, “Twilight” boasts leading stars Louis Koo, Sammo Hung and Richie Jen, plus emerging talents Philip Ng, Raymond Lau and Terrance Lau.
The film’s Hk$300 million ($39 million) budget makes it one of the most expensive Hong Kong productions of all time. But principal backer Media Asia is sparing no expense promoting the title. The company’s corporate booth at the FilMart rights market...
The film is a beacon for how Hong Kong cinema is now evolving. Directed by hot-shot Soi Cheang, whose “Mad Fate” recently played in Berlin and is set for imminent local release, “Twilight” boasts leading stars Louis Koo, Sammo Hung and Richie Jen, plus emerging talents Philip Ng, Raymond Lau and Terrance Lau.
The film’s Hk$300 million ($39 million) budget makes it one of the most expensive Hong Kong productions of all time. But principal backer Media Asia is sparing no expense promoting the title. The company’s corporate booth at the FilMart rights market...
- 3/14/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Soi Cheang’s action film recently sold to Well Go USA for North America.
Hong Kong’s Media Asia has closed a major European deal on Soi Cheang’s period action film Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In.
The action feature has been acquired by Koch Films for Germany, following a North American deal agreed earlier this week with Well Go USA.
Fred Tsui, general manager and head of sales and international co-productions at Media Asia, negotiated the deal with Moritz Peters, director of acquisitions at Koch Films, on the ground in Cannes.
“Both parties agree that to have reached...
Hong Kong’s Media Asia has closed a major European deal on Soi Cheang’s period action film Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In.
The action feature has been acquired by Koch Films for Germany, following a North American deal agreed earlier this week with Well Go USA.
Fred Tsui, general manager and head of sales and international co-productions at Media Asia, negotiated the deal with Moritz Peters, director of acquisitions at Koch Films, on the ground in Cannes.
“Both parties agree that to have reached...
- 5/21/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
A deal “close to seven figures” closed during the Cannes film market.
Hong Kong’s Media Asia has sold Soi Cheang’s action film Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In to Well Go USA for North America.
The deal was “close to seven figures Usd”, according to Fred Tsui, general manager and head of Sales and international co-productions at Media Asia.
Starring Louis Koo (Election), Sammo Hung (Ip Man) and Richie Jen (Trivisa), the film is set inside the 1980s Kowloon Walled City, a dangerous Chinese enclave within British colonial Hong Kong.
It follows a troubled youth as he accidentally enters the Walled City,...
Hong Kong’s Media Asia has sold Soi Cheang’s action film Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In to Well Go USA for North America.
The deal was “close to seven figures Usd”, according to Fred Tsui, general manager and head of Sales and international co-productions at Media Asia.
Starring Louis Koo (Election), Sammo Hung (Ip Man) and Richie Jen (Trivisa), the film is set inside the 1980s Kowloon Walled City, a dangerous Chinese enclave within British colonial Hong Kong.
It follows a troubled youth as he accidentally enters the Walled City,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Soi Cheang’s “Twilight of The Warriors: Walled In” has been licensed to WellGo USA for North American release. The deal with Hong Kong’s Media Asia marks a rare advanced-sale of a commercial Cantonese-language movie in a market that has recently been marked by uncertainty.
The action thriller is a live-action adaptation of the cult manga series “City of Darkness” that is set in the 1980s inside the almost lawless Kowloon Walled City.
With a stellar cast headlined by Louis Koo (“Election”), Sammo Hung (“Ip Man”) and Richie Jen (“Trivisa”), the film recently completed production and is now in post-production. Media Asia is now planning a release at an unspecified date in 2023.
“This is our first physical international market since the pandemic. And we are thrilled that things are getting back on track again,” said Frederick Tsui, Media Asia’s Gm, head of sales and international co-productions. “The teaser...
The action thriller is a live-action adaptation of the cult manga series “City of Darkness” that is set in the 1980s inside the almost lawless Kowloon Walled City.
With a stellar cast headlined by Louis Koo (“Election”), Sammo Hung (“Ip Man”) and Richie Jen (“Trivisa”), the film recently completed production and is now in post-production. Media Asia is now planning a release at an unspecified date in 2023.
“This is our first physical international market since the pandemic. And we are thrilled that things are getting back on track again,” said Frederick Tsui, Media Asia’s Gm, head of sales and international co-productions. “The teaser...
- 5/18/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Now completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.”
The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.
The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.
Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when...
The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.
The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.
Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when...
- 3/14/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Hong Kong studio also seals string of deals on Tales From The Occult, Fagara and a package of 4K restored classics.
Media Asia Distribution has sealed a string of sales during the European Film Market (EFM) and Filmart period, including a North American deal on Cai Cong’s historical action title God Of War 2, which has gone to Well Go USA.
The Hong Kong-based studio has also sold three titles to Musahino in Japan – omnibus Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, Heiward Mak’s Fagara and Patrick Kong’s The Calling Of A Bus Driver.
Septet: The Story Of Hong...
Media Asia Distribution has sealed a string of sales during the European Film Market (EFM) and Filmart period, including a North American deal on Cai Cong’s historical action title God Of War 2, which has gone to Well Go USA.
The Hong Kong-based studio has also sold three titles to Musahino in Japan – omnibus Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, Heiward Mak’s Fagara and Patrick Kong’s The Calling Of A Bus Driver.
Septet: The Story Of Hong...
- 3/17/2021
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The new project is titled ’Septette: More Stories Of Hong Kong’.
Hong Kong-based Media Asia is lining up a second omnibus project looking back at the history of Hong Kong, entitled Septette: More Stories Of Hong Kong, with the focus on emerging rather than veteran filmmakers.
Last year, Media Asia’s Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, which was selected for the Cannes 2020 Label, featured seven short films from directors such as Ann Hui, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Patrick Tam. The film, which To produced, also screened as the opening film of Busan International Film Festival and played in the Limelight section of Rotterdam.
Hong Kong-based Media Asia is lining up a second omnibus project looking back at the history of Hong Kong, entitled Septette: More Stories Of Hong Kong, with the focus on emerging rather than veteran filmmakers.
Last year, Media Asia’s Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, which was selected for the Cannes 2020 Label, featured seven short films from directors such as Ann Hui, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Patrick Tam. The film, which To produced, also screened as the opening film of Busan International Film Festival and played in the Limelight section of Rotterdam.
- 3/1/2021
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Singapore studio MM2 Asia and Fox Networks Group Asia are producing “Memory Eclipse,” a mini-series and movie inspired by the classic Chinese songs of Teresa Teng.
Teng was a Taiwan-born singer who was said to be have the best voice of her generation in Chinese. She also recorded in English and Japanese. She died in middle age in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1995, but her repertoire and her image have remained popular.
The anthology series takes its cue from three of Teng’s songs: “Just Like Your Tenderness,” “I Only Care About You,” and, arguably her most famous, “The Moon Represents My Heart.” Each song inspires an individual story, which is are then connected to form the story arc.
The feature movie will be completed in the second quarter of 2020 and release before the series airs. It stars Yu Hua Sung, Cheryl Yang, Kaiser Chang, Esther Liu, J.C. Lin and Hsin-Ying Hsieh.
Teng was a Taiwan-born singer who was said to be have the best voice of her generation in Chinese. She also recorded in English and Japanese. She died in middle age in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1995, but her repertoire and her image have remained popular.
The anthology series takes its cue from three of Teng’s songs: “Just Like Your Tenderness,” “I Only Care About You,” and, arguably her most famous, “The Moon Represents My Heart.” Each song inspires an individual story, which is are then connected to form the story arc.
The feature movie will be completed in the second quarter of 2020 and release before the series airs. It stars Yu Hua Sung, Cheryl Yang, Kaiser Chang, Esther Liu, J.C. Lin and Hsin-Ying Hsieh.
- 10/9/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
China’s spat with Taiwan over the prestigious Golden Horse film awards has escalated, with mainland productions and stars being ordered to boycott the ceremony and some Hong Kong companies and celebrities reportedly pulling out as well.
China’s state-run CCTV announced on its official Weibo site Wednesday that the China Film Administration had banned local films and filmmakers from taking part in the 56th edition of the Golden Horse Awards, often dubbed the Oscars of Chinese-language cinema. The glittering annual event takes place in Taiwan.
At last year’s ceremony, award-winning Taiwanese director Fu Yue’s acceptance speech sparked a political firestorm when she said she hoped Taiwan could be treated as an independent entity. That quickly drew condemnation from some mainland Chinese actors attending the ceremony, including Gong Li, and on social media in mainland China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory.
China had already announced in...
China’s state-run CCTV announced on its official Weibo site Wednesday that the China Film Administration had banned local films and filmmakers from taking part in the 56th edition of the Golden Horse Awards, often dubbed the Oscars of Chinese-language cinema. The glittering annual event takes place in Taiwan.
At last year’s ceremony, award-winning Taiwanese director Fu Yue’s acceptance speech sparked a political firestorm when she said she hoped Taiwan could be treated as an independent entity. That quickly drew condemnation from some mainland Chinese actors attending the ceremony, including Gong Li, and on social media in mainland China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory.
China had already announced in...
- 8/7/2019
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
International players’ ambitions to turn Taiwan into a center for Mandarin-language productions might have given new hope to the island’s struggling filmmakers, but local observers say there is still a long way to go to reinvigorate its film industry.
Industry practitioners and critics say that although networks such as Fox, HBO and Netflix will give Taiwanese talents more international exposure and raise the standards of production, it is more likely to benefit genre filmmakers only. Arthouse filmmakers will have to look elsewhere.
In the decade since the wild success of “Cape No.7” in 2008, Taiwanese films have yet to find a way to sustain the box office miracle set by the acclaimed romantic drama. There have been occasional hits, such as “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (2011), “Our Times” (2015) and 2018’s box office winner “More Than Blues,” which was among the four Taiwanese films showcased at the recent Far East Film Festival in Udine,...
Industry practitioners and critics say that although networks such as Fox, HBO and Netflix will give Taiwanese talents more international exposure and raise the standards of production, it is more likely to benefit genre filmmakers only. Arthouse filmmakers will have to look elsewhere.
In the decade since the wild success of “Cape No.7” in 2008, Taiwanese films have yet to find a way to sustain the box office miracle set by the acclaimed romantic drama. There have been occasional hits, such as “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (2011), “Our Times” (2015) and 2018’s box office winner “More Than Blues,” which was among the four Taiwanese films showcased at the recent Far East Film Festival in Udine,...
- 5/14/2019
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
The uncertainties that loom over the media in mainland China could soon spark a renaissance of Taiwan’s film and television industries, with an increasing number of international and regional players planning to produce Mandarin-language content on the island that would target Chinese audiences worldwide.
Taiwan’s free environment, lower production costs and abundance of Mandarin-speaking talent all contribute to this movement.
Mainland China, on the other hand, is becoming less desirable as a production base because of the continuously tightened censorship and surging production and talent costs. The local industry is still recovering from the Fan Bingbing tax evasion scandal.
Although China’s tax authorities recovered more than 11.7 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) of back taxes from stars and entertainment companies at the end of 2018, this only concluded the first stage of the crackdown. Government actions will continue this year and certain productions are expected to be put on hold.
Fox...
Taiwan’s free environment, lower production costs and abundance of Mandarin-speaking talent all contribute to this movement.
Mainland China, on the other hand, is becoming less desirable as a production base because of the continuously tightened censorship and surging production and talent costs. The local industry is still recovering from the Fan Bingbing tax evasion scandal.
Although China’s tax authorities recovered more than 11.7 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) of back taxes from stars and entertainment companies at the end of 2018, this only concluded the first stage of the crackdown. Government actions will continue this year and certain productions are expected to be put on hold.
Fox...
- 2/7/2019
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
Fox Networks Group Asia is producing an anthology miniseries based on the music of legendary Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng.
The five-part series, Memory Eclipse, is the brainchild of Cora Yim, Fox svp and head of Chinese entertainment, and will be produced by veteran producer John Chong, who counts the Infernal Affairs trilogy among his over 100 credits. The series will be made in collaboration with Taiwan-based film production company Winday Culture, whose founder, Charles Sun, will serve as director.
The series will feature a different cast and story based on one of Teng's songs in each episode, set in ...
The five-part series, Memory Eclipse, is the brainchild of Cora Yim, Fox svp and head of Chinese entertainment, and will be produced by veteran producer John Chong, who counts the Infernal Affairs trilogy among his over 100 credits. The series will be made in collaboration with Taiwan-based film production company Winday Culture, whose founder, Charles Sun, will serve as director.
The series will feature a different cast and story based on one of Teng's songs in each episode, set in ...
- 11/13/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Fox Networks Group Asia will produce with Hong Kong producer John Chong and Taiwanese production outfit Winday Culture
Fox Networks Group Asia (Fnga) is teaming with Hong Kong producer John Chong and Taiwanese production outfit Winday Culture to produce a high-end mini-series based on the music of late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng.
The new anthology series, Memory Eclipse, will comprise five episodes, each with a different cast and storyline, based on one of Teng’s iconic songs. One of the most famous singers from the Chinese-speaking world, Teng was known for romantic ballads such as When Will You Return? and The Moon Represents My Heart.
Fox Networks Group Asia (Fnga) is teaming with Hong Kong producer John Chong and Taiwanese production outfit Winday Culture to produce a high-end mini-series based on the music of late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng.
The new anthology series, Memory Eclipse, will comprise five episodes, each with a different cast and storyline, based on one of Teng’s iconic songs. One of the most famous singers from the Chinese-speaking world, Teng was known for romantic ballads such as When Will You Return? and The Moon Represents My Heart.
- 11/12/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Teresa Teng, one of the most famous Chinese-language singers from the 1970s and 1980s is to be the subject of “Memory Eclipse.” The anthology series is an expansion of the original productions slate at Fox Networks Group in Asia.
The five-part series is produced by former Media Asia executive and “Infernal Affairs” producer John Chong. It is set up at Winday Culture, a film production company from Teng’s native Taiwan.
Each episode will feature a different cast of characters, with a storyline inspired a Teng song. Production will take place in Taiwan and Thailand, where she died suddenly while traveling, age 42. Release is set for 2019.
The series is directed by Winday founder Charles Sun. Key cast members include Kaiser Chuang (“Maverick”), Esther Liu J.C. Lin Nikki Hsieh Alan Kuo and Teresa Daley (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”).
Teng is one of the best-known cultural exports from Taiwan. Performing mainly in Mandarin,...
The five-part series is produced by former Media Asia executive and “Infernal Affairs” producer John Chong. It is set up at Winday Culture, a film production company from Teng’s native Taiwan.
Each episode will feature a different cast of characters, with a storyline inspired a Teng song. Production will take place in Taiwan and Thailand, where she died suddenly while traveling, age 42. Release is set for 2019.
The series is directed by Winday founder Charles Sun. Key cast members include Kaiser Chuang (“Maverick”), Esther Liu J.C. Lin Nikki Hsieh Alan Kuo and Teresa Daley (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”).
Teng is one of the best-known cultural exports from Taiwan. Performing mainly in Mandarin,...
- 11/12/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The Hong Kong-based company is best known for The Infernal Affairs trilogy.
Renowned Hong Kong producer John Chong has rejoined Media Asia, the Hong Kong-based company he co-founded and best known for The Infernal Affairs trilogy on which Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was based.
Chong has taken up a new role as special advisor to the chairman Peter Lam since August 1. His responsibilities include greenlighting scripts and investment for production as well as approving the final cut during post production.
He is one of the seven original founders of Media Asia when it was established in 1994. He is also...
Renowned Hong Kong producer John Chong has rejoined Media Asia, the Hong Kong-based company he co-founded and best known for The Infernal Affairs trilogy on which Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was based.
Chong has taken up a new role as special advisor to the chairman Peter Lam since August 1. His responsibilities include greenlighting scripts and investment for production as well as approving the final cut during post production.
He is one of the seven original founders of Media Asia when it was established in 1994. He is also...
- 8/7/2018
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive Set Visit: Cop thriller stars The Grandmaster’s Zhang Jin.
Renowned Hong Kong director Fruit Chan is currently shooting new action cop thriller Made In Kowloon in Macau.
The new film follows a Hong Kong police officer who crosses over to Macao after his fiancée has gone missing and stumbles on a series of murder cases.
The cast is headlined by Zhang Jin who won best supporting actor for The Grandmaster at the 2012 Hong Kong Film Awards, popular Hong Kong actor Kelvin Cheng and Annie Liu.
“The story is imbued with some Chinese mythical elements, which will set it apart from the traditional Hong Kong cop thrillers,” Chan - who is also the screenwriter - told Screen during the set visit.
It marks his first action-thriller, a departure from his early independent productions such as Little Cheung and Durian Durian and subsequent genre films Dumplings and The Midnight After.
Despite the film...
Renowned Hong Kong director Fruit Chan is currently shooting new action cop thriller Made In Kowloon in Macau.
The new film follows a Hong Kong police officer who crosses over to Macao after his fiancée has gone missing and stumbles on a series of murder cases.
The cast is headlined by Zhang Jin who won best supporting actor for The Grandmaster at the 2012 Hong Kong Film Awards, popular Hong Kong actor Kelvin Cheng and Annie Liu.
“The story is imbued with some Chinese mythical elements, which will set it apart from the traditional Hong Kong cop thrillers,” Chan - who is also the screenwriter - told Screen during the set visit.
It marks his first action-thriller, a departure from his early independent productions such as Little Cheung and Durian Durian and subsequent genre films Dumplings and The Midnight After.
Despite the film...
- 12/11/2016
- by screenasia@yahoo.com (Silvia Wong)
- ScreenDaily
John Chong co-founded Media Asia in 1994 and during his 18-year tenure produced such Hong Kong classics as The Infernal Affairs trilogy (the basis for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed), Initial D and the Wachowski siblings’ Cloud Atlas. He left in 2012 to join veteran producer Raymond Wong’s Pegasus Motion Pictures as CEO. An avid reader and hiker, the 55-year-old Chong — who recently published a collection of essays on the film industry in Hong Kong and China titled The Way of Light and Shadow — opened up to THR about Pegasus’ venture into the exhibition business
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- 5/17/2014
- by Karen Chu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The inaugural Operation Greenlight pitching event for young filmmakers will be held during this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf).
Six filmmakers have been invited from the Hong Kong Film Development Council (Fdc)’s First Feature Film Initiative to present their projects to sales agents, distributors, producers and investors on March 25 during Haf. Each filmmaker will be guided by a mentor from the local film industry.
The Fdc’s First Feature Film Initiative funds projects from promising new talents across two groups: students and professionals. The six directors selected for Operation Greenlight are from the professionals group and comprise:
Chan Tai-lee with black comedy Blossom Afresh (mentor John Chong);
Lee Cheuk-pan’s drama Crabby Kitty’s 3rd World Adventure (Flora Goh);
Nicky Cheuk’s family drama Don’t Look Back In Anger (Derek Tsang);
Brian Hung’s drama Mali Mali Hung (Teddy Robin);
Vincent Ho and Cotin Law’s romantic comedy Once Upon A...
Six filmmakers have been invited from the Hong Kong Film Development Council (Fdc)’s First Feature Film Initiative to present their projects to sales agents, distributors, producers and investors on March 25 during Haf. Each filmmaker will be guided by a mentor from the local film industry.
The Fdc’s First Feature Film Initiative funds projects from promising new talents across two groups: students and professionals. The six directors selected for Operation Greenlight are from the professionals group and comprise:
Chan Tai-lee with black comedy Blossom Afresh (mentor John Chong);
Lee Cheuk-pan’s drama Crabby Kitty’s 3rd World Adventure (Flora Goh);
Nicky Cheuk’s family drama Don’t Look Back In Anger (Derek Tsang);
Brian Hung’s drama Mali Mali Hung (Teddy Robin);
Vincent Ho and Cotin Law’s romantic comedy Once Upon A...
- 3/24/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Hong Kong-based Pegasus Motion Pictures is launching sales on crime thriller Z Storm, starring Louis Koo and Lam Ka Tung, at Afm.
Directed by David Lam, the $6.5m (Hk$50m) film revolves around Hong Kong anti-corruption police investigating a charity fund that has become involved in a Bernie Madoff-style ponzi scheme.
Koo stars as an officer of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac), a real-life organisation that cleaned up Hong Kong in the 1970s, while Liu Kai-chi and Lo Hoi-pang round out the cast.
The film, co-produced by Pegasus and China’s Sil-Metropole Organisation, marks Lam’s return to directing after a hiatus of more than ten years, during which he has worked in Hong Kong’s financial industry.
Production is scheduled to start in January 2014 pending Chinese government script approval. John Chong [pictured], the former Media Asia boss who joined Pegasus last year as CEO, is producing. “We’re finding...
Directed by David Lam, the $6.5m (Hk$50m) film revolves around Hong Kong anti-corruption police investigating a charity fund that has become involved in a Bernie Madoff-style ponzi scheme.
Koo stars as an officer of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac), a real-life organisation that cleaned up Hong Kong in the 1970s, while Liu Kai-chi and Lo Hoi-pang round out the cast.
The film, co-produced by Pegasus and China’s Sil-Metropole Organisation, marks Lam’s return to directing after a hiatus of more than ten years, during which he has worked in Hong Kong’s financial industry.
Production is scheduled to start in January 2014 pending Chinese government script approval. John Chong [pictured], the former Media Asia boss who joined Pegasus last year as CEO, is producing. “We’re finding...
- 11/7/2013
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
If you caught Jimmy Kimmel Live! last Wednesday, you may have wondered about the night’s mysterious musical act. This indie band didn't have longtime fans clearing their DVR queues in anticipation. Neither were they on the show based on the strength of a million dollar record deal a la Kreayshawn, the rap phenomenon who performed on the show the night before. In fact, Monsters Calling Home, the likeable indie folk band who made their national debut last week, still have no record label behind them at all. They do, however, have Hondas.
“We thought it would be an interesting gimmick if we recorded in our Hondas,” Alex Hwang, the band’s lead singer, told the Huffington Post over the phone. The gimmick in question -- a video for the band's breezy track “Fight To Keep" -- worked. In it, Hwang and his bandmates Daniel Chae, John Chong, Sally Kang,...
“We thought it would be an interesting gimmick if we recorded in our Hondas,” Alex Hwang, the band’s lead singer, told the Huffington Post over the phone. The gimmick in question -- a video for the band's breezy track “Fight To Keep" -- worked. In it, Hwang and his bandmates Daniel Chae, John Chong, Sally Kang,...
- 9/25/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
It turns out that Alexandra Wallace’s anti-Asian rant may create another new Internet star. Jimmy Wong, a 24-year-old Los Angeles musician, wrote a charming song in response to Wallace’s controversial (or: insulting, clueless and simultaneously somehow hilarious) rant against Asian students at the UCLA library. He strums and sings: “Baby I want to take you out and blow your freakin’ mind/ Ching chong means I love you/ Ling long I really want you/ Ting Tong I don’t actually know what that means” Read also: Alexandra Wallace, Rebecca Black and the Siren Song of Internet Fame Wong’s...
- 3/25/2011
- The Wrap
Steven Colbert says Rush Limbaugh ripped off his wildly insensitive Chinese character, "Ching Chong Ding Dong," with the conservative commentator's imitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Limbaugh was criticized this week for his extremely drawn-out impersonation -- which turns out actually not to have even been in Mandarin (!) -- during a tirade about the lack of line-by-line translations of the president's remarks. On Thursday's "Colbert Report," Colbert made his own outrage known. Watch the video: The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Rush Limbaugh Speaks Chinese www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire...
- 1/21/2011
- The Wrap
Episode Number: 6150 (November 29, 2010)
Guests: Dan Savage
Segments: Black Friday Interpretation, Tip/Wag – Bridalplasty, Tom DeLay & AIDS, Better Business Hero
Videos: Monday, November 29, 2010
The beautiful part about the character of “Stephen” is that sometimes when he starts a journey with his audience, it’s hard not to think “Oh God, is he going to go there?” and with the Black Friday segment, that was totally my thought. And the return of Ching Chong Ding Dong took the joke from a cringeworthy “Did that just happen?” to a laugh out loud ridiculous moment. That’s one of the elements of “Stephen” that makes me laugh harder than anything else – taking a totally bizarre joke and pushing it one step further than it needed to go.
When Stephen mentioned the passive-aggressive woodworking, I couldn’t help but think of Noblet’s Drill Press. I think the concept of BuyLife.org is fantastic, but...
Guests: Dan Savage
Segments: Black Friday Interpretation, Tip/Wag – Bridalplasty, Tom DeLay & AIDS, Better Business Hero
Videos: Monday, November 29, 2010
The beautiful part about the character of “Stephen” is that sometimes when he starts a journey with his audience, it’s hard not to think “Oh God, is he going to go there?” and with the Black Friday segment, that was totally my thought. And the return of Ching Chong Ding Dong took the joke from a cringeworthy “Did that just happen?” to a laugh out loud ridiculous moment. That’s one of the elements of “Stephen” that makes me laugh harder than anything else – taking a totally bizarre joke and pushing it one step further than it needed to go.
When Stephen mentioned the passive-aggressive woodworking, I couldn’t help but think of Noblet’s Drill Press. I think the concept of BuyLife.org is fantastic, but...
- 11/30/2010
- by DB
- No Fact Zone
The headline says it all, really. Fresh on the heels of the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival being announced, Well Go USA have announced that they have picked up all North American rights to Andrew Lau's Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. Yes, it will be coming out theatrically. Here's the official announcement:
Plano, TX. (August 3, 2010) -- Well Go USA announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, starring Hong Kong's biggest action star Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Seven Swords, Hero). The film was directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Confession of Pain), who also co-produced the film and served as a cinematographer alongside his frequent partner Ng Man-Ching. Gordon Chan co-wrote and co-produced the film, with John Chong serving as an executive producer and Donnie Yen as fight choreographer.
Plano, TX. (August 3, 2010) -- Well Go USA announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, starring Hong Kong's biggest action star Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Seven Swords, Hero). The film was directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Confession of Pain), who also co-produced the film and served as a cinematographer alongside his frequent partner Ng Man-Ching. Gordon Chan co-wrote and co-produced the film, with John Chong serving as an executive producer and Donnie Yen as fight choreographer.
- 8/4/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Maintaining truthfulness and avoiding stereotypes are the major challenges when playing racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.Consider the daunting task that Tamer Aziz faces in tackling a character who is gay, Iranian, and Muslim in Jay Paul Deratany's fact-based play "Haram Iran" (now at the Celebration Theatre in Hollywood). Or the issues that black actors deal with in enacting a brutal racist episode within the context of a minstrel show in John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical "The Scottsboro Boys" (currently at New York's Vineyard Theatre). Justin Huen also has his work cut out for him playing Oedipus in Luis Alfaro's play "Oedipus el Rey," a retelling of Sophocles' tragedy set in a Los Angeles barrio (playing the Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena, Calif.). Jennifer Lim grapples with a fully assimilated and not very sensitive Asian American in Lauren Yee's satire "Ching Chong Chinaman" (now at New York's...
- 3/31/2010
- backstage.com
Tisa Chang, Artistic Producing Director of Pan Asian Repertory Theatre continues its 33rd season with Ching Chong Chinaman, a satirical new comedy by Lauren Yee directed by May Adrales. The limited engagement plays March 19 - April 11, 2010 at the West End Theatre (263 W. 86th Street between Broadway & West End Avenue in the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, 2nd floor). Opening night is Wednesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m.
- 3/25/2010
- BroadwayWorld.com
National Geographic Entertainment has acquired North American rights to "City of Life and Death," produced, written and directed by Lu Chuan.
Set during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, China, in 1937, "City" will screen at September's Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in April in China, where it has grossed nearly $26 million.
The film's cast includes Liu Ye, Fan Wei, Hideo Nakaizumi, Gao Yuanyuan, Qin Lan and Jiang Yiyan, and co-stars Ryuichi Kohata, Yao Di, Zhao Yisui and Yuko Miyamoto.
The acquisition reunites Lu with National Geographic, which co-distributed his "Moutain Patrol: Kekexili" with Samuel Goldwyn Films in 2006.
Nge will coordinate marketing of "City" with Idg China Media Fund, part of International Data Group, a U.S. venture capital company. The film will be released late this year or in early 2010.
"City" was produced by Han Sanping, Qin Hong, Zhou Li, John Chong and Andy Zhang, with Lu serving as exec producer.
Set during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, China, in 1937, "City" will screen at September's Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in April in China, where it has grossed nearly $26 million.
The film's cast includes Liu Ye, Fan Wei, Hideo Nakaizumi, Gao Yuanyuan, Qin Lan and Jiang Yiyan, and co-stars Ryuichi Kohata, Yao Di, Zhao Yisui and Yuko Miyamoto.
The acquisition reunites Lu with National Geographic, which co-distributed his "Moutain Patrol: Kekexili" with Samuel Goldwyn Films in 2006.
Nge will coordinate marketing of "City" with Idg China Media Fund, part of International Data Group, a U.S. venture capital company. The film will be released late this year or in early 2010.
"City" was produced by Han Sanping, Qin Hong, Zhou Li, John Chong and Andy Zhang, with Lu serving as exec producer.
- 8/14/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BUSAN, South Korea -- John Chong, CEO of Media Asia Group, a co-producer of Pusan International Film Festival opener "Assembly", says the Hong Kong company and its sister recording and talent management firms are consolidating into a media and entertainment group he expects to go public in Hong Kong or New York in two or three years.
Owned by Hong Kong-listed E Sun and controlled by real estate tycoon Peter Lam, Media Asia dabbled previously with public listing in Singapore, where there was little media sector competition. It delisted in July after three years of thin trade as the firm sought to grow its profile with increasingly bigger budget film projects, Chong said.
The delisting also came after annual profits dropped 70% in 2006 to $HK6 million ($773,000) from more than HK$20 million ($2.5 million) the previous year, Chong said. Media Asia remains the most profitable of E Sun's holdings, which also include the Rich and Famous Talent Mangement Co., the East Asia Record Co.
Owned by Hong Kong-listed E Sun and controlled by real estate tycoon Peter Lam, Media Asia dabbled previously with public listing in Singapore, where there was little media sector competition. It delisted in July after three years of thin trade as the firm sought to grow its profile with increasingly bigger budget film projects, Chong said.
The delisting also came after annual profits dropped 70% in 2006 to $HK6 million ($773,000) from more than HK$20 million ($2.5 million) the previous year, Chong said. Media Asia remains the most profitable of E Sun's holdings, which also include the Rich and Famous Talent Mangement Co., the East Asia Record Co.
- 10/6/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Isabelle" has a gentle, melancholy spirit as two characters look to the future while haunted by the past. During the chaotic, crime-ridden months before Portugal handed Macau back to China in 1999, a rogue cop named Shing (Chapman To), already under suspicion of corruption, brings home an underage hooker picked up in a sleazy bar. Then the girl, Yan (Isabella Leong), hits him with a huge whammy: She claims to be his daughter by a long-ago lover, who recently died. Thus begins two people's odyssey, tracked through the shadowy, decaying back alleys of Macau, toward a relationship neither is certain is desirable.
This Berlin competition film makes a fine festival entry and could do well in Asia where it has several marketing hooks. For one thing, director Pang Ho-cheung, who has made five films in rapid succession since 1999, has emerged as one of the leading Hong Kong new-wave filmmakers. Here he collaborates with To in his partner's first outing as a leading man and producer. Meanwhile, the beguiling Isabella Leong has enjoyed success as a pop singer in Asia as well as an actress.
The film gets off to a misleading start as the time frame is fractured and events are fuzzy, leading one to anticipate an arty deconstruction exercise where things remain unclear for most of the film. However, once characters get sorted out and Yan drops her bombshell, the film heads down a fairly straight-forwarded narrative path.
Pang (working from a script he wrote with Kearen Pang, Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wang) concentrates on character and mood without overplaying the emotional content. Macau itself becomes a third character in the movie, a stubborn, decadent city in transition, as are the two people.
Yan has turned for help to her womanizing father -- whom she has studied from afar but never approached-- only due to a financial emergency. Since she is four months behind on rent, her landlord has padlocked the flat with her dog, Isabelle, inside. When Shing confronts the landlord, the man snorts that he threw the dog out on the street.
This launches an extensive dragnet of the neighborhood by the older man and young woman, searching for the missing canine. Meantime, the homeless girl moves temporarily into her father's one-bedroom flat.
The film's incidents are casual, even muted. Yan puts off a classmate (Derek Tsang) with a huge crush on her by insisting that Shing is her new lover. Fellow cops and crooks wander into Shing's path, offering oblique warnings about the corruption charges. (He's guilty but who wants to be a fall guy?) Flashbacks show Shing as a young man bringing Wan's mother (J.J. Jia) to an abortion clinic, and then abandoning her before she goes through with the procedure. The memory is still fresh for Shing.
One amusing sequence has Yan, assuming the role of Shing's live-in lover, turning away a succession of girlfriends who come to the door. One girlfriend proves her equal in deception: She insists that any girlfriend of Shing's must drink so challenges Yan to see who can drink whom under the table.
Cinematographer Charlie Lam has one of the world's greatest sets to work with -- the amazingly colorful/drab/vital/decaying back streets and alleys of Macau. Throw in Peter Kam's melancholy, Portuguese-influenced music involving piano and guitar and you get a wonderfully lyrical atmosphere for this modest but emotionally satisfying character piece.
ISABELLA
Media Asia Films/China Film group present a Not Brothers production
Credits:
Director: Pang Ho-cheung
Writers: Pang Ho-cheung, Kearen Pang, Derek Tsang, Jimmy Wang
Story by: Pang Ho-cheung
Producers: Pang Ho-cheung, Chapman To, Jin Zhongqiang
Executive producers: John Chong, Yang Bu Ting
Director of photography: Charlie Lam
Production designer: Man Lim Chung
Music: Peter Kam
Costumes: Stephanie Wong
Editor: Wenders Li
Cast:
Yan: Isabella Leong
Hua: J.J. Jia
Yan's suitor: Derek Tsang
Kate: Meme Tian
Shing: Chapman To
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 109 minutes...
BERLIN -- "Isabelle" has a gentle, melancholy spirit as two characters look to the future while haunted by the past. During the chaotic, crime-ridden months before Portugal handed Macau back to China in 1999, a rogue cop named Shing (Chapman To), already under suspicion of corruption, brings home an underage hooker picked up in a sleazy bar. Then the girl, Yan (Isabella Leong), hits him with a huge whammy: She claims to be his daughter by a long-ago lover, who recently died. Thus begins two people's odyssey, tracked through the shadowy, decaying back alleys of Macau, toward a relationship neither is certain is desirable.
This Berlin competition film makes a fine festival entry and could do well in Asia where it has several marketing hooks. For one thing, director Pang Ho-cheung, who has made five films in rapid succession since 1999, has emerged as one of the leading Hong Kong new-wave filmmakers. Here he collaborates with To in his partner's first outing as a leading man and producer. Meanwhile, the beguiling Isabella Leong has enjoyed success as a pop singer in Asia as well as an actress.
The film gets off to a misleading start as the time frame is fractured and events are fuzzy, leading one to anticipate an arty deconstruction exercise where things remain unclear for most of the film. However, once characters get sorted out and Yan drops her bombshell, the film heads down a fairly straight-forwarded narrative path.
Pang (working from a script he wrote with Kearen Pang, Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wang) concentrates on character and mood without overplaying the emotional content. Macau itself becomes a third character in the movie, a stubborn, decadent city in transition, as are the two people.
Yan has turned for help to her womanizing father -- whom she has studied from afar but never approached-- only due to a financial emergency. Since she is four months behind on rent, her landlord has padlocked the flat with her dog, Isabelle, inside. When Shing confronts the landlord, the man snorts that he threw the dog out on the street.
This launches an extensive dragnet of the neighborhood by the older man and young woman, searching for the missing canine. Meantime, the homeless girl moves temporarily into her father's one-bedroom flat.
The film's incidents are casual, even muted. Yan puts off a classmate (Derek Tsang) with a huge crush on her by insisting that Shing is her new lover. Fellow cops and crooks wander into Shing's path, offering oblique warnings about the corruption charges. (He's guilty but who wants to be a fall guy?) Flashbacks show Shing as a young man bringing Wan's mother (J.J. Jia) to an abortion clinic, and then abandoning her before she goes through with the procedure. The memory is still fresh for Shing.
One amusing sequence has Yan, assuming the role of Shing's live-in lover, turning away a succession of girlfriends who come to the door. One girlfriend proves her equal in deception: She insists that any girlfriend of Shing's must drink so challenges Yan to see who can drink whom under the table.
Cinematographer Charlie Lam has one of the world's greatest sets to work with -- the amazingly colorful/drab/vital/decaying back streets and alleys of Macau. Throw in Peter Kam's melancholy, Portuguese-influenced music involving piano and guitar and you get a wonderfully lyrical atmosphere for this modest but emotionally satisfying character piece.
ISABELLA
Media Asia Films/China Film group present a Not Brothers production
Credits:
Director: Pang Ho-cheung
Writers: Pang Ho-cheung, Kearen Pang, Derek Tsang, Jimmy Wang
Story by: Pang Ho-cheung
Producers: Pang Ho-cheung, Chapman To, Jin Zhongqiang
Executive producers: John Chong, Yang Bu Ting
Director of photography: Charlie Lam
Production designer: Man Lim Chung
Music: Peter Kam
Costumes: Stephanie Wong
Editor: Wenders Li
Cast:
Yan: Isabella Leong
Hua: J.J. Jia
Yan's suitor: Derek Tsang
Kate: Meme Tian
Shing: Chapman To
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 109 minutes...
- 2/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong film, television and music industries have called for the government to address pressing issues relating to increasingly sophisticated and rampant copyright infringement activities in the digital era. "There are a lot of gray areas with respect to distribution over the Internet and, in particular, peer-to-peer downloads and uploads," Media Asia executive director John Chong said at a Sunday symposium organized by the Film, Television and Recording Industries Copyright Concern Group. "We hope that the government can clearly define the parameters." The joint call came as the government issued a public consultation paper on new provisions to Hong Kong's current copyright ordinance, in particular to end-user liability, parallel imports and rental rights.
- 1/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opened
Oct. 1
Hong Kong
HONG KONG -- Here's the difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood in a nutshell: "The Matrix", the Hong Kong-influenced blockbuster, takes four years to produce its two sequels. In comparison, the makers of "Infernal Affairs", a hard-boiled Hong Kong cop hit last Christmas, crank out Parts 2 and 3 barely nine months later.
The speed and efficiency of the Hong Kong film industry may be admired and respected abroad, but it also has its drawbacks. The original "Infernal Affairs" was a deftly crafted thriller about cops and triads infiltrating each other's ranks. It updated John Woo's urban chivalry with less melodrama and more post-Colonial existentialism. And rightly, it was a major commercial and critical success.
With its momentum still strong, co-directors Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, along with screenwriter Felix Chong, immediately got back to work and turned their story into a trilogy. The first "Infernal Affairs" focused on the yin-yang story of two nemeses forced to stay undercover in each other's world -- an unhappy cop planted inside a criminal gang and a triad mole in the police department who wishes to free himself of his shady side.
With "Infernal Affairs 2", the filmmakers try to top themselves by going the "Godfather" route. That is, they attempt to put the story on a bigger canvas, expanding the scope of the themes and making the narrative more epic. Unfortunately, Mak and Lau aren't Coppola and Puzo. Rather than contextualize the happenings of Part 1, the movie has so many story lines, it simply loses focus.
In essence, it's a prequel to the first film. The two main protagonists are young teenagers here just entering their covert positions, so the drama shifts instead to their superiors in the prime of their career. Eric Tsang is Sam, a middle-level triad guy who has an unusual friendship with Wong (Anthony Wong), a cop on the organized crime unit. Their trust gets severely tested as the pressure of being on opposite sides of the law presses down on them and their associates.
Sam has to contend with power struggles and double-crossing rivals, while Wong fights the urge to break laws to maintain them. The credo "what goes around, comes around" haunts characters like an old score waiting to be settled.
There's great dramatic material here. But alas, the filmmakers try too hard for too much. In striving for grandeur, they drop the ball. The great duality of the two moles in the first movie is now diluted. There are now so many subplots heading in so many directions, any cohesive thematic thread gets lost and tangled.
What does remain is a great sense of fateful melancholy. The acting, for the most part, is powerful and committed. Wong and Tsang are solid Hong Kong performers whose exposure to Western audiences has been limited to minor roles in Jackie Chan (Wong in "The Medallion") and older Wayne Wang (Tsang was in "Eat a Bowl of Tea") movies. Also creating a real presence is another veteran, Francis Ng, as crime kingpin Hau.
However, if you haven't seen the first "Infernal Affairs", you're bound to be confused in the narrative mess. In short, this has the feel of an ambitious but rushed project. The finale of the trilogy comes out in December.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2
Media Asia Films presents in association with Raintree Pictures and Eastern Dragon Film a Basic Pictures production
Credits:
Directors: Alan Mak, Andrew Lau
Screenwriters: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Producer: Andrew Lau
Executive producers: John Chong, Daniel Yun, Ma Baoping
Line producers: Ellen Chang, Lorraine Ho
Original music: Chan Kwong-wing
Directors of photography: Andrew Lau, Ng Man-ching
Production designer: Bill Lui
Editors: Danny Pang, Pang Ching-hei
Costume designer: Silver Cheung
Stunt coordinator: Lee Tat-chiu
Cast:
Inspector Wong: Anthony Wong
Sam: Eric Tsang
Hau: Francis Ng
JP Luk: Hu Jun
Ming: Edison Chen
Yan: Shawn Yue
Keung: Chapman To
Mary: Carina Lau
Uncle John: Liu Kai-chi
Law: Roy Cheung
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Oct. 1
Hong Kong
HONG KONG -- Here's the difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood in a nutshell: "The Matrix", the Hong Kong-influenced blockbuster, takes four years to produce its two sequels. In comparison, the makers of "Infernal Affairs", a hard-boiled Hong Kong cop hit last Christmas, crank out Parts 2 and 3 barely nine months later.
The speed and efficiency of the Hong Kong film industry may be admired and respected abroad, but it also has its drawbacks. The original "Infernal Affairs" was a deftly crafted thriller about cops and triads infiltrating each other's ranks. It updated John Woo's urban chivalry with less melodrama and more post-Colonial existentialism. And rightly, it was a major commercial and critical success.
With its momentum still strong, co-directors Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, along with screenwriter Felix Chong, immediately got back to work and turned their story into a trilogy. The first "Infernal Affairs" focused on the yin-yang story of two nemeses forced to stay undercover in each other's world -- an unhappy cop planted inside a criminal gang and a triad mole in the police department who wishes to free himself of his shady side.
With "Infernal Affairs 2", the filmmakers try to top themselves by going the "Godfather" route. That is, they attempt to put the story on a bigger canvas, expanding the scope of the themes and making the narrative more epic. Unfortunately, Mak and Lau aren't Coppola and Puzo. Rather than contextualize the happenings of Part 1, the movie has so many story lines, it simply loses focus.
In essence, it's a prequel to the first film. The two main protagonists are young teenagers here just entering their covert positions, so the drama shifts instead to their superiors in the prime of their career. Eric Tsang is Sam, a middle-level triad guy who has an unusual friendship with Wong (Anthony Wong), a cop on the organized crime unit. Their trust gets severely tested as the pressure of being on opposite sides of the law presses down on them and their associates.
Sam has to contend with power struggles and double-crossing rivals, while Wong fights the urge to break laws to maintain them. The credo "what goes around, comes around" haunts characters like an old score waiting to be settled.
There's great dramatic material here. But alas, the filmmakers try too hard for too much. In striving for grandeur, they drop the ball. The great duality of the two moles in the first movie is now diluted. There are now so many subplots heading in so many directions, any cohesive thematic thread gets lost and tangled.
What does remain is a great sense of fateful melancholy. The acting, for the most part, is powerful and committed. Wong and Tsang are solid Hong Kong performers whose exposure to Western audiences has been limited to minor roles in Jackie Chan (Wong in "The Medallion") and older Wayne Wang (Tsang was in "Eat a Bowl of Tea") movies. Also creating a real presence is another veteran, Francis Ng, as crime kingpin Hau.
However, if you haven't seen the first "Infernal Affairs", you're bound to be confused in the narrative mess. In short, this has the feel of an ambitious but rushed project. The finale of the trilogy comes out in December.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2
Media Asia Films presents in association with Raintree Pictures and Eastern Dragon Film a Basic Pictures production
Credits:
Directors: Alan Mak, Andrew Lau
Screenwriters: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Producer: Andrew Lau
Executive producers: John Chong, Daniel Yun, Ma Baoping
Line producers: Ellen Chang, Lorraine Ho
Original music: Chan Kwong-wing
Directors of photography: Andrew Lau, Ng Man-ching
Production designer: Bill Lui
Editors: Danny Pang, Pang Ching-hei
Costume designer: Silver Cheung
Stunt coordinator: Lee Tat-chiu
Cast:
Inspector Wong: Anthony Wong
Sam: Eric Tsang
Hau: Francis Ng
JP Luk: Hu Jun
Ming: Edison Chen
Yan: Shawn Yue
Keung: Chapman To
Mary: Carina Lau
Uncle John: Liu Kai-chi
Law: Roy Cheung
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Opened
Oct. 1
Hong Kong
HONG KONG -- Here's the difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood in a nutshell: "The Matrix", the Hong Kong-influenced blockbuster, takes four years to produce its two sequels. In comparison, the makers of "Infernal Affairs", a hard-boiled Hong Kong cop hit last Christmas, crank out Parts 2 and 3 barely nine months later.
The speed and efficiency of the Hong Kong film industry may be admired and respected abroad, but it also has its drawbacks. The original "Infernal Affairs" was a deftly crafted thriller about cops and triads infiltrating each other's ranks. It updated John Woo's urban chivalry with less melodrama and more post-Colonial existentialism. And rightly, it was a major commercial and critical success.
With its momentum still strong, co-directors Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, along with screenwriter Felix Chong, immediately got back to work and turned their story into a trilogy. The first "Infernal Affairs" focused on the yin-yang story of two nemeses forced to stay undercover in each other's world -- an unhappy cop planted inside a criminal gang and a triad mole in the police department who wishes to free himself of his shady side.
With "Infernal Affairs 2", the filmmakers try to top themselves by going the "Godfather" route. That is, they attempt to put the story on a bigger canvas, expanding the scope of the themes and making the narrative more epic. Unfortunately, Mak and Lau aren't Coppola and Puzo. Rather than contextualize the happenings of Part 1, the movie has so many story lines, it simply loses focus.
In essence, it's a prequel to the first film. The two main protagonists are young teenagers here just entering their covert positions, so the drama shifts instead to their superiors in the prime of their career. Eric Tsang is Sam, a middle-level triad guy who has an unusual friendship with Wong (Anthony Wong), a cop on the organized crime unit. Their trust gets severely tested as the pressure of being on opposite sides of the law presses down on them and their associates.
Sam has to contend with power struggles and double-crossing rivals, while Wong fights the urge to break laws to maintain them. The credo "what goes around, comes around" haunts characters like an old score waiting to be settled.
There's great dramatic material here. But alas, the filmmakers try too hard for too much. In striving for grandeur, they drop the ball. The great duality of the two moles in the first movie is now diluted. There are now so many subplots heading in so many directions, any cohesive thematic thread gets lost and tangled.
What does remain is a great sense of fateful melancholy. The acting, for the most part, is powerful and committed. Wong and Tsang are solid Hong Kong performers whose exposure to Western audiences has been limited to minor roles in Jackie Chan (Wong in "The Medallion") and older Wayne Wang (Tsang was in "Eat a Bowl of Tea") movies. Also creating a real presence is another veteran, Francis Ng, as crime kingpin Hau.
However, if you haven't seen the first "Infernal Affairs", you're bound to be confused in the narrative mess. In short, this has the feel of an ambitious but rushed project. The finale of the trilogy comes out in December.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2
Media Asia Films presents in association with Raintree Pictures and Eastern Dragon Film a Basic Pictures production
Credits:
Directors: Alan Mak, Andrew Lau
Screenwriters: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Producer: Andrew Lau
Executive producers: John Chong, Daniel Yun, Ma Baoping
Line producers: Ellen Chang, Lorraine Ho
Original music: Chan Kwong-wing
Directors of photography: Andrew Lau, Ng Man-ching
Production designer: Bill Lui
Editors: Danny Pang, Pang Ching-hei
Costume designer: Silver Cheung
Stunt coordinator: Lee Tat-chiu
Cast:
Inspector Wong: Anthony Wong
Sam: Eric Tsang
Hau: Francis Ng
JP Luk: Hu Jun
Ming: Edison Chen
Yan: Shawn Yue
Keung: Chapman To
Mary: Carina Lau
Uncle John: Liu Kai-chi
Law: Roy Cheung
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Oct. 1
Hong Kong
HONG KONG -- Here's the difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood in a nutshell: "The Matrix", the Hong Kong-influenced blockbuster, takes four years to produce its two sequels. In comparison, the makers of "Infernal Affairs", a hard-boiled Hong Kong cop hit last Christmas, crank out Parts 2 and 3 barely nine months later.
The speed and efficiency of the Hong Kong film industry may be admired and respected abroad, but it also has its drawbacks. The original "Infernal Affairs" was a deftly crafted thriller about cops and triads infiltrating each other's ranks. It updated John Woo's urban chivalry with less melodrama and more post-Colonial existentialism. And rightly, it was a major commercial and critical success.
With its momentum still strong, co-directors Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, along with screenwriter Felix Chong, immediately got back to work and turned their story into a trilogy. The first "Infernal Affairs" focused on the yin-yang story of two nemeses forced to stay undercover in each other's world -- an unhappy cop planted inside a criminal gang and a triad mole in the police department who wishes to free himself of his shady side.
With "Infernal Affairs 2", the filmmakers try to top themselves by going the "Godfather" route. That is, they attempt to put the story on a bigger canvas, expanding the scope of the themes and making the narrative more epic. Unfortunately, Mak and Lau aren't Coppola and Puzo. Rather than contextualize the happenings of Part 1, the movie has so many story lines, it simply loses focus.
In essence, it's a prequel to the first film. The two main protagonists are young teenagers here just entering their covert positions, so the drama shifts instead to their superiors in the prime of their career. Eric Tsang is Sam, a middle-level triad guy who has an unusual friendship with Wong (Anthony Wong), a cop on the organized crime unit. Their trust gets severely tested as the pressure of being on opposite sides of the law presses down on them and their associates.
Sam has to contend with power struggles and double-crossing rivals, while Wong fights the urge to break laws to maintain them. The credo "what goes around, comes around" haunts characters like an old score waiting to be settled.
There's great dramatic material here. But alas, the filmmakers try too hard for too much. In striving for grandeur, they drop the ball. The great duality of the two moles in the first movie is now diluted. There are now so many subplots heading in so many directions, any cohesive thematic thread gets lost and tangled.
What does remain is a great sense of fateful melancholy. The acting, for the most part, is powerful and committed. Wong and Tsang are solid Hong Kong performers whose exposure to Western audiences has been limited to minor roles in Jackie Chan (Wong in "The Medallion") and older Wayne Wang (Tsang was in "Eat a Bowl of Tea") movies. Also creating a real presence is another veteran, Francis Ng, as crime kingpin Hau.
However, if you haven't seen the first "Infernal Affairs", you're bound to be confused in the narrative mess. In short, this has the feel of an ambitious but rushed project. The finale of the trilogy comes out in December.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS 2
Media Asia Films presents in association with Raintree Pictures and Eastern Dragon Film a Basic Pictures production
Credits:
Directors: Alan Mak, Andrew Lau
Screenwriters: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Producer: Andrew Lau
Executive producers: John Chong, Daniel Yun, Ma Baoping
Line producers: Ellen Chang, Lorraine Ho
Original music: Chan Kwong-wing
Directors of photography: Andrew Lau, Ng Man-ching
Production designer: Bill Lui
Editors: Danny Pang, Pang Ching-hei
Costume designer: Silver Cheung
Stunt coordinator: Lee Tat-chiu
Cast:
Inspector Wong: Anthony Wong
Sam: Eric Tsang
Hau: Francis Ng
JP Luk: Hu Jun
Ming: Edison Chen
Yan: Shawn Yue
Keung: Chapman To
Mary: Carina Lau
Uncle John: Liu Kai-chi
Law: Roy Cheung
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/29/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HONG KONG -- "Titanium Rain", the new Jackie Chan actioner for Media Asia Films, has been renamed "Time Breaker" and will also undergo a plot and script change. The film is expected to start shooting in August after Chan wraps "Around the World in 80 Days". While the original concept of "Titanium Rain" was of a Chinese warrior who travels through time to modern-day America, Chan will play an intrepid adventurer a la Indiana Jones who gets transported back to a previous life when he goes after a valuable treasure. "The new concept will have a lot more Chinese cultural aspects and beliefs in it, such as the belief that our past, present and future lives are somewhat linked," said John Chong, Media Asia general manager and production chief.
"2000 AD" is the latest film from Hong Kong mini-major Media Asia, which started with Mandarin-language art house movies but now produces high-quality actioners that can perform well at home and travel internationally. The film, which changed from its original title, "Y2K", to avoid postmillennium letdown, closed the recent Udine Festival of Far East Film.
"2000", a story about counter-espionage and computer viruses, is directed by Gordon Chan, an eminently bankable mainstream helmer who alternates glossy action pictures with more personal movies like 1998's feisty caper "Beast Cops". Scripted by Chan and American Stu Zicherman, "2000"'s complicated plot sees three young friends caught up in a criminal attempt to destabilize the world economy by unleashing a menacing computer virus. The film toplines singing and acting superstar Aaron Kwok, who plays a small-time computer whiz kid.
The boxoffice doldrums of the past five years have forced Hong Kong producers to rethink their strategies. During the early '90s, any sketchy star vehicle was sufficient to draw crowds. But nowadays, local producers have realized that they must increase production values to maintain their slipping share of the domestic -- and regional -- market.
While part of the new Media Asia philosophy, demonstrated in last year's "Gen-X Cops", has been to cultivate a roster of younger, cheaper talent, "2000", a co-
production with Singapore's Raintree Pictures, departs from this idea by featuring Kwok -- recognizable in the West for his role in the martial arts fantasy "Stormriders" -- in the leading role. But this doesn't lead to any skimping on the action scenes.
When his brother, a world-class computer programmer with links to the CIA, is murdered, Peter (Kwok) and friends Benny (Media Asia regular Daniel Wu) and Janet (newcomer Gigi Choi) trail the killer to Singapore. Once in the Lion City, the convoluted tale slims down to make room for the action as Peter and company unravel the plot behind the murder.
An opening aerial combat scene is immaculately shot and sets the standard for the quality of action to come. Along with effective pyrotechnics, "2000" features classy stunt driving, passable martial arts and rip-roaring shootouts that make effective use of slow motion and freeze frames. The Hong Kong action sequences have a noticeable edge on those shot in Singapore, probably attributable to a greater familiarity with the terrain back home.
Sadly, the film is hamstrung by a needlessly complex setup that confuses with its plethora of interconnected characters and activities. "2000" would have benefited from a clearer plot line and fewer characters, which would have made the journey from action scene to action scene a much smoother ride.
2000 AD
Media Asia Films/Raintree Pictures
Director: Gordon Chan
Screenwriters: Gordon Chan, Stu Zicherman
Producers: John Chong, Solon So, David Leong, Thomas Chung, Daniel Yun, Willie Chan
Director of photography: Arthur Wong
Production designer: James Leung
Action coordinator: Yuen Tak
Editor: Chan Ki-hop
Music: Shigeru Umebayashi
Costume designer: Bruce Yu
Color/stereo
Cast:
Peter: Aaron Kwok
Benny: Daniel Wu
Janet: Gigi Choi
Ronald: Francis Ng
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"2000", a story about counter-espionage and computer viruses, is directed by Gordon Chan, an eminently bankable mainstream helmer who alternates glossy action pictures with more personal movies like 1998's feisty caper "Beast Cops". Scripted by Chan and American Stu Zicherman, "2000"'s complicated plot sees three young friends caught up in a criminal attempt to destabilize the world economy by unleashing a menacing computer virus. The film toplines singing and acting superstar Aaron Kwok, who plays a small-time computer whiz kid.
The boxoffice doldrums of the past five years have forced Hong Kong producers to rethink their strategies. During the early '90s, any sketchy star vehicle was sufficient to draw crowds. But nowadays, local producers have realized that they must increase production values to maintain their slipping share of the domestic -- and regional -- market.
While part of the new Media Asia philosophy, demonstrated in last year's "Gen-X Cops", has been to cultivate a roster of younger, cheaper talent, "2000", a co-
production with Singapore's Raintree Pictures, departs from this idea by featuring Kwok -- recognizable in the West for his role in the martial arts fantasy "Stormriders" -- in the leading role. But this doesn't lead to any skimping on the action scenes.
When his brother, a world-class computer programmer with links to the CIA, is murdered, Peter (Kwok) and friends Benny (Media Asia regular Daniel Wu) and Janet (newcomer Gigi Choi) trail the killer to Singapore. Once in the Lion City, the convoluted tale slims down to make room for the action as Peter and company unravel the plot behind the murder.
An opening aerial combat scene is immaculately shot and sets the standard for the quality of action to come. Along with effective pyrotechnics, "2000" features classy stunt driving, passable martial arts and rip-roaring shootouts that make effective use of slow motion and freeze frames. The Hong Kong action sequences have a noticeable edge on those shot in Singapore, probably attributable to a greater familiarity with the terrain back home.
Sadly, the film is hamstrung by a needlessly complex setup that confuses with its plethora of interconnected characters and activities. "2000" would have benefited from a clearer plot line and fewer characters, which would have made the journey from action scene to action scene a much smoother ride.
2000 AD
Media Asia Films/Raintree Pictures
Director: Gordon Chan
Screenwriters: Gordon Chan, Stu Zicherman
Producers: John Chong, Solon So, David Leong, Thomas Chung, Daniel Yun, Willie Chan
Director of photography: Arthur Wong
Production designer: James Leung
Action coordinator: Yuen Tak
Editor: Chan Ki-hop
Music: Shigeru Umebayashi
Costume designer: Bruce Yu
Color/stereo
Cast:
Peter: Aaron Kwok
Benny: Daniel Wu
Janet: Gigi Choi
Ronald: Francis Ng
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/14/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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