It’s been a good year for Beijing Culture, one of the lead production companies behind some the biggest films of the year in China.
The company began as a tourism-management entity overseeing popular historic sites of interest in Beijing, and only established its film division in 2016. Yet in the space of three years, it has been a driving force behind China’s two top-grossing films of all time – “Wolf Warrior 2,” which took in $847 million, and “The Wandering Earth,” which grossed $686 million and is still in theaters – as well as mega-hit “Dying to Survive” ($462 million at the B.O.) and “A Cool Fish,” the 10th highest-grossing locally produced film last year with a $119 million gross.
Last year, Beijing Culture made a net profit of $48.7 million, up 6% year-on-year, thanks to a rise in the profitability of its film business compared to previous years, according to Chinese media reports.
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The company comes to FilMart in Hong Kong with a roster of three new projects it is investing in and producing.
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The first, “Dancing Elephant,” is completed and follows a lithe young dancer who falls into a coma after a car accident, only to wake up 15 years later and find that she has amnesia and now weighs 200 pounds. She reconnects with her childhood dance troupe, and they enter a competition with the help of a quirky coach. Directed by Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Hsien (“Jump Ashin!”, “Never Said Goodbye”) and starring Lun Ai (“Hello, Mrs. Money,” “Never Say Die”) and Jin Chunhua, the film is ready to deliver. Producers expect a second- or third-quarter release date this year.
“S.W.A.T.” is an action film currently in post-production about two rival anti-narcotics squads that must work together to capture a drug dealer on a special international case. It is directed by director-screenwriter Ding Sheng, who has directed three movies starring Jackie Chan (2010’s “Little Big Soldier,” “Police Story 2013,” 2016’s “Railroad Tigers”), and is led by actors Ling Xiaosu and Jia Nailiang. The film was delivered in the third quarter of last year, but does not yet have a release date.
A third project is a thriller tentatively titled “The Convicted” in English and is currently in post-production, aiming for a second-quarter delivery and release date in either the second or third quarter this year. It is directed by Wang Yu, a cinematographer who worked closely with some of China’s top directors, including Lou Ye and Jia Zhangke. In it, Wang Qianyuan (“Saving Mr. Wu,” “Brotherhood of Blades”) plays a policeman who works with a mother of a girl kidnapped and murdered a decade ago to crack a similar new case before the same happens to someone else. Song Jia (“The Final Master,” “Falling Flowers”) plays the mother.
