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Produced by Bill Kong, the action adventure stars rising talents Chen Linong and Li Xian.

Bill Kong’s Hong Kong-based Edko Films is launching international sales on big-budget CGI fantasy Soul Snatcher, starring rising talents Chen Linong and Li Xian.

The action adventure marks the feature acting debut of Taiwanese pop star Chen, who rose to fame after appearing in Chinese reality show Idol Producer and later joined Chinese boy band Nine Percent. Li has film credits including The Captain and The Enigma Of Arrival, but is best known for his role in hit TV drama Go Go Squid!

Produced...

After the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army tries to once again gain control in China by hiring a secret organization, The White Lotus Society, to kidnap the military minister. Wong Fei-Hung and his disciples must stop this attack to prevent another war from starting in the martial arts action epic Warriors Of The Nation, debuting on Digital and Blu-ray February 18 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Directed by Marco Mak (chief editor on the iconic film Once Upon a Time in China) featuring classic, over the top, old school martial arts, Warriors Of The Nation stars Wenzhuo Zhao, cinema newcomer Lubing Li, Miya Muqi (The Monkey King 2) and Kenya Sawada (Street Fighter).

Synopsis:

At the end of the Sino-Japanese War, a top military officer, Zhang Zhidong, is kidnapped in the middle of the night by a militant organization called the White Lotus Society. When he overhears a...

Decline is the worst since September 2014.

Ticket sales at the Chinese box office fell below the RMB500m ($72.67m) mark for the third week running, triggering the worst decline since September 2014.

The week from Oct 29 - Nov 4 saw the box office drop by 6.5% week-on-week. Additionally, the month of October has slumped by a massive 40% compared to the same period last year.

In such a quiet week, Disney’s live action fairytale The Nutcracker And The Four Realms easily topped the chart but with an underwhelming $11.7m from its first three days.

Fox’s sci-fi action reboot The Predator fell to...

Decline is the worst since September 2014.

Ticket sales at the Chinese box office fell below the RMB500m ($72.67m) mark for the third week running, triggering the worst decline since September 2014.

The week from Oct 29 - Nov 4 saw the box office drop by 6.5% week-on-week. Additionally, the month of October has slumped by a massive 40% compared to the same period last year.

In such a quiet week, Disney’s live action fairytale The Nutcracker And The Four Realms easily topped the chart but with an underwhelming $11.7m from its first three days.

Fox’s sci-fi action reboot The Predator fell to...

Based on the smashing Jin Hezai’s web novel Wukong Biography, “Wu Kong” introduces to the public a young and romantic Sun Wu kong, the popular Chinese hero best known as Monkey King.

This umpteenth version, released in China in July 2017 and directed by Derek Kwok (who had also co-directed with Stephen Chow “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons” in 2013) follows numerous previous adaptations, spanning from movies to TV series and video games but this time its purpose – as it seems – is to appeal to younger audiences. As a matter of fact, the movie is intended as a prologue of the Ming dynasty novel “Journey to the West” and narrates the adventures of a young Monkey King and the capers that made him the hero-on-a-mission we all know and love. Or at least it tries …

At the beginning of the movie, a long descriptive graphic prologue...

The H Collective and Vin Diesel/One Race Films have acquired rights to the xXx franchise from Revolution Studios, and Diesel will reprise his role as Xander Cage in the fourth installment that will go before cameras in December 2018. D.J. Caruso, who helmed last year’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage, is returning as director.

Under the deal, Revolution Studios retains rights to the first three films which have collectively grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide. The franchise, however, has been steadily losing audiences domestically. Xander Cage only opened to $20.1M in its debut weekend in January last year and ran out of gas at $44.8M. The first xXx opened 2002 and hauled in $142.1M domestically.

In China, Diesel’s return to the franchise after Ice Cube starred in the interim was welcome news. China accounting for the bulk of Xander Cage‘s $69.3M overseas debut, so, it’s no wonder why Chinese-backed...

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.The Monkey King 3: Land of BeautyThis year’s Lunar New Year week was the biggest ever, almost doubling the box office take from last year, with grosses over 850 million American dollars. Traditionally the busiest movie-going time in the Chinese-speaking world, packed with crowd-pleasing star vehicles, this year’s holiday was dominated by four major releases, each of which was also released in North America.1 Three sequels opened here on February 16th, The Monkey King 3, Monster Hunt 2 and Detective Chinatown 2, while Operation Red Sea opened the following Friday, February 23rd. While none of the four has had the impact stateside of The Mermaid’s historic run two New Years ago, they’ve all proven to be hits at home. Soi Cheang’s Monkey King sequel opened first,...

The third installment of the Monkey King franchise, after The Monkey King (2014) and The Monkey King 2 (2016), Monkey King 3: Kingdom Of Women has released its trailer, ready to hit theaters this Lunar New Year.

Based on the 16th-century Chinese fantasy classic, “Journey to the West”, the movie tells the story of Tang Sanzang (Feng Shaofeng) and his three proteges when they head into the all-female land in the Xi Liang nation known as Women’s Country.

Feng Shaofeng as Tang Sanzang, the Buddhist monk

Without knowing, Tang Sanzang and Zhu Baije (Xiao Shenyang) drink the water from the mighty River God and get pregnant. That’s not the only problem. The ruler of the country (Zhao Liying), falls in love with Tang Sanzang and attempts to keep him with her forever.

Xiaoshenyang as Zhu Bajie, the pig demon Zhao Liying as the ruler of the women’s kingdom

On Sun Wukong’s suggestion,...

Fox Networks channel swoops on six films that won prizes at Hong Kong Film Awards.

Fox Networks Group Asia (Fnga)’s Scm channel has acquired exclusive rights to crime thriller Trivisa and a slew of other films that won prizes at last week’s Hong Kong Film Awards.

Produced by Johnnie To and directed by three up-and-coming talents, Trivisa walked away with best film, best director (Jevons Au, Frank Hui & Vicky Wong), best actor (Lam Ka Tung), best screenplay and best editing at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night (April 9).

Scm also acquired exclusive rights to Wong Chun’s Mad World, which picked up three awards including best new director; Andy Lo’s Happiness (best actress for Kara Wai); Zhang Jiajia’s See You Tomorrow (best cinematography and art direction); and Soi Cheang’s The Monkey King 2 (best visual effects and make-up & costume design).

The channel also acquired Taiwanese filmmaker Chung Mong-hong’s Godspeed...

Trivisa scoops five awards including best film, while Mad World takes best new ditrector prize.Scroll Down For Full List Of Winners

Hong Kong’s new wave of filmmakers scored big at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night, where films from first-time directors walked off with most of the major prizes.

Johnnie To-produced crime drama Trivisa (pictured) was the big winner of the night, scooping five awards including best film and best director for its three first-time co-directors - Jevons Au, Frank Hui and Vicky Wong. The film, about a trio of notorious gangsters, also won best actor for Gordon Lam’s performance, best screenplay and best editing.

Wong Chun’s Mad World, also a first-time effort, picked up three awards, including best new director, best supporting actor for Eric Tsang’s performance and best supporting actress for Elaine Jin. The film tells the story of a former stockbroker living with his father (Tsang...

Multi-stranded crime drama Trivisa was the big winner at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards tonight, bagging five gongs including Best Film, Best Actor for Gordon Lam and Best Director for the trio Jevons Au, Frank Hui and Vicky Wong. The film also won Best Screenplay and Best Editing. Wong Chun was named Best New Director for Mad World, which also won awards for Eric Tsang and Elaine Jin in the Best Supporting categories, while Kara Hui gave a passionate, heartfelt acceptance speech after winning the Best Actress award for Happiness. Elsewhere, Soi Cheang’s The Monkey King 2 won for Visual Effects and Costume Design & Make Up, the Wong Kar Wai scripted See You Tomorrow won for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

It was the best weekend at the 2017 box office so far, led by WB's The Lego Batman Movie along with fellow newcomers Fifty Shades Darker and John Wick: Chapter Two topping the box office in that order. But along with the new releases, five of the weekend's holdovers, especially Lion, held on extremely well, dropping 35% or less compared to last weekend. Overall the weekend top twelve came in just a fraction below our overall expectation of $180 million as the top twelve combined for an estimated $176.9 million. At #1, WB's second film in their Lego franchise, The Lego Batman Movie, delivered an estimated $55.6 million, which is well below Mojo's forecast and even a bit below the $60 million the studio was expecting. However, opening day audiences gave the film a strong "A-" CinemaScore, which plays well with the strong critical reception the film received. Of that audience, 48% were males vs. 52% females and 48% were...

A total of 145 scores were recently announced as being eligible for this year’s Academy Award, with everything from perceived frontrunner “La La Land” (Justin Hurwitz) and “Jackie” (Mica Levi) to outliers like “Sausage Party” and “Elle.” The final five will be nominated on January 24. In the meantime, avail yourself of this Spotify playlist featuring selections from 110 of the eligible scores — as well as the full list of every eligible score.

Read More: Oscar Best Score Contenders: The Inside Story of Creating 5 Diverse Frontrunners

Read More: Oscars 2017: Listen to 70 Songs Eligible for This Year’s Academy Award

The Abolitionists,” Tim Jones, composer

“Absolutely Fabulous The Movie,” Jake Monaco, composer

“The Accountant,” Mark Isham, composer

“Alice through the Looking Glass,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Allied,” Alan Silvestri, composer

“Almost Christmas,” John Paesano, composer

“American Pastoral,” Alexandre Desplat, composer

“The Angry Birds Movie,” Heitor Pereira, composer

“Anthropoid,” Robin Foster, composer

“Armenia, My Love,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 145 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2016 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 89th Academy Awards.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

“The Abolitionists,” Tim Jones, composer

“Absolutely Fabulous The Movie,” Jake Monaco, composer

“The Accountant,” Mark Isham, composer

“Alice through the Looking Glass,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Allied,” Alan Silvestri, composer

“Almost Christmas,” John Paesano, composer

“American Pastoral,” Alexandre Desplat, composer

“The Angry Birds Movie,” Heitor Pereira, composer

“Anthropoid,” Robin Foster, composer

“Armenia, My Love,” Silvia Leonetti, composer

“Assassin’s Creed,” Jed Kurzel, composer

“Autumn Lights,” Hugi Gudmundsson and Hjörtur Ingvi Jóhannsson, composers

“The Bfg,” John Williams, composer

“Believe,” Michael Reola, composer

“Ben-Hur,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, composers

“Bilal,” Atli Ӧrvarsson, composer

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced the 145 scores eligible in the Best Original Score category, includeing work from “Jackie” and “La La Land.” The latter film, a musical directed by “Whiplash” helmer Damien Chazelle, picked up the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s award for Best Music earlier this month; “Jackie” was the category’s runner-up. Notably absent, meanwhile, are “Arrival” (which just landed a Golden Globe nod), “Manchester by the Sea” and “Silence.”

Read: ‘La La Land’: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s ‘City of Stars’ Duet Will Sweep You Off Your Feet – Listen

Justin Hurwitz composed and orchestrated the “La La Land” score, while “Jackie” marks “Under the Skin” composer Mica Levi’s second silver-screen effort. Decades after becoming one of the world’s most renowned film composers, Ennio Morricone won last year’s Oscar for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.

The legendary Monkey King returns for a new adventure when Well Go USA Entertainment debuts The Monkey King 2 on digital December 6 and on Blu-ray™ and DVD January 3.

Set 500 years after the storyline in the first Monkey King film, ‘The Monkey King 2’ follows the adventures of the Monkey King as he and his new companions set off on their journey to the western regions to retrieve sacred Buddhist scriptures.

The star-studded ‘Monkey King 2’ sees Soi Cheang returning at the helm as he directs Asian powerhouse actors Aaron Kwok and Gong Li, as well as rising stars William Feng, Him Law, Xiao Shen Yang and Kris Phillips in this fantasy film based on the classic and popular Chinese tale “Journey to the West”.

Gong Li in The Monkey King 2

Award-winning Hong Kong multi-hyphenate (actor-singer-dancer) Aaron Kwok replaces Donnie Yen to play the lead role of Monkey King, and...

Hong Kong-based Celestial Tiger Entertainment (Cte) has acquired exclusive pay-tv rights to Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid for its channels in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.

Cte licensed the film from Sony Pictures Television. The Mermaid is currently China’s highest-grossing film ever with box office of $513m.

“This film, together with the films from our five output deals, cements our commitment to bring our viewers the biggest Chinese blockbusters with the biggest stars,” said Cte executive vice president, TV Networks, Ofanny Choi.

Cte has exclusive output deals with Hong Kong studios including Distribution Workshop, Emperor Motion Pictures, Media Asia, Mega-Vision Project Workshop and Universe Entertainment.

In addition to The Mermaid, the regional channel operator has also secured rights to the two other films that were a big hit over the recent Chinese New Year holiday – Soi Cheang’s The Monkey King 2 and Wong Jing’s From Vegas To Macau 3.

Cte channels include Celestial Movies, Celestial...

A combination of the Lunar New Year holiday and one particular massive local blockbuster pushed the monthly box office in China to a record high in February, surpassing North America for the second time in history.

Chinese cinemas took in $1.05 billion in February, a 50% increase over the same period last year, whereas the U.S. box-office is coming in at just short of $800 million. Currently the world's second-biggest theatrical market, China is closing the gap with North America and if the current rates of growth keep up it will become the world's largest film market in early 2017.

The Chinese box-office was massively helped by Stephen Chow's fish-out-of-water rom-com "The Mermaid" which generated a whopping $485 million over three weeks in February. The fantasy sequel "The Monkey King 2," was also a big contributor - earning $178.1 million over three weeks, while Wong Jin's comedy-action gambling sequel "From Vegas to Macau 3" made $167 million.