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“If you really missed not seeing us on screen together, then ‘The Goldfinger’ is your opportunity to do so,” says Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau of his new crime movie where he is again paired with Tony Leung Chiu-wai (“In the Mood for Love”).

The film releases at the end of the month in different parts of Asia and North America (from Dec. 30). Pre-release marketing and promotional efforts make much of the Lau-Leung repairing some twenty years after the “Infernal Affairs” trio of hit movies. The movies were both critical and commercial hits and contained an iconic rooftop scene in Hong Kong’s Wanchai district with the police undercover agent and the mobster’s mole facing off guns drawn.

The pair clearly rate each other highly for their acting skills and for the kind of professionalism that has kept them both a the top of the game for more than two decades.

Distribution Workshop has picked up international sales duties on “A Legend,” the Jackie Chan -starring film.

As previously reported, the film is now in production.

“A Legend” is now pitched as a $50 million sequel to the 2005 action romance “The Myth” that involved both Chan and director Stanley Tong. In previous communication, producer Bona Film Group said that the film was inspired by the earlier film.

The new picture will be the tenth time that Chan and Tong have worked together, following other titles that include “Police Story 3,” “Supercop” and “Vanguard.”

“A Legend” sees Professor Chen, an archaeology expert, notice that the texture on the artifacts discovered by his students during a glacier expedition, is strikingly similar to a jade pendant he had seen in his dreams. The pendant is connecting the realm of dreams to reality. Filled with curiosity, Chen leads a research team on a journey deep into the Glacier Temple,...

Taipei-based sales agency Distribution Workshop has picked up international sales rights to $50M action adventure A Legend, starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong.

A sequel to Chan and Tong’s 2005 collaboration The Myth, the film also stars Zhang Yixing (Kung Fu Yoga) and Coulee Nazha (Police Story 2013), and is currently in production with no release date set.

Chan again plays the role of an archaeology expert who this time notices that the texture on the artifacts discovered by his students during a glacier expedition is similar to a jade pendant he had seen in his dreams. Filled with curiosity, he leads the research team on a journey to the Glacier Temple in search of the truth behind the dreams.

Chan’s latest Chinese action drama, Ride On, in which he ironically plays a washed up stuntman, received positive reviews and grossed $30M in China last month. His upcoming...

Chow Yun Fat’s ‘One More Chance’ to be relaunched at the market.

Taiwan’s Distribution Workshop is set to introduce Cannes buyers to Philip Shih’s horror Antikalpa and relaunch Chow Yun-fat drama One More Chance.

Antikalpa is a Taiwanese supernatural horror that centres on a group of high school students who are lured into practicing mysterious rituals with demonic results. Adapted from a bestselling novel by Ling Jing, the film is set for a November release.

The cast includes Huang Guan-Zhi (TV series Detention), Regina Lei (The Sadness) and Tseng Wan-Ting (Gatao - The Last Stray). It marks...

Festival was forced to cancel April dates after a wave of Covid cases.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) has announced it will host its 46th edition from August 15-21, after previously being forced to postpone due to a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in the city.

Organisers are planning a hybrid approach of in-person and online screenings for the 17-day festival, similar to the approach Hkiff took in 2021 after being cancelled altogether in 2020 at the start of the outbreak. The full programme will be unveiled in July.

Hkiff’s Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival, which usually takes...

Further titles include Herman Yau’s War Customised and Alan Mak’s Insider.

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) has unveiled a slate of 12 upcoming films, including a sequel to Zhang Yimou’s box office hit Cliff Walkers and new all-star features from Herman Yau and Alan Mak.

It has also released the first images of Felix Chong’s The Goldfinger, which reunites Infernal Affairs stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau for the first time in nearly 20 years (see below).

The 12 titles, along with two projects in development, equate to an investment of $191.7m (Hk$1.5b), representing the company...

Back in the distant days of VHS (showing my age here) over in the UK, there was a video label “Made in Hong Kong”. As I began to watch Hong Kong movies, I would await the next release with true fan boy excitement. The promo trailer reel that would open the release would invariably start with one I’m about to review and as soon as the theme hits, you immediately just want to watch it. So, does it hold up now over 30 years after its original release or has its charm faded into the midst of time?

on Amazon

Ko Chun (Chow Yun-fat) is the God of Gamblers, a man blessed with almost supernatural ability at the gambling table. After defeating Japan’s finest Tanaka, he is asked by him for assistance in beating Chan Kam-sing aka the “Demon of Gamblers” who had driven Tanaka’s father to suicide.

Felix Chong is directing the crime thriller, which reunites talents from the Infernal Affairs series.

Hong Kong studio Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) has started production on crime thriller Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau and written and directed by Felix Chong.

The two stars previously worked together in the Infernal Affairs series, which Chong co-wrote with Alan Mak. Chong has since directed hit crime thrillers such as the Overheard series and Project Gutenberg.

Produced by Ronald Wong, producer of the Overheard series, Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong is set in...

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Andy Lau will team up in a new major action movie titled “Goldfinger,” local reports said Friday.

The two beloved Hong Kong-born A-listers haven’t worked together since the end of the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy 18 years ago.

The reunion will be written and directed by Felix Chong, the screenwriter for that series. It is backed by Emperor Motion Pictures and mainland Chinese partners, with a reported budget of around $30.8 million (RMB200 million).

Chong found success in mainland China in 2018 with his counterfeiting thriller “Project Gutenberg,” which he wrote and directed. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Aaron Kwok and Zhang Jingchu, it grossed $183 million in China and $4.3 million in Hong Kong, going on to win best film, best script, best director and four other prizes from 17 nominations at the 2019 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Other members of the “Goldfinger” cast will include fellow veteran Hong Kongers Simon Yam and Philip Keung...

Singer and actor Steven Ma is a wholesome figure in Honk Kong’s pop scene, best known for his portrayals of historical characters in many period Tvb drama series. For this very personal project “Till We Meet Again”, presented by Hong Kong distribution company Golden Scene, Ma sits on the director’s chair and opens up about his widely documented history of depression.

Till We Meet Again is streaming on Focus Hong Kong

The film opens with salesman Ng Ka-wai (played by Ma) in a good mood as he is preparing to see his mother Mui (Josephine Ku). Despite the fact the she has refused to see him for over a decade, he is confident that he will sooner or later be reunited. Why doesn’t she want to meet him? Ng’s world is rather small, we see he is good at his work but has some problems with the boss,...

Impossible Dream Entertainment and sales firm The Exchange have introduced “Tiger Mom,” a U.S.-China co-produced comedy, at the American Film Market. On the China side, backers include Huacheng Film, TV and Digital Program Company, a subsidiary of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV6, and Beijing Origin Pictures.

The film will star Zhang Jingchu as a first-generation Chinese-American mother who, unable to control her teenage children, enrolls them in a prestigious disciplinary school called Tiger Academy, which is capable of whipping them into Ivy League shape. The school is run by a woman played by Lisa Lu. Michelle Krusiec (“Saving Face”) will also star. Other casting decisions are still in the works.

The film, currently in pre-production, will be directed by Shawn Chou, who is co-writing with Neil Garguilo. Chou, Stefanie Huang, Shaun Redick and his partner, Yvette Yates Redick, are producing. Liu Changjiang, Sam Park and Justin Ware will be executive producers.

A parade of patriotic films is set to march into Chinese cineplexes this month, crowding out Hollywood fare in a display of how firmly the entertainment industry remains under the control of the government. China may be the world’s second-biggest movie market after the U.S., but as far as its Communist rulers are concerned, politics trump economics.

The National Day holiday, which extends from Oct. 1-7, is one of the country’s peak moviegoing periods, and typically marks a time when authorities impose an unofficial blackout on foreign titles so that local ones get a boost. This year, the holiday has thundered in with even greater fanfare — and censorship — because 2019 marks a key milestone for the Communist Party: the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic after a bloody civil war. That has resulted in a theatrical lineup stocked with overtly nationalistic films approved by...

After a busy FilMart in March, at which Hong Kong’s film industry leaders promised to lobby for greater access to mainland audiences, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was able, only a month later, to announce that the lobbying had succeeded. But the past months of political protests in Hong Kong have increasingly impacted the film business.

Back in April, fees and conditions attached to mainland-Hong Kong co-productions were waived, as part of a five-point plan to treat the Special Administrative Area’s once mighty film industry as welcome in the mainland, where the local industry has grown big and arrogant, but not yet mature.

Dropping the rules that required all mainland-Hong Kong co-productions to have mainland stories, and other regulations that put ceilings on the number of Hong Kong crew on each production, seemed set to help Hong Kong filmmakers tell their own stories and yet still to...

"Who painting do you want me to replicate?" Signature Entertainment in the UK has unveiled an official trailer for a Hong Kong crime thriller titled The Counterfeiter. This has gone under a few other names, including Project Gutenberg, and the original titles Mou seung (Cantonese) and Wu shuang (Mandarin). The Counterfeiter is described "action-packed, twisty and tension filled crime thriller" akin to The Usual Suspects meets Fight Club, starring Chow Yun-Fat as a criminal mastermind known as the "Painter". The Hong Kong police are hunting a masterful counterfeiting gang. In order to crack the leader "Painter's" true identity, the police recruits gang member Lee Man to unmask him. This also stars Aaron Kwok, Jingchu Zhang, Catherine Chau, Joyce Wenjuan Feng, David Yao-Qing Wang, and Kai Chi Liu. This looks cool, lots of slick counterfeiting along with some heavy action. It might be an entertaining weekend watch. Here's the first official...

Chris Tucker, Adrien Brody and Paul Haggis were on hand Saturday to give a huge high-tech finale to the fifth edition of the Jackie Chan Action Film Week. So too were Crystal Liu Yifei, star of Disney’s upcoming “Mulan,” and a bevy of top Chinese talent.

Moving the event from the fringes of the Shanghai festival in June, to a new date and spectacular outdoor venues provided by provincial town of Datong, some 200 miles East of Beijing in Shanxi Province, may have revitalized the Action Film Week. Upbeat organizers now talk of franchising the event to other countries.

If the opening on July 21 was reportedly relatively quiet, the closing ceremony was a razzamatazz of stunts, choreography and pyrotechnics with ambitions of matching an Olympic Games or World Cup opening.

Held in a full-sized sports arena, with perhaps 20,000 spectators, the show opened with a troop of astronauts arriving from the skies,...

Chinese sci-fi hit “The Wandering Earth,” China’s Cannes competition film “Wild Goose Lake,” and Korea’s Palme d’Or-winning “Parasite” are among the nominees for the Aacta Award for best Asian film.

The nominees were announced on the margins of the Shanghai International Film Festival. The winners will be announced Dec. 4 at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards ceremony in Sydney.

Other Chinese films in the running include “Pegasus”; Chinese-Hong Kong comedy-drama “The New King of Comedy”; animated fantasy film “White Snake”; Renny Harlin-directed “Bodies at Rest”; “Hidden Man”; Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow”; Hong Kong Film Award-winning action movie “Project Gutenberg”; dark comedy “A Cool Fish”; and mystery drama “Headlines.” Also included is the yet-to-be-released Australia-China co-production “The Whistleblower.”

From elsewhere in Asia, competing tiles include Indian action film “Uri: The Surgical Strike”; India’s foreign-language Oscar contender, “Village Rockstars”; Indian action comedy “The Man...

Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ is among the films in competition for the Aacta Best Asian Film Award.

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) has unveiled some of the films that will compete for a nomination for the 2019 Best Asian Film award.

The selected films were announced at a gala dinner in Shanghai, where Aacta is also hosting an China | Australia film forum and panel discussion as part of its ongoing Asia International Engagement Program.

The Best Asian Film award is designed to honour the finest films of the past year from 19 Asian regions, reflecting the popularity and importance of Asian films in Australia.

Among the Chinese-language films in competition is Australian-Chinese co-production The Whistleblower, which shot in Victoria late last year.

It will go up against the second highest-grossing film of all time in China, Frant Gwo sci-fi The Wandering Earth, as well as three of the...

Among other measures, restrictions have been removed on the numbers of Hong Kong cast and crew on each production.

Chinese authorities have unveiled new rules to make it easier for Hong Kong companies to access the mainland market via official Hong Kong-China co-productions.

The mainland government has relaxed five of the restrictions currently in place for Hong Kong-China co-productions – including the number of Hong Kong actors in each production; the number of Hong Kong people working on each production; and the requirement that the story of the film is related to mainland China.

Other measures include waiving fees to set...

Felix Chong’s crime drama won seven awards, including best film.

Project Gutenberg was the clear winner at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, picking up seven prizes, including best film, as well as best director and best screenplay for Felix Chong.

The Hong Kong-China co-production, about a team of money counterfeiters, also picked up awards for cinematography, editing, art direction and costume & make-up design. Going into the ceremony, the film had 17 nominations, making it the second most nominated film ever, behind Bodyguards And Assassins in 2009.

However, Project Gutenberg lost out on the best actor award, which went to Anthony Wong in Still Human,...

No big revelations this year at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards. The Sunday night ceremony has unveiled all the winners for this years Awards and they are all quite an easy guess. Felix Chong’s thriller “Project Gutenberg” was the star of the evening as, predictably – considering its 17 nominations – won Best Film along with other 6 Awards.

But despite the histrionic performances of Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwock, the acting Awards are not in the “Project Gutenberg”‘s pile. Anthony Wong took home the Best Actor award for his role as a middle-aged paralysed man in “Still Human“, and newcomer Chloe Maayan won Best Actress for Fruit Chan’s “Three Husbands”, while Kara Hui and Ben Yuen Foo-Wa scored Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor both for “Tracey“.

Finally, “Dying To Survive” won the Best Film from Mainland and Taiwan Award.

Here is the full list of Winners and...

“Project Gutenberg” took home all of the big prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday, including best film, best script and best director for writer-director Felix Chong. In total the counterfeiting thriller collected seven prizes, having been nominated in 17 categories.

The film’s star Chow Yun-fat was beaten to the acting prize by Anthony Wong, who was a third time winner, this time with “Still Human,” a film about the relationship between a disabled man and his helper. “Still Human” also earned prizes for The Philippines actress Crisel Consunji as best new performer, and for Oliver Chan as best new director.

The best actress prize went to mainland Chinese performer Chloe Maayan for her role in Fruit Chan’s sex-filled “Three Husbands.” The prizes for best supporting actor and actress went to Ben Yuen and Kara Wai, respectively, both for “Tracey,” a coming out transgender film.

A prize...

The banknote forgery drama Project Gutenberg swept the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards, taking home seven statuettes including for best film, cinematography, art direction, costume and makeup design, film editing and director and screenplay for writer-helmer Felix Chong.

Chong, who won the best new director award for Once a Gangster in 2011, is famed for his scriptwriting work with longtime collaborator Alan Mak on Infernal Affairs and has been nominated nine times in the best screenplay category. Project Gutenberg, which took 13 years to make it to the big screen, marked Chong's third win as a screenwriter and the first time ...

The banknote forgery drama Project Gutenberg swept the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards, taking home seven statuettes including for best film, cinematography, art direction, costume and makeup design, film editing and director and screenplay for writer-helmer Felix Chong.

Chong, who won the best new director award for Once a Gangster in 2011, is famed for his scriptwriting work with longtime collaborator Alan Mak on Infernal Affairs and has been nominated nine times in the best screenplay category. Project Gutenberg, which took 13 years to make it to the big screen, marked Chong's third win as a screenwriter and the first time ...

76 titles (of which 51 in competition) from 12 countries, a retrospective, a monograph, a tribute to new independent Korean cinema, 2 “strange couples”, the world-premier of a restored film and more than 100 themed events organized in the heart of Udine. This is the immense itinerary of which, from an artistic and cultural perspective, the Feff is the most important European outpost.

A bona fide “cinematic island” where cinema is not just celebrated – with 3 world premieres, 12 international premieres and 18 European premieres and 14 debut films – but also looks to the future: this year, 15 projects have been chosen for Focus Asia, the Festival’s market, and 10 for Ties That Bind, the international Asia/Europe workshop.

The journey to the Far East begins on the 26th of April with the moving Korean film “Birthday” directed by Lee Jong-un and produced by Lee Chang-dong. Based on the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster, it is an anatomy of pain and experience of public and private mourning.

It was another successful night for Hirokazu Koreeda’s “Shoplifters“, which won Best Picture at the 13th Asian Film Awards, beating the likes of Lee Chang-dong’s critically acclaimed “Burning” and the hugely successful Chinese film “Dying to Survive” to the prize. The film also won Best Original Music for Haroumi Hosono’s wonderful music.

Director Lee Chang-dong, who returned with “Burning” after an eight years’ absence, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also awarded Best Director on the night for “Burning”.

The Best Actor/Actress Awards were evenly shared between productions of different countries, with Koji Yakusho replicating his win at the Japan Academy Awards with a Best Actor win for “The Blood of Wolves“, Zhang Yu winning Best Supporting Actor for the Chinese film “Dying to Survive”, Samal Yeslyamova winning Best Actress for the Russian-German-Polish-Kazakh-Chinese joint production “Ayka” and Kara Hui winning Best Supporting Actress for...

Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based group Just Creative will use this week’s FilMart to launch “Be Water, My Friend,” one of the year’s biggest movies from Greater China. The drama is currently in production with Chow Yun-fat in the lead role as a pathological gambler who finds a way to communicate with his autistic son.

The film is directed by Hong Kong’s Anthony Pun (“Extraordinary Mission”) from a script by Felix Chong (“Project Gutenberg”). Ronald Wong, who shares multiple credits with Chong, produces the pic, which has a budget approaching $40 million.

Just Creative is bringing two other titles with major names to the Hong Kong market.

Superstar Andy Lau stars in and produces “Find Your Voice.” The film, directed by Adrian Kwan, is a continuation of the education drama theme started with 2015’s “Little Big Master.” The story involves a prominent orchestral conductor returning to Hong Kong to...

The Bona Film Group production grossed $189m at the Chinese box office in October 2018.

South Korea’s Noori Pictures and Just Creative Studio (Jcs), an affiliate of China’s Bona Film Group, are teaming up to co-produce a Korean-language remake of hit crime action drama Project Gutenberg.

Budgeted at around $12-15m, the remake is being scripted by Korean writer and director Hwi Kim, who has worked on scripts including Haeundae, Dancing Queen and Sector 7.

Katherine Kim, former CEO of Cj Entertainment, is on board to produce the remake, with Noori’s Yongho Lee and Jcs’ Jeffrey Chan as executive producers.

“Shoplifters” and “Burning” were the big winners at the 13th Asian Film Awards, with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s family drama winning Best Picture and Lee Chang-dong being named Best Director for his cerebral thriller. “Shadow” led all films by taking home four prizes, with Zhang Yimou’s epic period piece winning four technical awards: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Samal Yeslyamova received Best Actress laurels for her performance in “Ayka,” just as she did at Cannes last year, with “The Blood of Wolves” star Yakusho Kōji joining her as Best Actor. “Burning” only left the ceremony with one of the eight prizes for which it was nominated, but Lee received a Lifetime Achievement award as well. Full list of winners:

Best Picture

“Shoplifters”

Best Director

Lee Chang-dong, “Burning”

Best Actor

Yakusho Kōji, “The Blood of Wolves”

Best Actress

Samal Yeslyamova, “Ayka”

Best Supporting Actor

Zhang Yu,...

Zhang Yimou’s highly stylized period epic “Shadow” was the numerical winner at Sunday’s Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. It bagged four technical awards. But the major prizes went to Japanese and Korean filmmakers.

Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Shoplifters,” a Japanese drama about a family surviving on shoplifting, was named best picture. The film had been the surprise Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes festival last year, but has since won wide acclaim and achieved record scores at the Japanese and Chinese box office.“Shoplifters” also won best original music with Japanese music pioneer Hosono Haruomi’s score.

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong won the best director prize for the psychological drama “Burning”, which Lee also co-wrote as an adaptation of a Murakami Haruki short story. Going into the ceremony, “Burning” was the favorite, having been nominated in eight categories. Lee was also presented with a lifetime achievement award,...

The Hong Kong star will play a gambler in Anthony Pun’s Be Water, My Friend.

Distribution Workshop is launching international sales at Filmart on Anthony Pun’s Be Water, My Friend, starring Chow Yun Fat.

Chow plays a pathological gambler who finds a way to connect with his autistic son in the $35-40m film, which is currently in production and set in Hong Kong, Macau and China.

Pun previously directed Extraordinary Mission and is reteaming with Felix Chong and Ronald Wong, writer and producer respectively of the 2017 action hit, on his new project. Wong also produced Project Gutenberg,...

The full list of nominations for the the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards has been revealed. On the 14 April 2019 we will know the winners but for now let’s have a look at the nominees.

Two films seem to lead the competition. Big budget “Project Gutenberg” by Felix Chong has the highest number of nominations (17) and both its protagonists, Chow Yun-Fat and Aaron Kwok, compete for the Best Actor Award. To follow, a much smaller (but not less loved) film, “Men On The Dragon” by Sunny Chan has 10 nominations.

Here is the full list:

Men On The Dragon

Best Film

Three Husbands

Operation Red Sea

Still Human

Men On The Dragon

Project Gutenberg

Best Director

Fruit Chan (Three Husbands)

Dante Lam (Operation Red Sea)

Sunny Chan (Men On The Dragon)

Oliver Chan Siu-Kuen (Still Human)

Felix Chong (Project Gutenberg)

Aaron Kwok and Chow Yun-Fat

Best Actor

Francis Ng (Men On...

International box office ticked up 1% over 2017 to a record $29.8 billion, helping to drive worldwide moviegoing up 2.7% to a new high-water mark of $41.7 billion. Most of the global increase came from North America, which surged 7% to $11.9 billion. “Avengers: Infinity War” became the seventh film to gross more than $1 billion internationally, with $1.37 billion. In all, 40 foreign titles hit the top 100 (23 of them from China), led by “Operation Red Sea” with more than $611 million — good enough for the sixth spot on the year’s international chart.

Rank Title (Distrib) Domestic B.O. 1. Avengers: Infinity War (Disney) $1,369,544,150 2. Jurassic World: … Kingdom (U) $891,740,973 3. Black Panther (Disney) $648,313,144 4. Venom (Sony) $642,239,919 5. Incredibles 2 (Disney) $634,164,141 6. Operation Red Sea^ (China) $611,516,097 7. Aquaman* (WB) $602,041,078 8. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Par) $570,956,000 9. Detective Chinatown 2 (China) $530,160,486 10. Bohemian Rhapsody* (Fox) $519,253,170 11. Fantastic Beasts: … Grindelwald* (WB) $470,900,000 12. Dying to Survive^ (China) $463,140,547 13. Ready Player One (WB) $443,300,000 14. Deadpool 2 (Fox) $418,042,433 15. Ant-Man and the Wasp (Disney) $406,000,000 16. The Meg (WB) $384,400,000 17. Hello Mr. Billionaire^ (China...

Lee Chang-dong’s smoldering drama “Burning” picked up the largest number of nominations Friday for the 2019 edition of the Asian Film Awards. The Korean adaptation of a Japanese short story was nominated in eight categories, including best film.

Other best film nominees were Pema Tseden’s “Jinpa,” Wen Muye’s “Dying to Survive,” Rajkumar Hirani’s “Sanju,” and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters.”

The nominations were announced in Hong Kong on Friday afternoon. The prize ceremony will be held in Hong Kong on Sunday, March 17.

“Shoplifters,” “Sanju,” and Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” ranked narrowly behind “Burning” with six nominations each. Hong Kong crime thriller “Project Gutenberg” earned five nods, while “Jinpa” and “Dying to Survive” both received four.

While “Burning” and “Shoplifters” are both among the front-runners, as they have been at festivals and award events through the year, the Afa nominations rank them differently.

“Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or in Cannes,...

China’s total box office revenue grew 9% in 2018 to $8.87 billion (RMB60.98 billion). But the rate of expansion was slower rate than the year before, when it rose 13.5%, state media and government reports said. Nevertheless, the country met its government-set 2018 box office target of RMB60 billion yuan in ticket sales on December 29.

Chinese-language films brought in $5.53 billion (RMB37.8 billion) in 2018, making up 62% of the total box office, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing data from the country’s State Film Administration as saying. In 2017, Chinese films accounted for 54% of the box office. China produced 1,082 films in 2018, up from 970 the year before, though not all received theatrical releases.

China is the world’s second-largest theatrical movie market, and is widely expected to surpass the North American sector in coming years. However, the uneven growth of recent years has undone numerous past forecasts of when that might happen.

China now boasts the...

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...

Lasse Hallstrom’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” topped the Chinese box office with a far from festive $12 million opening score. It was one of six new titles to enter the top ten, which was worth a collective $40.8 million.

The romantic fantasy, presented by Disney in most international markets, topped the Chinese charts on all three days between Friday and Sunday. It played some 80,000 screening sessions per day on each occasion., according to data from Ent Group.

Independently-produced U.S. action-disaster picture, “Hurricane Heist” took second place with $7.03 million, playing over 40,000 screening sessions per day. Its director, Rob Cohen is a familiar figure in the Middle Kingdom and previously directed “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” in China in 2008.

Third place was taken by British comedy drama “A Street Cat Named Bob,” directed by Roger Spottiswoode. After opening sixth on Friday, it saw its earnings grow on Saturday and Sunday,...

Writer-director Felix Chong was once hailed as the one of the saviors of Hong Kong cinema with his 2001 blockbuster Infernal Affairs, which was famously remade into the Oscar-winning The Departed from Martin Scorsese in 2006. Coming of age in the 1980s during the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, Chong, now 50, idolized Chow Yun-fat in all his John Woo-directed splendor. In his latest hit, Project Gutenberg, a typically fast-paced thriller about counterfeiting U.S. currency that has taken in $144 million in China, Chong pays homage not only to Chow’s onscreen heroics but also to the movies he grew up with....

Writer-director Felix Chong was once hailed as the one of the saviors of Hong Kong cinema with his 2001 blockbuster Infernal Affairs, which was famously remade into the Oscar-winning The Departed from Martin Scorsese in 2006. Coming of age in the 1980s during the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, Chong, now 50, idolized Chow Yun-fat in all his John Woo-directed splendor. In his latest hit, Project Gutenberg, a typically fast-paced thriller about counterfeiting U.S. currency that has taken in $144 million in China, Chong pays homage not only to Chow’s onscreen heroics but also to the movies he grew up with....

Chinese box office sees 3% drop week-on-week for October 22-28.

The Predator, the first mainstream Hollywood release since Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s opening two months ago, failed to provide a much-needed boost to the lacklustre Chinese box office, which fell further by 3% week-on-week in the period of Oct 22-28 to become the second quietest week of 2018.

Despite the strong summer months, the Chinese box office has been in decline every week in October and almost every week in September. The month of October will record negative growth compared to the same period last year.

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

“The Predator” opened on top of the Chinese box office , the first time in seven weeks since a Hollywood movie took top spot. But its low-key haul was indicative of a continuation of the recent slump in theatrical takings in the Middle Kingdom.

Local tracking service reported “The Predator” on $19.5 million in three days. Studio sources estimated $20.7 million.

Another newcomer, Chinese animated romance, “Crystal Sky of Yesterday” took second place with just $7.03 million according to data from Ent Group. And “Crystal Sky” slipped to third place on Sunday, beaten by previous chart-topper “Project Gutenberg.”

The Hong Kong crime action film earned $6.66 million on its fourth full weekend of release. It now has a cumulative of $172 million after 29 days of release.

The top three films enjoyed a combined 72% market share. Total box office for the top ten films was $46 million, a score that is $5 million higher than the previous weekend, but...

October is headed for a month of negative growth.

The third week of October (Oct 15-21) failed to provide any reprieve to the Chinese box office as it turned out to be the second quietest week in 2018, with a 25% drop week-on-week.

It is the second consecutive week-on-week decline following a disappointing weeklong National Day holiday when ticket sales dropped by 27.5% from the same period in 2017. October will probably end up as a month of negative growth.

Without strong contenders, Hong Kong crime thriller Project Gutenberg scored a hat trick, topping the weekly chart three times in a row. The National...

Hong Kong crime thriller, “Project Gutenberg” held its lead to win a second weekend at the Chinese box office. However, overall numbers remain weak and Hollywood is on the sidelines.

Starring Aaron Kwok and Chow Yun-fat, “Gutenberg” earned $20.6 million in its third weekend of release, according to data from Ent Group. That was down 45% on its previous winning weekend, and lifted its score to $135 million after 15 days of release.

Drama, “Lost, Found” improved on its opening weekend and climbed one place to second position. It earned $7.97 million and has a cumulative of $22.0 million after 10 days in theaters.

Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” incurred a 54% decline and slipped to third place. After 15 days of distribution it has accumulated $80.1 million.

Newly-released Indian comedy drama “Hichki” (aka “Hiccup”) earned $4.20 million for fourth place. Starring Rani Mukherji as a woman with Tourette’s Syndrome, the film was released in India and diaspora territories in March this year.

Tom Hardy’s “Venom” remained a potent player internationally in its second weekend, grabbing $69.7 million with first-place finishes in 54 markets at 20,100 screens.

Sony’s superhero saga has now taken in $235.3 million in a dozen days from overseas markets and is tracking 32% ahead of “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and 12% ahead of “Doctor Strange” for the same group of markets at the same point in release. It’s also won the domestic box office twice for a worldwide total of $378.1 million.

France was the top market for “Venom” as it launched in first with $6.7 million (including previews), topping the openings of “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Wonder Woman.” Vietnam also generated a first-place opening with $3 million for “Venom,” as did Thailand with $2.2 million.

Russia led the way among holdover markets with $5.5 million, followed by Brazil with $4.7 million, Mexico with $4.5 million, South Korea with $4.4 million, Australia with $2.8 million, and Germany with $2.6 million. “Venom...

Felix Chong’s film surpassed ‘Hello, Mrs Money’ and ‘Shadow’.

The first week of October (Oct 1-7) is traditionally one of the most lucrative Chinese box office windows, but disappointment looms over this year’s National Day holiday.

It collected $277.62m (RMB1.91b) over seven days, down 27.5% from the same period in 2017 (although the holiday lasted eight days last year). This is the second time the National Day holiday recorded negative growth over the last 10 years.

Last year, the first seven days of the holiday period raked in over $43.6m (RMB300m) daily, but only the first two days of...

Hong Kong action flick Project Gutenberg, starring Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok, was the winner of a markedly downbeat National Day holiday season at the Chinese box office.

The weeklong holiday corridor, which commemorates the founding of the People's Republic of China and runs Oct. 1-Oct. 8, is typically one of the most lucrative moviegoing periods of the year. But total ticket sales during the frame were down 22.2 percent compared to the 2017 National Day stretch, data from box-office analysis company Artisan Gateway shows.

Last year's holiday served as the launchpad for local comedy blockbuster Never Say ...

Hong Kong action flick Project Gutenberg, starring Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok, was the winner of a markedly downbeat National Day holiday season at the Chinese box office.

The weeklong holiday corridor, which commemorates the founding of the People's Republic of China and runs Oct. 1-Oct. 8, is typically one of the most lucrative moviegoing periods of the year. But total ticket sales during the frame were down 22.2 percent compared to the 2017 National Day stretch, data from box-office analysis company Artisan Gateway shows.

Last year's holiday served as the launchpad for local comedy blockbuster Never Say ...

Hong Kong crime thriller, “Project Gutenberg” scored $37.2 million at the Chinese box office to comfortably win the under-powered second weekend of a prolonged holiday period. Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” placed second.

For the film industry, the National Day sessions started on Sunday a week earlier, with the delayed releases of several titles. After a midweek reshuffle, those top scoring titles largely held their positions through the second weekend. A handful of new releases on Friday made little impact. The cumulative scores of all films on release over the second weekend was $96.8 million, some 20% down on the sessions last year.

“Gutenberg,” which stars Aaron Kwok and Chow Yun-fat, has headed the charts on every day since Tuesday. It now stands on a cumulative of $98.8 million after eight days.

“Shadow” has tracked solidly in second or third place throughout. It earned $17.7 million between Friday and Sunday, lifting its 8-day total to $65.5 million.

Update: Hong Kong crime thriller Project Gutenberg within days of $100m following $38m weekend haul.

October 8 Update: Sony/Marvel’s Venom starring Tom Hardy smashed the opposition with a confirmed $207.1m global debut that set a new October high at the box office.

A Star Is Born grossed $14.2m from its first markets through Warner Bros, while Universal’s Johnny English Strikes Again debuted at number two in the UK on $5.4m.

Sony Pictures Releasing International

Comic book adaptation Venom ranked number one in 57 of its international 58 markets through Sony Pictures Releasing International (Spri) and dominated the international arena with...

Update: Hong Kong crime thriller Project Gutenberg within days of $100m following $38m weekend haul.

Sony/Marvel’s Venom starring Tom Hardy smashed the opposition with an estimated $205m global debut that set a new October high at the box office.

A Star Is Born grossed $14m from its first markets through Warner Bros, while Universal’s Johnny English Strikes Again debuted at number two in the UK on $5.5m.

Sony Pictures Releasing International

Comic book adaptation Venom ranked number one in 57 of its international 58 markets through Sony Pictures Releasing International (Spri) and dominated the international arena with a bracing $125.2m haul from 20,800 screens.