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Li Bingbing's absence from The Meg 2 remains a mystery, with no official explanation given for her departure, leading to speculation and conjecture. Li Bingbing, a Chinese superstar, has only appeared in one other movie since her role in the first Meg, possibly indicating a focus on personal matters or other commitments. The Meg 2 provides an explanation for Suyin's absence in a harrowing twist, revealing that the character died between the two movies, leaving her fate open-ended and subject to speculation.

One former cast member from The Meg won't be coming back for its sequel, sparking curiosity about why the Li Bingbing Meg 2: The Trench character is absent. Directed by Ben Wheatley, Meg 2 is based on a science-fiction novel The Trench by Steve Alten and picks up after the events of the first movie, in which a research team had a brush with a Megalodon thought to...

Features include Golden Horse Awards nominee ‘Coo-Coo 42’.

Distribution Workshop, one of Asia’s leading film sales agents, is set to launch three features to buyers in Busan including Golden Horse Awards frontrunner Coo-Coo 43.

At the Asian Contents and Film Market (Oct 8-11), the Taiwanese company will also commence sales on two new dramas produced by China’s Bona Group: In Search Of Lost Time and Ordinary Hero. It marks first in-person market for the Taipei-based firm since the start of the pandemic.

Coo-Coo 043 is written and directed by Chan Ching Lin (The Island That All Flow By) and tracks the...

Lester Chit-man Chan is a Hong Kong actor and director who has collaborated with many famous directors, of the likes of Ang Lee, Tony Chan and Julia Kwan. After a long career, Chan has decided to make his directing debut with “Apart“, a feature about a young couple in the midst of socio-political upheavals in Hong Kong society. The film was also screened as part of this year’s Osaka Film Festival.

We talk with him about the inspiration for the film, its political and social context as well as the creation of the characters of the film.

“Apart” screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020

What was the inspiration for “Apart”?

“Apart” was originally conceived as a love story exploring the cultural identity and differences of the younger generation of Hong Kong – those born before or after the change of sovereignty in 1997, and growing up under its influence.

It originated...

The idea of fire-fighting on film has never had much competition beyond the spectacle-filled “Backdraft” from Ron Howard, who mixed together family melodrama with harrowing realism and top-notch effects work in its numerous action scenes. The result was a film that still stands up to this day as a fantastic action film and one of the most underrated Hollywood action films of the 90s. Director Tony Chan tries to accomplish this same feat in his latest disaster epic “The Bravest”, based on the real-life incidents in Tianjian, China in 2015 and hitting digital platforms January 14 from Sony Pictures.

After a disastrous incident, firefighter Li Wei (Xiaoming Huang) is booted from the group after the deaths of several team-members in a blazing inferno under his watch. Finding solace in a secondary unit, he turns over command to a hotshot rookie who wishes he were still in the regular Army Corps than stuck fighting fires.

"If I tell you everything, who'd have the guts to go in and put out the fire?" Sony Pictures has released an official Us trailer for the Chinese action movie The Bravest, which originally opened in China last July. The epic fire disaster movie is about a group of Chinese firefighters who struggle to contain a huge fire after an oil pipeline explodes. The story is based on a real-life incident, the Xingang Port oil spill, and chronicles the firefighters' efforts to protect a city from the massive fire. Starring Huang Xiaoming, Du Jiang, Tan Zhuo, Yang Zi, Zhang Zehan, Gu Jiacheng, Yin Xiaotian, & Gao Ge. The Chinese are clearly getting better and better at making movies that look and sound like big Hollywood blockbusters. This looks intense. Here's the official Us trailer (+ original posters) for Tony Chan's The Bravest, from Sony's YouTube: When the oil pipeline...

The Fifth Annual Asian World Film Festival November 6–14, Announces Expanded Two Day Industry Forum Schedule and Content

by TV News Desk Oct. 28, 2019

The 2019 Awff Industry Forum schedule has been announced by Asian World Film Festival Director, Georges N. Chamchoum, and Rick Ambros, Awff Executive Board Member, who will moderate the panels. Experts from all areas of film including financing, streaming, development & production, legal and international co-production will be in attendance. Those who attend the Industry Forums will learn more about the current state of film on an international scale and what the future of the entertainment industry looks like from top industry insiders on panels at each of the forums.

James Farrell

Headlined by James Farrell, Head of International Originals at Amazon Studios, the global streaming panel will examine how the voracious appetite for online content is changing the dynamics of the entertainment business. The future of film finance will...

Chinese animation “Nezha” has proven itself China’s surprise hit of the summer, and is on track outstrip “Avengers: Endgame” to become China’s third highest-ever grossing film.

It continued to smash records as the most successful animated title in Chinese film history – surpassing Disney’s 2016 “Zootopia” – during its second weekend, leading the box office with a staggering $127 million, according to figures from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It was also the second highest-grossing film in the world, trailing only “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw.”

As of early Monday evening, the dark horse 3-D title from an unknown new director who goes by the name of Jiaozi, or “dumpling,” has already grossed $348 million (RMB2.45 billion), cracking the top 10 of the mainland’s highest-grossing films of all time, just behind 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” (in eighth place with RMB2.67 billion) and last summer’s “Hello Mr. Billionaire” (in ninth with...

‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.’

As a spin-off, Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw was never destined to roar out of the starting blocks with the same velocity as the previous editions of the franchise.

But the opening weekend for the action thriller starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in Australia over-indexed the Us bow and the worldwide tally was a none-too-shabby $179 million.

The top 20 titles generated $17.4 million, a slight 7 per cent dip on the previous weekend, according to Numero. Palace’s French psychological drama/thriller Who You Think I Am proved to be effective counter-programming for non-rev-heads, while Sony’s Chinese firefighting movie The Bravest fared Ok on limited screens.

Rialto’s indie Us drama The Public and Madman Entertainment’s romantic drama Ophelia directed by Aussie Claire McCarthy struggled in line with their Us results.

Directed by David Leitch, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw clocked up $7.2 million,...

After what began as an upside-down summer for homegrown titles in China, the box office may be primed for a rebound. Last weekend, local movie Ne Zha set opening records for an animated title, and today passed Zootopia as the biggest toon ever in the market. Per local reporting, the Ne Zha gross through Friday is Rmb 1.72B ($248M) versus the Disney film’s Rmb 1.53B.

Ne Zha had previewed early, and its midweeks, after the debut-in-earnest this week, were very strong. Social scores have been through the roof, with a 9.7 on Maoyan. The ticketing platform is now predicting a lofty Rmb 4.49B finish ($647M) which would see it exceed Avengers: Endgame‘s Rmb 4.241B — though Moayan is known to shift its projections.

Directed and written by Yang Yu (aka Jiaozi), Ne Zha is China’s first 3D animated feature released in IMAX (and...

The first rule of China is you don’t talk about China. Unless, of course, you live in Hollywood, in which case all you do is talk about China as execs find themselves in the midst of a historic shift in the global balance of power.

After more than a century, the studios are no longer the senior partner at the table, able to dictate terms at will, at least with respect to what will soon be the world’s largest single theatrical market. China’s box office, which annually grows at a rate of about 30%, is expected to border on $5B this year as local and Hollywood films share (government regulated) space on 18,000+ screens across a country of 1.3 billion people. The Middle Kingdom box office growth is even more profound when compared to the relatively static movement in the North American market. It is unprecedented for studio execs to...

Fox International Productions and China's Bona Film Group are teaming for Chinese-language remake of the 2009 Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway-led comedy "Bride Wars".

Tony Chan ("Hot Summer Days," "Love in Space") is helming the new take which follows two best friends who turn into bitter rivals when their respective weddings are booked on the same date.

Pop idols Angelababy and Ni Ni will play the two friends. The project is currently shooting in Shanghai.

"Bride Wars" will be the first of several co-productions between Bona and Fox. Fox will handle international distribution.

Source: Screen...

Fox International Productions (Fip) and China’s Bona Film Group are co-producing a Chinese-language remake of Fox hit Bride Wars, which is being directed by Tony Chan.

Currently shooting in Shanghai, the remake stars pop idols Angelababy and Ni Ni in the roles played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in the 2009 original. The story follows two best friends who turn into bitter rivals when their respective weddings are booked on the same date.

Chan previously co-directed Fip’s Chinese box office hits Hot Summer Days and Love In Space with Wing Shya, who is acting as visual supervisor on the Bride Wars remake. Director-producer Fruit Chan, who was a producer on both Hot Summer Days and Love In Space, is also returning as a producer on the remake.

Fip president Sanford Panitch said: “Tony Chan is truly part of the Fox family. The Bride Wars remake is our third collaboration. As soon as...

Principal photography is underway in Shanghai on a remake of the comedy Bride Wars, a Chinese-language co-production between Fox International Productions and Bona Film Group. Directed by Tony Chan, and starring Angelababy and Ni Ni in the roles originally played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in 2009, Bride Wars is about two best friends who turn into bitter rivals when their respective weddings are booked on the same date. To one up each other, the two go to extreme lengths to sabotage each other’s happy day. Chan co-directed box office hits Hot Summer Days (2010) and Love In Space […]...

Fox International Reteams With Tony Chan, Wing Shya Fox International Productions is working on its third Chinese-language film with the two Hong Kong directors who generated $33 million with their two previous collaborations with the company. Tony Chan and Wing Shya are preparing a follow-up to Hot Summer Days (2010) and Love in Space (2011), said Sanford Panitch, president of the Hollywood studio’s foreign-language filmmaking arm. While the pair’s previous two outings were relation- ship dramas, the new project "will not be a romantic comedy," Panitch told The Hollywood Reporter after his appearance as a panelist

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As can be guessed from its title, “Love in Space” is a romantic comedy, which sees directors Tony Chan and Wing Shya following up their surprise 2010 hit “Hot Summer Days” with more of the same. Boasting Fruit Chan back on board as producer and a glossy budget courtesy of Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, the film is headlined by a trio of top female stars in Rene Liu (“Run Papa Run”), Guey Lun Mei (“Taipei Exchanges”) and Angelababy (“Hot Summer Days”), with high profile male support from Eason Chan (“Lover’s Discourse”), Aaron Kwok (“Love For Life”) and Jing Boran (“Hot Summer Days”). The film follows the amusing romantic adventures and misadventures of the three Huang sisters and their mother in a series of intertwining subplots. Lily (Guey Lun Mei) is a budding artist in Sydney whose love life is complicated by her obsessive-compulsive fear of germs – put to the...

Following up last year's Hot Summer Days, directors Tony Chan and Wing Shya return with Love In Space, another ensemble romantic comedy featuring a host of exceptionally good-looking people playing out cripplingly clichéd tales of love for our entertainment. Co-financed by Fox International and China's Huayi Brothers and produced by Fruit Chan, the film boasts top drawer production values and takes place in as far flung locations as Beijing, Sydney and, um, the surface of a heart-shaped moon. The story focuses on the romantic trials and tribulations of three sisters - Rose, Lily and Peony - and their doting mother, Mary, who keeps a close eye on them, wherever in the universe they may be.Rose (Rene Liu) is a strong, determined and stubborn astronaut who...

China Lion Film Distribution and Fox International Productions will co-distribute Wing Shya and Tony Chan's "Love in Space," the directing team's follow-up to "Hot Summer Days." The story "follows a mother and her three grown daughters as they juggle their assorted love lives. Each woman is successful in everything except love – until they unexpectedly encounter new romances in Beijing, Sydney and even on a space shuttle." The romantic comedy ...

Sanford Panitch, President of Fox International Productions, announced yesterday that principal photography for rom-com Love in Space will start March 8.The pics will shoot on location in Beijing and Sydney.

Features a star cluster from the Greater China Area, including Hong Kong’s Cantopop singer/actors Aaron Kwok (‘After This,” Our Exile’) and Eason Chan (Lady Cop & Papa Crook), and Chinese shemale lead of last year’s grossing ($91.2 million) Aftershock, Xu Fan, and Taiwan’s Kwai Lun-Mei (Ocean Heaven, The Stool Pigeon). Liu, Angelababy and Boran also appeared in “Days.”

The film is a sequel to last year’s ensemble romantic comedy, co-directed by Hot Summer Days helmers Wing Shya and Tony Chan. Chan and Lucretia Ho, who previously collaborated on ‘Hot Summer Days,’ wrote the screenplay and Fruit Chan is producing.

The film represents the second co-production between Fip and Huayi Brothers, with Hong Kong’s Sundream as a new partner.

Los Angeles, CA (March 3, 2011) – Sanford Panitch, President of Fox International Productions, announced today that principal photography for Love In Space will begin March 8. The film will shoot on location in Beijing and Sydney, and stars Aaron Kwok, René Liu, Eason Chan, Kwai Lun Mei, Angelababy, Jing Boran, with a special appearance by Xu Fan. Wing Shya and Tony Chan direct a screenplay written by Chan and Lucretia Ho, who previously collaborated on Hot Summer Days. Fruit Chan is producing the film. An ensemble romantic comedy, Love In Space is the follow up to the directing team’s box office hit, Hot Summer Days. The story follows a mother and her three grown daughters as they juggle their assorted love lives. Each woman is successful in everything except love – until they unexpectedly encounter new romances in Beijing, Sydney and even on the moon. “Our concept is certainly something that has never...

Hot Summer Days (2010) PG, for mild thematic elements and smoking. This film opens October 8th in selected Los Angeles theaters.Directed by Tony Chan and Wing Shya, Hot Summer Days is romantic comedy which takes place in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen, consisting of seven intertwined love stories in the middle of the hottest summer on record ever. There’s a story about a chauffer and a foot masseuse who encounter each other through accidental text messaging, a young man who makes a bet to see if he can date a pretty factory girl, an air-conditioner repairman who chases a...

Every Tuesday on Vf.com, filmmaker Jamie Johnson offers a glimpse into the secret lives of the super-rich. Whenever the ranking member of a super-rich family reaches the end of his or her life and finally passes away, the human equivalent of hyenas emerge following the fresh scent of free money. The latest example of this peculiar phenomenon to make headlines across the world and spur discontent among wealthy people almost everywhere is the controversy in Hong Kong involving the estate of the late Asian billionairess Nina Wang and her former feng-shui master, Tony Chan. According to a report in The New York Times last week, a judge in Hong Kong recently halted Chan’s quest to inherit the entire contents of Ms. Wang’s fortune, one that he hoped would come to him under the provisions of a special feng-shui will. The will’s legitimacy was denounced by the court,...

Fox International Productions is making its first foray into China with the Chinese-language romantic comedy "Hot Summer Days," which it is producing and distributing with Star Television Asia and Huayi Brothers Media.

Assembling a cast from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the film will star Jacky Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Daniel Wu, Rene Liu, Vivian Hsu, Barbie Hsu, Angelababy, Jing Boran, Duan Yihong, Fu Xinbo and Gordon Liu.

The film, which began filming in August in Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, is being co-directed by first-time directors Wing Shya, who has made his mark as a cinematographer and fashion photographer, and Tony Chan.

Fruit Chan and Paul Cheng are co-producers.

The film is slated for release early next year in China by Huayi Brothers and by Fox in all territories outside of mainland China. Star holds pay TV rights to the film in Asia excluding China.