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Alberto Barbera presided over a lengthy press conference Tuesday morning, when he announced the stacked lineup for this year’s Venice Film Festival, which runs August 27-September 6.

The lineup is expansive, with big names and arthouse darlings sprinkled across the festival’s strands, even including the shorts program.

High-profile titles include Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny. Roberts leads the cast as a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light. The film will screen Out of Competition on Guadagnino and Amazon MGM Studios’ request, Barbera explained during the presser.

Elsewhere, in Competition we have Jay Kelly, the latest film Noah Baumbach has made for Netflix. The...

Get ready for an epic showdown amongst God and Men! The epic first trailer for the Chinese action fantasy sequel Creation of the Gods II: Demonic Confrontation has debuted online. It's worth a watch just to see some gigantic Gods involved in an epic battle. This is a follow-up to Wuershan's Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms film from 2023. This next one was originally supposed to open earlier this year, but was delayed because (as the director states): "they needed more time for postproduction work due to the huge number of special effects required for the film." Now set for release on/around Lunar New Year in 2025 in China (no info on the US release yet). So what is this next one about? Here's the brief intro: Taishi Wen Zhong led the army of Shang Dynasty including Deng Chanyu and four generals of the Mo Family to Xiqi.

Leading Chinese film studio, Alibaba Pictures has announced a slate of seven tentpole movies that it hopes will reinvigorate the mainland China box office.

The titles straddle martial arts, drama, history, sci-fi and comedy and are presented as the first elements of the company’s second five year plan.

They were revealed on Monday at a major event within the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival and with large numbers of relevant producers, directors and stars in attendance.

“At a time when the film market needs vigor, we need more tentpole productions to keep it working,” said Li Jie, Alibaba Pictures president. In notes provided, the company pointed out that the mainland China box office last year recovered to 85% of its pre-pandemic level and that, so far in 2024, the Chinese box office is the world’s largest.

However, there are worries that recent film industry prosperity may falter. Indeed, 2024 box office...

This year, Netflix premiered 3 Body Problem, an adaptation of the first book in Liu Cixin's bestselling series Remembrance of Earth's Past. The adaptation was so successful it received several additional seasons, but it wasn't the first one, and one more is coming.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the best-selling sci-fi book The Three-Body Problem will get a movie adaptation. The first book in the popular sci-fi series was first published in 2006 and has seen increased popularity in recent years. Aside from the Netflix 3 Body Problem adaptation, the IP has previously received a Chinese TV adaptation in 2023.

Related 3 Body Problem Creators Clarify Renewal Confusion, Confirm When Series Will End

The creators of Netflix's 3 Body Problem have clarified renewal confusion about the series conclusion with a definitive answer.

The upcoming movie adaptation has already found a director in Zhang Yumou, one of China's most revered directors, and the...

Foreign visitors were in short supply at Saturday’s opening ceremony of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival, but that did little to diminish the festive atmosphere.

The ceremony was held at the Shanghai Grand Theater in the downtown area on an evening that was warm and spring-like and without the “plum rain” or summer downpours that the city is known for at this time of year.

Arguably the biggest names in attendance were Hong Kong actor and “Westworld” star Daniel Wu, Hong Kong director Dante Lam, Chinese star actor-director-producer Xu Zheng and Japanese actor Yakusho Koji, who won the best actor award a year ago at Cannes for his leading role in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.” Marco Mueller, a celebrated festival director and artistic consultant, was also on hand in his adopted home town.

Wu was representing new film “Decoded,” directed by Chen Sicheng, whose “Lost in the Stars...

When a university professor Xia Wei (Wang Likun) is suspected of intentional homicide, public opinion spirals out of control and there is mounting pressure from all sides. As public procurator Li Rui (Huang Jingyu) and his colleague Zhang Youcheng (played by Wang Qianyuan) proceed to investigate the case, they discover the involvement of a wealthy but unscrupulous entrepreneur Chen Xin (Bao Beier) and an old case that has been buried for many years is revealed … intentional homicide, sexual assault and business-government collusion are all interrelated. Everyone is forcefully swept up in this whirlwind of fate. In court, Li Rui and Xia Wei’s defense lawyer Tong Yuchen (Bai Baihe) are locked in an intense confrontation. Why does Xia Wei choose to remain silent? What secret is her husband Hong Junshan (Feng Shaofeng) hiding? Just as it becomes difficult to distinguish between good and evil, an unpredictable crisis awaits everyone… (Source:...

Code Of The Assassins is a subtitled Chinese martial arts movie set in olden (long before guns) times. Expectations will determine your level of enjoyment. Those seeking the adrenaline rushes one gets from the high-octane fighting of a Jet Li or Tony Jaa should look elsewhere. Fans of more lyrical pacing, complex stories and lavish visuals are the target audience, and likely to regard this more favorably than I did. Closer to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon than to a Guy Ritchie or Michael Bay production.

The story consists of many factions vying for a treasure map, power over the region, and/or revenge. The protagonist and narrator is an assassin known as Blue Asura (Shaofeng Feng), trained from childhood by Ghost Valley’s cult of masked killers-for-hire after the rest of his family was massacred during the theft of that map by unknown attackers, who apparently lost it later. Now...

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...

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,...

Sneak Peek new footage, plus images from "Hanson and the Beast", a wild, Chinese fantasy comedy feature starring Feng Shaofeng and Liu Yifei, opening in China December 29, 2017:

"...'Yuan Shuai', a debt-ridden animal-breeder, tries to get out of his financial predicament by finding a wealthy girlfriend through matchmaking dates. 

"He unexpectedly meets and fall in love with the 'fox' demon, 'Bai Xianchu,' who has arrived to the mortal realm to repay her gratitude. 

"However, the head of the Demon tribe 'Yun Zhonghe' forbids a love relationship between a demon and a human and takes Bai Xianchu away. 

"To seek his lover, Yuan Shuai bravely crashes the demonic world..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Hanson and the Beast"....

Us company will launch sales on Huayi Brothers titles at Cannes.

Im Global has revealed that it will handle international sales for Huayi Brothers titles Youth, directed by Feng Xiaogang [pictured], and Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, directed by Tsui Hark.

Scripted by Yan Geling (The Flowers Of War), Youth is a coming-of-age story about a group of adolescents in a Chinese army cultural troupe in the 1970s. The cast is headed by Huang Xuan, Miao Miao and Zhong Chuxi.

The third installment in Huayi Brothers’ blockbuster Detective Dee series, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is produced by Chen Kuo-Fu and Nansun Shi and stars Mark Zhao, Feng Shaofeng, Lin Gengxin and Carina Lau.

Currently in production, the film follows Detective Dee as he battles a surreal crime wave at the same time as defending himself against accusations of wrongdoing from his most formidable opponent, Empress Wu.

Im Global, which has an...

Japanese director wrote The Masque Of The Black Death before his death in 1998.

China’s Huayi Brothers Media has unveiled an ambitious slate of new projects, including The Masque Of The Black Death, based on an unfilmed script written by Japan’s most influential filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa.

Kurosawa started writing the script in 1975 after directing Dersu Uzala as an adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Masque Of The Red Death. He completed the script before his death in 1998, but it never went into production.

The Poe short story follows a prince and his noblemen attempting to hide from a deadly epidemic behind the walls of a castle. The courtiers hold an elaborate masquerade, as a distraction from the devastation outside, but the Red Death itself turns up as a guest.

Huayi Brothers is collaborating on the project with Chen Kuo-fu’s Ckf Pictures. Speaking a press conference in Beijing, Chen and Huayi...

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...

Flagship Entertainment, a joint venture between Warner Bros, China Media Capital (Cmc) and Tvb, has unveiled its debut slate, including projects from Hong Kong filmmakers Peter Chan, Wong Jing and Stephen Fung.

Launched last year, the Hong Kong-based joint venture aims to produce a slate of Chinese-language films, including global tentpoles, for Chinese and international distribution. The first titles will be released in 2016.

Peter Chan is set to direct drama Murder Of The Husband – about a woman whose suffering gave rise to the revolution of women’s social rights in China – and will also partner with Brett Ratner to produce romance Beautiful Coma, chronicling a love that transcends every challenge.

Wong Jing will direct action comedy In Love With The Thieves, starring Andy Lau, Huang Xiaoming and Shen Teng, while Stephen Fung is attached to action romance The Adventurers, starring Feng Shaofeng in a story about an overseas treasure hunt.

In addition...

The second trailer was just released for ‘The Monkey King 2‘

The Monkey King 2 will be released in February , in time for Chinese New year. The movie has a budget of Hk$530 million, the film will also have a limited run in the Us during February

Cast

Aaron Kwok, Gong Li, Feng Shaofeng and Xiaoshenyang and will see the return of Director Cheang Pou-soi

Plot

Taking place 500 years after the Havoc in Heaven, the Tang Priest is appointed by Buddha to go to the West to fetch the sacred scriptures, only to accidentally free the Monkey King. With Lady White aiming to break up the team assembled to defeat her, the Monkey King must fight in order to save his world!

Trailer 2

Source : M.A.A.C...

Starring Aaron Kwok, Gong Li, Feng Shaofeng and Xiaoshenyang and will see the return of Director Cheang Pou-soi. Sammo Hung is action director.

The Monkey King 2 will be released in February , in time for Chinese New year. The movie has a budget of Hk$530 million, but without Donnie Yen in the lead role will the movie be as successful as the first outing? time will tell.

Teaser Trailer...

The Bodyguard – Sammo Hung, Andy Lau, Pei-yan Chen, Jiayi Feng, Qinqin Li, Shaofeng Feng, Yuchen Zhu, Eddie Peng, Jun Hu, Tsui Hark, Carl Maka, Tean Shek, Jia Song, Yuen Biao, Qiu Yuen, Wah Yuen, Yuen Bo

Synopsis –The Bodyguard follows a retired bodyguard (Hung) who has settled in the dark and unknown corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet. Suffering from the beginnings of dementia, the bodyguard is befriended by a young girl whose life is threatened when her father (Lau) falls in with the local crime world. When the girl and her father disappear, the bodyguard must call upon his long forgotten skills to save the life of his young friend.

English subbed trailer also available via Filmsmash

Source : Filmsmash...

Stars: Jackie Chan, John Cusack, Adrien Brody, Si Won Choi, Peng Lin, Mika Wang, Yang Xiao, Taili Wang, Tin Chiu Hung, Shaofeng Feng, Sharni Vinson, Sung-jun Yoo | Written and Directed by Daniel Lee

When corrupt Roman leader Tiberius arrives with a giant army to claim the Silk Road, Huo An teams up his army with an elite Legion of defected Roman soldiers led by General Lucius to protect his country and his new friends.

Dragon Blade is a film which goes on quite a journey. To begin with, you’ve got Jackie Chan and all the wacky jokes and complete badassery which follows him around. Throw in some swords, fighting, battles. Also, for the sake of it, let’s have a little musical number too. Not the dancing type, but the epic ‘everyone is singing about how great stuff is’ type. Then a splash of child murder and some more...

Last Updated: Dec 17, 2015 @ 3:10 Pm

2016 is shaping up to be a classic year for fans of martial arts / action movies. All of the big names are back , Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung and lets not forget Jean Claude Van Damme.

So you don’t miss out , we’ve compiled a list of stand out movies which we think you should not miss.

So without further delay here are Amp’s Best Martial Arts Movies to look forward to in 2016

Note: Bookmark this article as we will keep this updated with more news, pictures, posters, trailers as we get them.

ContentsThe Best Martial Arts Movies To Look Forward To In 2016Ip Man 3 (Donnie Yen) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon : Sword of Destiny (Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh)Kickboxer: Vengeance(Jean-Claude Van Damme)The Deadly Reclaim (Wu Jing)The Monkey King 2 (Aaron Kwok)Rail Road Tigers (Jackie Chan)Kung Fu Yoga...

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2016: 'Viva' with Héctor Medina. Multicultural Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2016 submissions Nearly ten years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changed a key rule regarding entries for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar;* since then, things have gotten quite colorful. Just yesterday, Sept. 16, '15, Ireland submitted Paddy Breathnach's Viva – a Cuban-set drama spoken in Spanish. And why not? To name a couple more “multicultural and multinational” entries this year alone: China's submission, with dialogue in Mandarin and Mongolian, is Wolf Totem, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud – a Frenchman. And Germany's entry, Labyrinth of Lies, was directed by Giulio Ricciarelli, who happens to be a German-based, Italian-born stage and TV actor. 'Viva': Sexual identity in 21st-century Cuba Executive produced by Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Viva tells the story of an 18-year-old Havana drag-club worker,...

Wolf Totem (Le Dernier Loup) Columbia Pictures Reviewed by Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer for Shockya. Grade: B+ Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Screenwriters: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard, John Collee, Lu Wei Based on: Wolf Totem by Lu Jiamin (pseudonym: Jiang Rong) Cast: Feng Shaofeng, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Basen Zhabu, Shawn Dou Yin Zhusheng, Yin Zhusheng Release date: September 11, 2015 Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Wolf Totem is a Chinese/French action-adventure film that takes viewers into the remote land of Inner Mongolia, during the Cultural Revolution of 1967. Based on a novel by the same name Wolf Totem shows a clash of cultures between the ethnic Mongolian nomads and the Han Chinese farmers in the area. [ Read More ]

The post Wolf Totem – Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Wolf Totem (Le Dernier Loup) Columbia Pictures Reviewed by Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer for Shockya. Grade: B+ Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Screenwriters: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard, John Collee, Lu Wei Based on: Wolf Totem by Lu Jiamin (pseudonym: Jiang Rong) Cast: Feng Shaofeng, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Basen Zhabu, Shawn Dou Yin Zhusheng, Yin Zhusheng Release date: September 11, 2015 Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Wolf Totem is a Chinese/French action-adventure film that takes viewers into the remote land of Inner Mongolia, during the Cultural Revolution of 1967. Based on a novel by the same name Wolf Totem shows a clash of cultures between the ethnic Mongolian nomads and the Han Chinese farmers in  [ Read More ]

The post Wolf Totem Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Bestseller adaptation that is part wildlife doc, part dissection of the Cultural Revolution; at times fantastically exiting, at others bogged down in muddy metaphor

Chosen as China’s foreign-language Oscar entry this year, you’d expect Jean-Jacques Annaud’s adaptation of Wolf Totem, a bestseller by Lü Jiamin, to dutifully toe the party line – especially as it’s set during the Cultural Revolution, a wound never requiring much unstitching. But from the moment Feng Shaofeng’s bright-eyed party cadre steps out on to the Mongolian steppes – where Lü was posted in the 1960s – Annaud’s film can’t help itself galloping off in allegorical bursts barely under his control, and intriguingly off-course from the kind of bold messages of national conciliation officially sanctioned Chinese films tend to convey.

Related: Jean-Jacques Annaud: 'People who make films are in danger every day'

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