Hao Ning(I)

Ning Hao (Born in Shanxi, China) is a commercial filmmaker from China who has a great track record of quality films with success at the box-office. Ning studied at the Taiyuan Film School, where he majored in scenic design. He later transferred to the Art Department of Peking University. Ning eventually graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2003 with a degree from the Photography Department.

In the past decade, he has completed 8 films, achieving a total of over 620 million USD at the box-office. In terms of investment-to-return ratio, he tops all directors in China. From international acclaim to local commercial hits, he has become a legendary figure in the China film industry. All of his movies have garnered high profits, while retaining a resolutely personal style of expression. Ning Hao has become the hottest director in China.

He made his debut during his student days with "Incense" and his second full-length feature was "Mongolian Ping Pong." Both films were selected for the Berlin, Locarno and Hong Kong film festivals, eventually making it to fifty international film festivals while winning numerous grand prizes, such as the most popular award of Shanghai Film Festival in Asia. Ning Hao's talent has been affirmed by juries worldwide with accolades in the global film industry.

In 2006 at 29, Ning Hao wrote and directed a small budget movie "Crazy Stone." The shoot took 46 days and cost only 400k USD). It rocked Chinese audiences across the world, and smashed box-office records for the first half of 2006, clocking 4.5 million USD. It went on to be the most profitable film for that year.

Along the way, it took home the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay and many other awards. "Crazy Stone" has been greatly praised by the media and the general audience, becoming a milestone event for China film history. The main actors in the the movie, eventually nicknamed Stone Clan, went on to become influential forces in the Chinese movie scene for the next decade.

In 2009, Ning Hao wrote and directed "Crazy Racer." The shoot took 56 days and cost 1.5 million USD. The movie made 20 million USD at the box-office and launched Ning Hao into the same bracket of box-office success as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, making him the fourth distinguished member of the Hundred-Million-Club-Auteur (In Chinese currency) and surpassing the veterans mentioned above. He is the youngest director in China to achieve this grand honor.

In 2013, Ning Hao directed and wrote China's first western road movie "No Man's Land." It was allowed to be released after four years of censorship delays. "No Man's Land" was shot in the harsh western region of China in 77 days, costing 2.5 million USD. It eventually made 45 million USD at the box-office. Its film-critics' score has stayed at the top of Chinese movie charts, and it received the "Annual Hundred Film Media Prize."It was also nominated at the 64th Berlin Film Festival main competition.

In 2014, Ning Hao wrote and directed "Breakup Buddies." It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and won acclaim internationally. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter gave great coverage to the movie. This movie took 90 days to shot, cost 13 million USD and made 200 million USD at the box-office. It was the most profitable domestic film of China in 2014 and recorded the greatest audience attendance numbers.

In 2018, Ning Hao directed his the last film of his "Crazy" Trilogy, "Crazy Alien". It made over 320 million USD at the box office during the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday season.