All Asia articles – Page 511

  • News

    Metrodome takes UK rights to The Assembly and The Banquet

    2008-01-15T13:40:00Z

    Metrodome Distribution has acquired all UK rights for two new Chinese films, The Assembly and The Banquet. Both are directed by Feng Xiaogang.The Assembly has already taken more than $30m at the Chinese box office. It is based on the true story of one man's journey during the 1948 Chinese ...

  • News

    Village, Golden Harvest settle Singapore dispute

    2008-01-15T10:53:00Z

    Kenneth Tan will step down as head of Singapore exhibitor Golden Village (GV) as the company's co-owners, Australia's Village Roadshow and Hong Kong 's Golden Harvest, settle their dispute over their Singapore business partnership. The partners were at odds with each other when Golden Harvest petitioned to end their Singapore ...

  • News

    Village, Golden Harvest settle Singapore dispute

    2008-01-15T10:53:00Z

    Kenneth Tan will step down as head of Singapore exhibitor Golden Village (GV) as the company's co-owners, Australia's Village Roadshow and Hong Kong 's Golden Harvest, settle their dispute over their Singapore business partnership. The partners were at odds with each other when Golden Harvest petitioned to end their Singapore ...

  • News

    China's box office up by 26% with localfilms holding steady

    2008-01-14T14:59:00Z

    China's total box office gross reached $458.63m (RMB3.33bn) in 2007, a 26% increase on the previous year, marking the fifth year in a row that box office has risen by more by then 20%. The figures were announced on Friday (Jan 11) by the Film Bureau under China 's State ...

  • News

    Chinese movie web-sites join forces against piracy

    2008-01-14T11:44:00Z

    Fifty Chinese movie web-sites have jointly established the 'China Alliance of Legitimate Movie Web-sites' as a disciplinary alliance which aims to provide legal movies online and stop offering pirated movies. Initiated by Copyright Protection Center of China (CPCC), Movie Copyright Protection Association of China (MCPAC) and online movie provider www.quacor.com, ...

  • News

    Berlinale's Forum selects strong Asian titles

    2008-01-11T14:27:00Z

    Asian cinema is well represented in the first batch of films confirmed by the Berlinale's International Forum section including titles by Singapore's Tan Pin Pin, Japan's Takahashi Izumi and Korea's Mun Jeong-hyun.In addition, the Forum's programme will present the international premieres of Jalla! Jalla! director Josef Fares' new film Leo ...

  • News

    Suo's I Just Didn't Do It wins top Kinema Junpo honours

    2008-01-11T13:58:00Z

    Masayuki Suo's I Just Didn't Do It has been ranked best film of the year and awarded three major prizes by Kinema Junpo, Japan's oldest film magazine. In addition to coming first in Kinema Junpo's annual Top 10, the film won best director and screenplay for Suo and best actor ...

  • News

    Zhang Yuan arrested for drug abuse in Beijing

    2008-01-11T12:11:00Z

    Mainland Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yuan has been arrested for drug abuse following a police raid on his Beijing home that was broadcast on local television. The Beijing TV report showed police raiding Zhang's apartment where he appeared to be taking drugs with four artist friends. He was later charged for ...

  • News

    Oz box office up 3% for second biggest year on record

    2008-01-11T11:10:00Z

    Australians spent $801.7m (A$895m) on going to the movies in 2007, making it the second best year on record in terms of annual gross box office.The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA) released the figure today and said it represented a 3% rise on the previous year. Only in ...

  • News

    South Korea - The profitability factor

    2008-01-11T00:00:00Z

    South Korea is no stranger to talk of a crisis in the film industry, even in the midst of years of swollen admissions, record-breaking local hits and rising exports.However, a recent study from the Korean Film Council (Kofic) estimates the average local film in 2007 to have earned back just ...

  • News

    Bae TV series set for Korean theatrical release

    2008-01-10T14:11:00Z

    Korea's most expensive television series, Taewangsashin-gi, aka The Four Guardian Gods Of The King, featuring Korean Wave mega-star Bae Yong-joon, is due to hit local theatres in May. The announcement from producer Kim Jong-hak follows on the heels of the TV drama's theatrical release in Japan on 10 screens nationwide, ...

  • News

    Pye-Dog set forsimultaneous theatrical, TV release in Singapore

    2008-01-09T16:26:00Z

    Singapore telco SingTel and Hong Kong-based Mei Ah Entertainment are planning to give Derek Kwok's directorial debut The Pye-Dog a same-day premiere in cinemas and on television. The film will be telecast on Mei Ah Movies Channel, via SingTel's IPTV platform mio TV, on Jan 10, the day it also ...

  • News

    International box office drops 22% week on week with few openers

    2008-01-09T14:52:00Z

    An absence of heavy-hitting new releases could be attributable to the 22.2% week-on-week drop in the international top 40 this weekend, with the only four new entrants all failing to enter the top 30. The top 40 international films generated $208.8m from 49,452 screens for the period of January 4-6. ...

  • News

    J.A. Media unveils cast of Tsui Hark romantic comedy

    2008-01-08T19:41:00Z

    Mainland Chinese actresses Zhou Xun and Zhang Yuqi and Taiwan's Gui Lunmei will star in Tsui Hark's upcoming romantic comedy She Ain't Mean, which will be the first production this year from Beijing-based J.A. Media. At a press conference held today in Beijing, Tsui said the film will start shooting ...

  • News

    Indian production Victory drawn into test cricket controversy

    2008-01-08T10:31:00Z

    There are conflicting reports on whether Victory, an Indian film shooting all this month in Australia, has been affected by a controversy that has greatly intensified in the last 24 hours around the current test cricket series being played between India and Australia. Producer Vivek Aggarwal said none of the ...

  • News

    Eros-owned Ayngaran to back Robot starring Rajnikanth

    2008-01-08T10:29:00Z

    After much speculation on who would star in his next project, sci-fi feature Robot, Indian director Shankar has confirmed that he is reuniting with the Tamil-language film industry's biggest star, Rajnikanth. Rajnikanth starred in Shankar's Sivaji - The Boss which grossed an estimated $38m-$43m last year from domestic and overseas ...

  • News

    Shochiku lines up sequel to Gegege No Kitaro

    2008-01-07T17:21:00Z

    Japan's Shochiku Studios is producing a sequel to its biggest hit of 2007, action fantasy Gegege No Kitaro. Director Katsuhide Motoki will again direct and singing idol-turned-actor Eiji Wentz will reprise his role as Kitaro, a half-human half-yokai (creatures and supernatural beings).He is joined by returning cast members Rena Tanaka, ...

  • News

    Korean admissions down for first time inadecade

    2008-01-07T15:59:00Z

    Leading South Korean exhibitor CJ CGV has announced its year-end statistics for 2007, with nationwide admissions taking a dip for the first time in 11 years. Total admissions numbered 157,525,412, down 5.5% since 2006, but still the second highest on record. Korean films market share fell to 50.8%, down 25.7% ...

  • News

    Hong Kong box office up 11% due to multiplex expansion

    2008-01-07T14:15:00Z

    After years of falling revenues or at best flat growth, Hong Kong was back on its feet in 2007 with total box office revenues at $129.63m (HK$1.01bn), the best in recent years, according to local industry body, the Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA). It not only represented a big jump ...

  • News

    Lost In Beijing film-makers banned for two years

    2008-01-05T20:48:00Z

    China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) hasblocked distibution of Lost In Beijing in cinemas or online, and banned producer Fang Li and his Laurel Films from making movies for two years.It has also suspended the film's screening permission and confiscated print and promotion material following an alleged ...