All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 173
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Fortissimo Mob-ilises triad drama
Fortissimo Films has pickedup international rights (excluding Southeast Asia) to triad thriller MobSister, directed by one of HongKong's hottest new directors, Wong Ching Po. Produced by Hong Kong'sFilmko Entertainment, the film tells the story of an innocent 16-year-old girlwho gets sucked into the world of gang wars and power struggles. ...
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Gladiator producer to remake Korean blockbuster
The Los Angelesarm of Korean production powerhouse MK Pictures has struck a deal withOscar-winning writer and producer David Franzoni to remake Korean blockbuster JointSecurity Area (JSA). The project isset to mark the directorial debut of Franzoni who wrote and produced RidleyScott's Gladiator andalso wrote King Arthurand Steven Spielberg's Amistad. He's ...
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Queens join Golden parade
Hong Kong-based sales agent GoldenNetwork Asia has added Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr's big-budget actionadventure The Queens Of Pattani to a busy Cannes slate. Produced by Nimibutr's Cinemasia with backing from Thai studioSahamongkol, the ambitious two-part feature is scheduled to start shooting nextJanuary for delivery by the end of 2006. Loosely ...
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Queens join Golden parade
Hong Kong-based sales agent GoldenNetwork Asia has added Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr's big-budget actionadventure The Queens Of Pattani to a busy Cannes slate. Produced by Nimibutr's Cinemasia with backing from Thai studioSahamongkol, the ambitious two-part feature is scheduled to start shooting nextJanuary for delivery by the end of 2006. Loosely ...
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Fortissimo scores pre-Cannes sales on high profile pair
Fortissimo Films has secureda slew of sales on two titles - The Night Listener starring Robin Williams and Berlin Golden Bear winnerU-Carmen eKhayelitsha - in therun-up to the Cannes market. The Night Listener, the recently-wrapped adaptation of ArmisteadMaupin's bestselling novel, has been sold to Australia and New Zealand (VillageRoadshow), Benelux ...
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Cheung steps up in Celestial hierarchy
Hong Kong's CelestialPictures has promoted international sales chief Gordon Cheung to the newposition of executive vice president, acquisitions & distribution. In his new role, Cheung willoversee Celestial's new movie productions, content acquisition and thedistribution of new film content. The company, which owns and distributes the760-title Shaw Brothers library, is currently ...
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Hong Kong raises stakes in online piracy battle
Illegaldownloaders in Hong Kong are facing a two-pronged attack as both the Hong KongCustoms and Excise Department and the local film industry have taken the firstconcrete steps towards curbing online piracy. Customs announced this week that it has laid charges againsta man arrested in January on suspicion of distributing three ...
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Hong Kong veteran steps in as new Barber director
Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker Ng See Yuen has stepped in todirect mainland Chinese production The Barber following the death ofShanghai-based director Chen Yifei.Thefilm, which is backed by Century Hero Film Investment Co and the China FilmGroup, has had a troubled production history. It started shooting in 2002 withChen at the ...
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Hong Kong looks to summer after poor first quarter
HongKong's production and distribution companies are looking to the summer seasonto claw back market share after a disappointing first quarter of the year. Thefirst quarter of 2005 saw only 14 local films released grossing $7m (HK$54.69m)between them, around 26% of total box office during this period. In comparison,over the last ...
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Hong Kong Festival wraps on ticket sales high
This year's Hong Kong International Film Festival (March 22- April 6) achieved an impressive 30% increase in ticket sales as a result ofnew marketing policies and programming strands. Thefestival, which wrapped yesterday with screenings of Jia Zhang-ke's TheWorld and Alain Corneau's Words In Blue, sold around 85,000 ticketsand about one ...
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FilMart wraps on a high
Moving to a pre-Cannes slot has proved successful for HongKong's FilMart as this year's market, which wrapped Thursday (March 24), was byfar the biggest and busiest yet.Combining the market with Hong Kong's other film-relatedevents also gave it more of a buzz. FilMart organiser, the Hong Kong TradeDevelopment Council (TDC), reported ...
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Au cranks up Nana in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's Daniel Wu and Chinese actress Zhou Xun are set tostar in Nana, the feature debut of acclaimed music video director SusieAu which starts shooting tomorrow (March 24) in Hong Kong. Producedby Philip Lee's October Pictures and Au's Handmade Films, the film will be shotin Hong Kong, Shanghai and ...
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Lau turns Focus onto Asian film-making talent
Hong Kong starAndy Lau's Focus Films plans to finance a series of six high definition (HD)features from up-and-coming Asian filmmakers, as part of a drive to bring newtalent into the Chinese-language film industry. The regionalproject, "Focus: First Cuts", was unveiled today at Hong Kong's FilMart. Focuswill oversee production and international ...
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Celestial beefs up international sales activities
Hong Kong's CelestialPictures is expanding its international distribution activities beyond the ShawBrothers library to include third-party pick-ups and films it has co-financed,such as Peter Chan's upcoming musical Perhaps Love.At this week's FilMart,Celestial will be selling two films produced by Hong Kong's Abba Movies -Wilson Yip's kung-fu action title SPL and ...
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Hong Kong's inaugural Expo lures international players
HongKong's first ever Entertainment Expo (March 22 - April 6) gets underwaytonight with a splashy opening ceremony attended by local stars including HongKong's "Entertainment Ambassador" Tony Leung Chiu-wai andsinger Coco Lee. Starting from tomorrow, three of the film events within Expo- FilMart, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and ...
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...as Hong Kong producers focus on big budget films
While the inaugural Entertainment Expo looks set toreinforce the local film industry's international status, it takes placeduring a difficult chapter in the evolution of Hong Kong cinema. Production levels haverecently shrunk to record lows as producers opt for fewer but bigger-budgetproductions and the industry faces a fresh onslaught from new ...
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Chinese box office surges 50% in 2004
China's box office increased by 50% to $180m in 2004,according to figures from the country's State Administration of Radio, Film andTelevision (SARFT). The figure far surpasses industry estimates of 30% growth.Although US imports had a good year, local productions werethe clear winners, accounting for 55% of total box office compared ...
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Media Asia unveils 2005 production slate
Hong Kong's Media Asia Films has unveiled its productionslate for the coming year which kicks off with US$3.8m (HK$30m) fantasy Wait'Til You're Older starring Andy Lau, Felix Wong and Karen Mok. Thefilm, which commenced principal photography yesterday, tells the story of ayoung boy who ages ten years a day over ...
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Arclight takes on Dragon Squad rights
Arclight Films has picked up international rights excludingAsia to Dragon Squad, a US$4.5m martial arts action film which marks thefirst time that Steven Seagal has produced an Asian picture.The film, produced by Hong Kong's Visualizer FilmProductions, starts shooting March 23 with Daniel Lee directing and ChinKar-lok as action director. Seagal ...
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Applause enters distribution market with Baby
Hong Kong production outfit Applause Pictures has launched alocal distribution arm and set Clint Eastwood's multiple Oscar-winning MillionDollar Baby as its first release. Applause, which plans to release the film on 18 screens onMarch 10, quietly acquired Hong Kong rights last year when it became clear thefilm would be Oscar ...