All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 177
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HONG KONG 19 July
Johnnie To action drama ThrowDown opened in third position with a respectable US$628,172 from 33screens, but was no match for Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkabanwhich grossed more than US$2m in its opening week.Produced by To's MilkywayImage for China Star Entertainment, Throw Down tells the story of aretired judo ...
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Jackie Chan embarks on Hong Kong adventure
Production restarted this week at Shanghai Film Studio onJackie Chan's new project which reunites the star with Hong Kong actiondirector Stanley Tong.Produced by Chan's JCE Movies, the US$15-20m actionadventure has the working title The Mythand also stars Tong Leung Ka-fai and hot up-and-coming Indian actress MallikaSherawat.Chan reportedly plays an Indiana ...
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FilMart News: Deals and speeches lift FilMart's final June edition
Hong Kong's Filmart (June 23-25) closedon a rousing note on Friday with rallying cries from industry leaders andfurther details of next year's mega-event, Entertainment Expo Hong Kong 2005.Sellers agreed that they had seen fewer visitors from the US and Europe, possibly an effect of timing thatreflected the proximity to Cannes ...
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HONG KONG 28 June
Warner Bros' sword-and-sandals epic Troy beat local comedy SuperModel to the top of the Hong Kong box office chart grossing US$1.15m from45 screens.Super Model,directed by Vincent Kok, took second place with a respectable US$858,586 from42 screens. Produced by Abba Movies and Gold Label Entertainment, the film isthe first to star ...
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Asian CGI producer unveils US production deals
GDC Entertainment, the content development arm of Hong Kongand Singapore-based GDC Holdings, announced three collaborative ventures atFilMart on Friday.The company, which produces CGI content at its studio inShenzhen, China, has signed an agreement with LA-based producer, EnteraktionStudios, to co-produce three original CGI features with a combined budget ofUS$60m.The three features ...
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FilMart News: Three...Extremes unites top Asian talent
Hong Kong's ApplausePictures unveiled its mouthwatering contribution to the second instalment ofhorror omnibus Three at Filmart on Thursday. Entitled Dumplings,the horror-thriller brings together some of the territory's top creative talentincluding director Fruit Chan, producer Peter Ho-sun Chan and award-winningcinematographer Christopher Doyle.Scripted by Lilian Lee (FarewellMy Concubine), the film is a ...
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Thai distributor Nontanund to double acquisitions
Thailand's largestexhibitor Major Cineplex is moving into distribution with the acquisition ofindependent Thai distributor Nontanund Entertainment.Thelong-expected move, which Major Cineplex announced to the Thai stock exchangeon Wednesday, follows the recent announcement that the cinema chain is mergingwith Thailand'ssecond largest exhibitor EGV Entertainment.Major Cineplex plans to invest up to $2m (80m ...
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FilMart News Hong Kong arthouse cinema goes digital
Hong Kong is set to receive its first permanent digitalcinema installation following a deal between technology provider H2H Digitaland cinema owner Sil-Metropole Organisation.Thedigital screen will be installed in Sil-Metropole's CineArt House - one of HongKong's few cinemas dedicated to screening arthouse product. Under theagreement, H2H is supplying Sil-Metropole with a ...
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FilMart News Shanghai Media Group, Jade Dynasty team for animated Monkey
Hong Kong comic book publisher Jade Dynasty Publications isjoining forces with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) to co-produce an animatedfeature, Monkey King, based on one of its best-selling comics.The $2.4m (RMB20m) film will be produced by teams of animatorsin Hong Kong and China with completion scheduled for early 2006. SMG, one ...
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HONG KONG 21 June
Media Asiadetective thriller Breaking News,directed by Johnnie To, managed to dislodge TheDay After Tomorrow from the top of the Hong Kong box office, grossingUS$720,270 from 35 screens in its opening week.The film, whichrecently screened in an out of competition slot at the Cannes Film Festival,stars Kelly Chen as a female ...
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HONG KONG 15 June
Fox's disaster juggernaut, The Day After Tomorrow, continued its assault at the top of theHong Kong box office, taking US$1.3m from 59 screens in its second week for acumulative gross of more than US$4m.But Korean melodrama Windstruckstill managed to open strongly grossing US$618,131 from 33 screens in its firstseven days. ...
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Leading Thai exhibitors to merge
Thailand's two leading exhibitors - Major Cineplex Group andEGV Entertainment - are merging to create one of the largest cinema circuits inSouth-East Asia.Althoughboth companies are headed by members of the Poolvaraluck family, they've beenbattling for market supremacy for the past decade. According to Major Cineplexpresident, Vicha Poolvaraluck, the merger will ...
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Hong Kong's Filmart goes multimedia
Multimedia convergence will be the major theme at thisyear's Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart), which takesplace June 23-25.Theeight-year-old market, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council(TDC), aims to expand its exhibitor base with new media companies and provide aplatform for cross media collaboration.Three conferences will be ...
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Pang brothers' Re-cycle notches Cannes pre-sales
Hong Kongproduction and distribution outfit Universe Entertainment clinched a string ofpre-sales at Cannes on its Pang brothers' horror movie, Re-cycle.The $5m film has been sold to Pathe Distribution forFrance, Tartan Films for the UK, Audio One for Malaysia and TT Warner Picturesfor Indonesia. The Malaysian deal was secured even before ...
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Three Thai film companies join forces to create production powerhouse
Three Thai filmcompanies - GMM Pictures, Tai Entertainment and Hub Ho Hin - are joining forcesto create a production powerhouse in response to increasing competition in thefast-growing Thai market.The new company -GMM Tai Hub (GTH) - was unveiled in Bangkok on Friday along with its initialslate of 10 projects. GMM ...
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Media Asia revs up Initial D with Infernal Affairs talent
Hong Kong productionpowerhouse Media Asia has confirmed the directors and cast for its big-budgetcar racing drama, Initial D, which reunites key talent from its hugelysuccessful Infernal Affairs trilogy.As expected, InfernalAffairs directing duo Andrew Lau and Alan Mak will direct the US$8m comicbook adaptation, which is scheduled to start shooting in ...
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New talent invigorates Hong Kong production
Now that local films areincreasing their share of the Hong Kong box office, there are several signs ofrenewed vigour in the domestic production industry. Budgets are getting bigger,investors are becoming more adventurous and the range of films on offer isbecoming increasingly diverse.But the most encouragingdevelopment is the influx of new ...
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HONG KONG 9 May
Gangster thriller JiangHu dominated the Hong Kong box officethis week grossing US$1.15m in seven days from 51 screens. The star-studdedfilm took almost four times the tally of its nearest competitor, Kill Bill 2, which opened with US$288,786 from 25 screens.Directed by newcomer Wong Ching Po, Jiang Hu is a stylish ...
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HONG KONG 4 May
FilmkoEntertainment's Koma - a thriller starring acclaimed up-and-comingactresses Karena Lam and Lee Sin-je - opened in top position at the Hong Kongbox office this week, grossing $513,815 from 36 screens.Meanwhile,Wong Jing's Moving Targets, based on the popular 1984 TVB series PoliceCadet, opened in second position with $331,057 from 36 screens. ...
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Zhu's Clouds scoops Hong Kong festival prizes
Chinese director Zhu Wen's South Of The Clouds scooped two prizes at the awards gala of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (April 6-21) on Thursday night - the Golden Firebird Award and the award of the FIPRESCI jury.The film, about a retired factory worker who takes off for one ...