Village Roadshow Pictures Asia (VRPA) and Beijing-based Hairun Pictures have entered into a strategic film production alliance and unveiled a slate of five features.

Mountain Cry

The two partners will jointly develop, finance, produce and distribute a slate of films, initially consisting of Sino-foreign co-productions, with plans to also co-produce English-language content in the near future.

The alliance was signed today at the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) by VRPA CEO Ellen Eliasoph and Liu Yanming, chairman of Hairun Media & Entertainment Group.

Larry Yang’s Mountain Cry, the partners’ initial project together, originated at last year’s BJIFF Pitch and Catch event, where it was awarded as the project with “Top Commercial Potential”. The film is currently in post-production.

The other four projects on the VPRA/Hairun slate include:

  • IPO, a fast-paced contemporary drama depicting the dark underworld of China’s booming financial markets;

  • My Other Home (working title), a biopic of Stephon Marbury, the former NBA player who came to Beijing in 2011 and transformed himself and his pro team into champions. Marbury will star in the film;

  • A licensed Chinese remake of the 2013 Korean suspense thriller Hide And Seek;

  • A licensed remake of a recent Hollywood police thriller.

VRPA has previously co-financed and co-produced projects such as Stephen Chow’s Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, Leste Chen’s Say Yes! and Peter Pau’s Zhong Kui: Snow Girl And The Dark Crystal.

Hairun Media Group is major TV producer and talent agency, with a film arm, Hairun Pictures, which has a partnership with Johnnie To’s Milkway Image. Hairun Pictures co-produced To’s Drug War and upcoming musical Office, as well as Mountain Cry.

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