FORBIDDEN KINGDOM: the movie

[GeneChing]

Nice pics. I especially like Li Bingbing's outfit.

Kung-Fu Kings Build "Forbidden Kingdom"
2008-03-19 08:13:26 CRIENGLISH.com

Two of China's best-known action film stars, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, appeared together on Tuesday in Hong Kong to kick off promotions for their first collaboration, "The Forbidden Kingdom."

Director Rob Minkoff and female leads Liu Yifei and Li Bingbing also attended the press conference, the film's first in Asia.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" is being heavily promoted as the first film starring both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, an opportunity Li said both he and longtime friend Chan had waited 15 years for. He said working together made them even closer, like brothers.

Critics are saying that young actress Liu Yifei, who signed earlier with the William Morris Agency, might have a career breakthrough with her first international film.

The English-language action adventure was inspired by the classic Chinese legend of the Monkey King. It is slated to open in North America on April 18, and in Asia on April 24.

[GeneChing]

I couldn't get the CCTV vid to play tho.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" ready to meet Asian press
Source: CCTV.com
03-24-2008 09:34

The Forbidden Kingdom, featuring performances by Jackie Chan and Jet Li, comes before the press for the first time. The press conference was attended by both kungfu stars as well as director Rob Minkoff.

It was announced at the press conference that The Forbidden Kingdom will go into world wide release April 24th. Next month, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Rob Minkoff plan another event in Hong Kong, at which time they promise to reveal more details of the production. Tuesday's press conference was attended by most of the cast.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li have known each other for 20 years. This is the first time that the two have played in the same film. During the four months of shooting, the two became close friends.

Besides the opportunity to play opposite Jackie Chan, Jet Li took the role in the hope of entertaining his daughter. The story is about the inspired imagination of a young man, a westerner's interpretation of ancient China. Li Bingbing, the female lead actress, said she was thrilled to collaborate with the two kungfu masters.

Li Bingbing, actress, said, "Actually I feel I am the luckiest of them all. In the movie, I can fight with the two kungfu masters at the same time. There's lots of intense action. Both of them lead dozens of warriors. They come together after more than three decades. The first person they meet is me. So we have a huge fight. It's quite exciting. And both of them are wounded. I am unscathed."

During the interview, both Jackie Chan and Jet Li said they expecting to do another big screen collaboration. Both remain reluctant to give specific details about the project.

[GeneChing]

An affair?! What the heck is Jet saying!?!

'Forbidden' gets China world bow
By Karen Chu
March 18, 2008

UPDATED 4:35 p.m. PT March 18

HONG KONG -- Jackie Chan and Jet Li's "The Forbidden Kingdom" will have its world premiere April 16 in Beijing, producer Raffaella de Laurentiis confirmed Tuesday, marking the first major Hollywood-China co-production to debut in China.

Producers on the big-budget action adventure, which was financed by China's Huayi Brothers, recently submitted an application with China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for permission to roll out their red carpet in the nation's capital.

"Kingdom" marks the first time that Chan and Li -- who have had parallel careers breaking from Chinese-language into English-language films -- have worked together. The pair met in the '80s, after Li made his mark in "The Shaolin Temple" (1982) and Chan was already a household name in Asia with "Drunken Master" (1978).

"It was as if we were having a secret affair," Li joked at a Filmart news conference Tuesday touting the $75 million production.

Said Chan: "I'd drive him around Hong Kong. It was before the handover of Hong Kong to China."

It took them 15 years, however, to finally duke it out onscreen in "Kingdom," which centers on a troubled Boston youth (Michael Angarano) who is magically transported into one of China's most famous ancient legends.

The film will be released April 18 in the U.S. by Lionsgate and April 24 in Hong Kong by Emperor Motion Pictures.

Aside from featuring the two biggest names in Asian action, the film also offers "a sampling" of references from icons and elements in Chinese mythology and legend, director Rob Minkoff said. The helmer was brought in to add texture to the film, he said, but not necessarily to cater to Western audiences' tastes.

Regardless, the biggest draw of "Kingdom" will be the fight scenes, which Chan was particularly happy to recall.

"Our director of cinematography, Peter Pau, kept telling us to slow down," Chan said. Yuen Woo-ping ("The Matrix" series) was the action cinematographer.

[GeneChing]

Check out Kung Fu Superstars on Yahoo and the showdown on Youtube.

[SPJ]

looks like;

Jet Li is doing mantis and JC is doing tiger fist.

[shaolin_allan]

That did look like mantis actually. I didn't realize jet li had trained much mantis, but possibly he learned some or retrained whatever amount of mantis he had learned before. It's not surprising though that Jackie was using tiger fist as he is well known for his prowess in the 5 animals system. I just watched an older Jackie Chan movie recently I had not seen before and it was really good. Has anyone seen snake & crane arts of shaolin? I can't wait to see Forbidden Kingdom though, it looks great.

[GeneChing]

He worked with Yu Hai for his first three films. Read my cover story on The Big Monk of Shaolin Temple: Mantis Grandmaster Yu Hai from our 2007 January/February issue.

[shaolin_allan]

That was a great story Gene. Looks like jet li did study quite a bit of mantis. Thanks for the link!

[ghostexorcist]

My nephew won four free tickets to this movie. We are both going, but I don't know what to do with the other two tickets. The tickets are for a theater in northern Kentucky. I would give the other two tickets to someone on here, but I doubt my sister will let me give them out.

[GeneChing]

This Saturday, April 5th, come by the Tiger Claw booth and enter to win a pair of tickets to a special advanced screening of Forbidden Kingdom next week in San Francisco. Scheduled to attend this screening are the film's stars, Collin Chou and Crystal Liu, director Rob Minkoff, and screenwriter (and author of our May June 2008 cover story) John Fusco. A pair of tickets will be awarded at the following two local tournaments:

2008 Santa Cruz Open, at Aptos High School, Aptos, CA

16th Annual UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament, Haas Pavilion on the UC Berkeley Campus, Berkeley, CA

Additionally, we will be raffling off a giant Forbidden Kingdom standee at both events, and there will be free Forbidden Kingdom posters and postcards for everyone.

Good luck everyone. I'll be at Berkeley. If you're going there, I hope to see you.

[GeneChing]

Come by the Tiger Claw booth at either 2008 Santa Cruz Open or
16th Annual UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament this weekend and we will load you up! Beyond our aforementioned contest, we will be giving away 5 different posters (four of the solo hero posters and the new J&J poster), two postcards (the four heroes and the J&J), trading card packs (complete with bubble gum) and official Forbidden Kingdom green tea.

[shaolin_allan]

I know it's for a different movie, but does anyone have any links to a site to watch jet li's "warlords"? I found a few links on the net all to the same site but the quality is so bad you can barely make out the movements in it, thanks.

[GeneChing]

...we've been discussing Warlords here. I know it's available on HK platform DVD (region 3?) and I just did a quick search and found it on NTSC (US platform).

[Li Kao]

It's going to be a feature Saturday night as part of the Phoenix Film Festival. I'm excited as I believe it will be shown on the CineCapri screen, which is just shy in size of the standard IMAX screen. I've seen a few movies on this screen over the years -- it's definitely the best one in Arizona and always makes for a riveting experience. While I doubt there will be the celebrity turnout like the SF screening, and I unfortunately probably won't score any schweet J&J schwag (any posters left Gene?), I still can hardly wait!

[Zenshiite]

I know it's for a different movie, but does anyone have any links to a site to watch jet li's "warlords"? I found a few links on the net all to the same site but the quality is so bad you can barely make out the movements in it, thanks.

Youtube. It's there in like 10 parts.