FORBIDDEN KINGDOM: the movie

[冠木侍]

Besides, watching Jet and Jackie fight each other...

the women who help move the plot forward of course.

[banditshaw]

The bottom line is the movie does not push the genre forward in terms of breaking new ground. To a lot of us it's'' been there, watched that''.
Saying that, I saw the movie on a plane bored off my ass and went in with very low expectations which made me actually enjoy it more than I thought I would.

I thought the head p1ssing scene was so far off the scale I couldn't believe they got that in there considering how corny it was.

[Lamassu]

i wouldn't call this film a labor of love. you making it sound like it was some sophisticated art house film. when it was just a fun kiddie action film. i mean even jackie chan was bashing the **** thing before it started doing big numbers.

I'm referring to John Fusco's labor of love. I mean he's made several scripts for successful movies before, but this one was made for the sake of his son. It would be naive to not see what target audience it's intended for (getting teens in the States into martial arts and hopefully sign up for a few classes). This is no Oscar worthy film by any means other than maybe choreography and special effects, but it's still a fun movie. I enjoyed it and as for Jackie, whether he likes the film or not is irrelevent to me. Make no mistake I think he and Jet are great guys, but they're just actors for this film, and this film is just a paycheck to them.

[GeneChing]

If you've read Journey to the West, that made total sense. Monkey King ****ed on Buddha's palm, so why not on Jackie? It added to the homage. In this way, TFK reminded me a lot of THE ONE, a brilliant tribute but you really needed to know the mythology. There are so many clever nods to the HK film genre, as well as martial creation myths, but for the general audience, they go spiraling over their heads. Homage only works if the audience is familiar with what is being honored.

[Zenshiite]

^Yep. I wonder how it's recieved in China...

[GeneChing]

Lots of classy pics of Crystal Liu.

Liu Yifei Named Tourism Ambassador of Wuzhong
2008-09-29 21:07:17

Chinese actress Liu Yifei at a photoshoot in Suzhou City. Liu has recently been named the tourism ambassador of Wuzhong District of Suzhou, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, which is marked by beautiful waterways and pavilions.

[GeneChing]

See our Winners of Forbidden Kingdom DVD sweepstakes! post.

[GeneChing]

Bawang? $5.2 million? Are you kidding me?

China's Shampoo Tycoon
Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 07.06.09, 05:50 AM EDT
Shampoo magnate joins China's new rich with a herbal formula and hefty ad budget.

HONG KONG -- Former pesticide salesman Chen Qiyuan, 47, and wife Wan Yuhua, 43, joined China’s new rich on Friday with a net worth of $885 million after they listed their shampoo company, BaWang, and sold part of it to investors in Hong Kong’s most popular public offering this year.

Oversubscribed 446 times, BaWang set its listing price at the top of its indicative range, tapping a total of 1.7 billion Hong Kong dollars ($214 million) for the share floatation. Chen and his spouse still own three quarters of the cosmetics company. On its first day of trading BaWang, which was the most searched item on search engine Yahoo in Hong Kong that day, soared 32.4% to as high as 3.15 Hong Kong dollars (40 cents) before closing 27% higher at 3.03 Hong Kong dollars (39 cents). The herbal shampoo maker, bubbled another 7.3% to 3.25 Hong Kong dollars (42cents) on Monday.

Using Wan Yuhua’s connections with Chinese Academy of Sciences' South China Botanical Garden, the couple signed a cooperation agreement with the state-run botanical research unit, and established a small factory in 1989 in Guangzhou that pumped out low-cost shampoo sold at local grocery stores for about 4 yuan, according to Next Magazine in Hong Kong.

Riding on the rising enthusiasm for Chinese herbal medicine, Chen packaged himself as the 19th generation of a century-old herbalist family and repackaged BaWang with a more potent herbal formula in 2005, the local media added.

Chen then spent heavily on advertising his new product and turned himself into one of China’s leading shampoo sellers. His poster boy is kung fu action star Jackie Chan, hired in 2005 for 40 million Hong Kong dollars ($5.2 million) to promote the supposed restorative qualities of BaWang’s herbal soap. Leading up to Friday’s IPO, Chen blitzed Hong Kong TV with a barrage of new ads for the shampoo. The belief he has cultivated among China’s consumers that BaWang’s formula keeps hair dark and protects against baldness helped give it a 7.6% market share in the first half 2008 up from 6.2% in 2007, according to its listing prospectus.

“We believe our leading positions among Chinese brands in the overall shampoo market in the PRC (People Republic of China) and in the Chinese herbal shampoo market in the PRC are mainly attributable to our innovative and multi-faceted marketing strategies,” BaWang said in its listing document.

Its reputation for keeping hair youthful, in turn, allowed Chen to slap a hefty price tag on his product. A bottle of BaWang shampoo sells for more than 40 yuan (about $9) in China, more expensive than well-known western brands including Vidal Sassoon. In the three years ended 2008, revenue ballooned 260% to 1.4 billion yuan ($206.4 million). Net profit tripled to 281.8 million ($41.2 million) in the same period.

To keep the media buzz going and consumers reaching for a bottle of BaWang at shower time, Chen is forking out more on ads and is recruiting new celebrities to plug his product. The latest is pop singer Faye Wong, who will promote his latest brand, Royal Wind.

[GeneChing]

But will it have kung fu in it?

Minkoff to shoot another Chinese fantasy
Associated Press
2010-05-05 03:16 PM

After uniting Jackie Chan and Jet Li in "The Forbidden Kingdom," "The Lion King" director Rob Minkoff is planning another fantasy epic set in China.

Publicists said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday that Minkoff will direct the 3-D English-language action adventure "Chinese Odyssey" with financial backing from two Chinese studios, including the state-owned China Film Group.

Minkoff was quoted in the statement as describing the movie as a "supernatural high-seas adventure that pits our hero against an onslaught of deadly foes." Producer Pietro Ventani told the AP in an e-mail that the cast of the $75 million to $100 million production hasn't been decided.

"The Forbidden Kingdom," about an American teenager who tries to free the mythical Monkey King with fellow fighters, brought together Chan and Li for the two kung fu stars' first on-screen collaboration.

[ghostexorcist]

But will it have kung fu in it?

I think I'll stay away from any Asian-based flick that this guy puts out from now on. I thought Forbidden Kingdom was dreadful.