Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2)

[GeneChing]

Thread: Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2)
Thread: Wang Baoqiang, Shaolin-trained China A-list movie star

[GeneChing]

DETECTIVE CHINATOWN 2 will open in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, February 16 in select theatres.

WARNER BROS. PICTURES TO DISTRIBUTE THE FOLLOW UP TO “DETECTIVE CHINATOWN” IN NORTH AMERICA

The action comedy will open day-and-date in China and North America on February 16, 2018.

Burbank, CA – January 19, 2018 – Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired domestic distribution rights for the follow up to the Chinese hit “Detective Chinatown” from Wanda Media Co., Ltd., it was announced today by Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. Pictures’ President of Domestic Distribution, and Jiang Defu, General Manager of Wanda Media. The deal marks the second collaboration between the two companies, following last year’s worldwide blockbuster “Wonder Woman.”
The new action comedy has been slated for release in North America on Chinese New Year, February 16, 2018, day-and-date with its release in China. In the U.S., it is set to open in 48 markets.
In making the announcement, Goldstein stated, “China has become a major contributor to the global film industry and Wanda is a company at the forefront of that rise. We are excited to expand our relationship with them and to bring this new project to American audiences.”
Jiang stated, “This is an exciting new cooperation, which will expand the global footprint of Chinese language films. Warner Bros., as one of the most successful studios in the industry, will bring our latest movie to North American audiences, and we look forward to the launch of this fresh, comedy detective film during the Chinese New Year.”
The new film is the follow up to the Chinese hit “Detective Chinatown,” which opened in China in December 2015 and went on to gross more than $126 million (RMB 820m). It reunites writer/director Chen Sicheng and stars Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran, who reprise their roles as detectives Tang Ren and Qin Feng, respectively.
When the case of New York Chinatown godfather Uncle Qi’s missing son turns into a murder investigation, the detective duo Tang and Qin team up again to hunt down the killer—this time with some help from the International Detective Alliance.
The main cast also includes Xiao Yang, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Michael Pitt and Japanese star Tsumabuki Satoshi.
The movie was shot in New York City and Beijing.
This film is a presentation of Wanda Media Co., Ltd. And Horgos Shine Asia Pictures & Culture Media Co., Ltd., in association with China Film Co., Ltd., Wanda Pictures (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., Huoerguosi Happy Picture Co., Ltd., Youku Pictures Co., Ltd., Xiomi Pictures Co., Ltd., Horgos Youth Enlight Pictures Co., Ltd., Beijing Sparkle Roll Media Corporation, Horgos Jin Yi Film Co., Ltd., Zhe Jiang Hengdian Film Co., Ltd., Dadi Century (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Gosh Film Entertainment Co., Ltd., Yili JoyPictures Co., Ltd., Huawen Picture Co., Ltd., and Lian Ray Pictures.

For CNY. Very tempting, but I'll probably go for MK3 instead.

[GeneChing]

Chinese New Year Box Office Preview: 'Monster Hunt 2' Hits $11M in Presales
11:31 PM PST 2/1/2018 by Patrick Brzeski


Courtesy of Edko Films
Chris Lee in 'Monster Hunt 2'

THR takes a sneak-peak at the coming wave of Chinese blockbusters, which are already raking in major revenue.
The world's biggest box-office season — Chinese New Year, in China — is still two weeks away, but the country's unreleased blockbusters are already sucking up revenue before liftoff.

Fantasy sequel Monster Hunt 2, directed by DreamWorks Animation veteran Raman Hui, had reached $11.3 million (70.6 million RMB) in ticket presales by midday Friday. With a full 14 days before its opening on Feb. 16, the film should easily surpass the $16 million (101 million RMB) in presales raked in by Chen Kaige's Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, last year's CNY opening-weekend winner.

In February 2016, China set a new record for the biggest box-office week ever for a single market, totaling $548 million in ticket sales over seven days. That tally cleanly eclipsed the record set in North America just weeks prior by Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($529.6 million from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, 2016).

Whether the market can match those heights this year remains an open question. What's certain is that the field will be very crowded, with fantasy monsters, prat-falling detectives, animated bears and military propaganda all vying for a slice of the enormous pie.

The first Monster Hunt movie grossed $382 million in 2015, an all-time record at the time. Production company Edko Films has pulled out all of the stops for the sequel, more than doubling the number of visual effects shots, boosting merchandising output and marketing alliances, and adding veteran star Tony Leung to the cast. Hui's touch for family-friendly entertainment — an essential ingredient for success during the very family-focused holiday, when grandparents to kids all decamp for the multiplex — would seem the key to the film's clear frontrunner status (during his Hollywood days, Hui co-directed DWA hits like Shrek the Third).

Currently sitting in second place for holiday presales is Wanda Pictures' action comedy Detective Chinatown 2, with $6.7 million (42.3 million RMB). The first film, set in the Chinatown district of Bangkok, Thailand, earned $125 million in 2015. The sequel is again written and directed by Chen Sicheng, and stars returning leads Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran. But this time the action has been transplanted to Chinatown in New York City, and the cast is joined by American actor Michael Pitt.

Chinese New Year wouldn't be complete without a Monkey King movie or two, and 2018 will welcome the third of its kind from director Cheang Pou-soi. Aaron Kwok is back as the eponymous simian hero of the beloved Chinese literary classic. The film will attempt to best the $167.8 million and $185.4 million earned by The Monkey King (2014) and Monkey King 2 (2016), respectively. Thus far, the movie has brought in $5.7 million (36.2 million RMB) in advance sales.

Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink, the fifth film in China's most successful homegrown animation franchise, currently sits in fourth place with $2.9 million (18.4 million RMB). Based on a long-running China Central Television animated series of the same name, the first four Boonie Bears films have totaled an estimated $221.5 million. The new film can be expected to carve out a healthy chuck of the holiday kids market.

The final major title opening on Feb. 16, head-to-head against the other market leaders, is Hong Kong director Dante Lam's Operation Red Sea, which was designed to tap into the same upswell of Chinese patriotism that lifted Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior 2 to previously unimaginable heights last summer ($874 million from the China market alone).

The film stars Zhang Yi and Huang Jingyu, and is loosely based on the Chinese navy evacuation of 225 foreign nationals and some 600 Chinese citizens from Yemen's port of Aden during the 2015 Yemeni Civil War last March. Continuing the growing industry trend of blending propaganda with commercial filmmaking polish, Operation Red Sea is being presented as a special tribute to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People Liberation Army (August, 1927). The film has tallied $1.4 million (9 million RMB) in presales so far.

Thread: 2018 Year of the EARTH DOG
Thread: Monster Hunt
Thread: Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2)
Thread: Monkey King 3

I gotta go with MK3. I doubt that will win the box office - MH2 probably will - but that's my fav of these two franchises. I haven't seen DC yet so maybe that's a premature assumption, but I've got a soft spot for anything Monkey King related, a veritable monkey on my back.

[GeneChing]

Imagine being in a film alongside all the top martial arts stars. READ Natasha Liu Bordizzo on Gong Shou Dao (The Art of Attack and Defense) by Gene Ching.



Thread: Gong Shou Dao (The Art of Attack and Defence)
Thread: 2018 Year of the EARTH DOG
Thread: Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2)

[GeneChing]

Detective Chinatown 2.

‘Detective Chinatown 2’ Defeats “Monster Hunt 2” On Day 3 Of Chinese New Year
BY LINAN CHEN FEB 19, 2018


“Detective Chinatown 2” Defeats “Monster Hunt 2” On Day 3 Of Chinese New Year

The first three days of Chinese New Year saw box office earnings reach an accumulated 3.21 billion yuan ($501 million) with the weekend box office earnings totaling at over 500 million, breaking the record for highest weekend box office in a single market. Detective Chinatown 2 overtook Monster Hunt 2 as the box office winner on the third day of Chinese New Year. Action film Red Sea Operation followed right behind in third place, bringing in 179 million yuan ($28 million) on Feb. 18; the film is also highly rated on review sites, with a rating of 7.4/10 on Mtime. Monkey King 3 and Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink each gained about 60 million yuan ($9.3 million)

Thread: 2018 Year of the EARTH DOG
Thread: Monster Hunt
Thread: Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2)
Thread: Monkey King 3

[GeneChing]

I never saw the first Chinatown Detective. Anyone here see that?

Manhattan Mystery: Chen Sicheng brings 'Detective Chinatown' series to New York City
By Daniel Eagan Feb 16, 2018



Writer-director Chen Sicheng shot Detective Chinatown 2 in New York City for 40 days over the fall. It was the first Chinese-language production in the U.S. to use union crews. Starring Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran, it is a sequel to 2015's hit action-comedy. Warner Bros. released it today on 115 U.S. theatre screens.

Toward the end of the shoot, working in the rain on location at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Chen and producer Shawn Yue sat down in a production trailer to talk.

It's raining now, which you didn't plan for. How has the weather affected the shoot?

Because we are on a very limited budget, there's no other options but to keep going. We shot last week on Madison Avenue, a small sequence, but we shot in the rain, we shot in the sun, we shot in the smog.

If this were China, that would never happen. For continuity, the scene always has to be either shining or rainy. So we have to figure out a way to fix it in post.

Shawn Yue said you couldn't get to two shots this afternoon.

That's already fixed. Before the rain started, I was missing two shots. But after the rain stopped, we used a different angle that wasn't covered before, so we got what we needed.

So what's the most difficult part about shooting in New York City?

There are three major points about the difficulty of shooting in New York City. One, expensive. Two, expensive. Three, expensive. Very expensive.

This is a Chinese-language film, and Chinese films are hard to distribute globally. If this were an English-language film made at an American studio, we could put a lot more money into the budget. But since it's a Chinese-language film, there is a maximum amount you're allowed to spend. But we chose to shoot in New York City anyway, despite the limitations.

But why pick New York City in the first place?

[Shawn Yue, laughing:] He wants to be tortured by the city.

When I was shooting Detective Chinatown, everyone who heard about it said, "Chinatown? That must be in New York City." The Chinatown in New York is actually the most famous Chinatown all over the world. But we shot the first one in Thailand.

I'm determined to make Detective Chinatown into a big franchise. There will be part one, two, three and four. To achieve that, part two is actually more important than part one. If part two fails, there will be no franchise.

The first one in Thailand worked pretty well, but in order to raise expectations for the whole franchise, part two has to be way better than part one. That's why I've come to the center of the universe, to New York, so everyone will feel this is an upgrade from Detective one.

What did shooting here add to the film?

No other place can compete with New York City. You've got super good locations here, plus all the locations I've found that people in China haven't seen yet.

Number two, the infrastructure here is very good. Especially background actors, they're the best I've ever used in my career. You put them in the background and you don't have to pay special attention to them—they are the characters you want them to be. Plus, they're very good actors.

New York is a melting, pot, very diversified, people from different races, different national backgrounds, different countries and cultures. You can't fake that. We have access to the background actor who actually is from the background he is acting.

New York has a very bright side, a super-fancy, expensive, high-end side, and also a ghetto side, areas that make you feel unsafe. So we've been covering the fancy parts, but we also go to the bowels of the city, the deepest tunnels of the subway and train systems. We also go to what people normally call the unsafe areas to shoot.

I also wrote the script, and the way I write is to experience the city beforehand. A lot of the stories in the script came from when I visited for several weeks. So in the end we experience the diversity of New York, the fancy and the not-so-fancy; the safe part, the feel-good part, and also the dangerous part.

What do people in China think of New York?

Most have a very typical tourist perspective, thinking about Times Square, Central Park, Grand Central Station. More like a superficial concept of New York City. They don't really know, they haven't been given the opportunity to really access the diversity here.

Oh, and they think of Donald Trump.

The old stereotype from Hong Kong filmmakers made New York a place of gangs, fighting. Modern-day Chinese don't see New York as a dangerous city. They probably see Paris as more dangerous.

So what was it like to shoot in New York's Chinatown?

When I was shooting Detective Chinatown 1 in Thailand, the Chinatown there is just like Bangkok everywhere. It's just an area of the city with a little bit of Chinese flavor.

Chinatown here looks like old China, it's not like modern-day China. Chinatown is like old China in old times. But the thing about New York is that each area is unique. Harlem, Spanish Harlem, one has an African-American way of living, the other is more Hispanic. They're not trying to influence each other.

That's the character of New York City, you are allowed to be who you want to be, people don't interfere with your life.

I'll tell you, Flushing was the real shock. I go to Chinatown, okay, it's Chinatown, it's got a flavor I know. But Flushing—that feels like home, like modern-day China. It feels like a Chinese colony outside of China.

Can you talk about your career? You've been an actor, a writer, and now director. How did you get to this position?

That's a question I would like to know the answer to. Because if I knew, I might be able do these interviews.

Listen, I think you first of all have to be true to yourself. You have to read a lot. You have to see a lot of movies, talk to other directors to get to know their films. But it's difficult to describe my style, how I direct. It's like you take all the information, all the visuals to create a style. But then you have to be like a child. You have to be true to yourself, you have to let everything go, let the inner "you" guide you.

How do you balance technical details with getting good performances from actors?

Number one, even before you start shooting, you need an impulse, a very strong impulse, "I want to tell this story." Then you play with scale, the thin line between enough and too much. Like yesterday, we were working with an actress who's a good comedienne. She can act. But she's too exaggerated, she's doing too much, so you have to tell her, "Hold it back a little bit."

Then you have to do a lot of takes, to let the actor and the DP know that we are getting close to that thin line of enough and not too much.

Do you let your actors improvise?

Occasionally. I have a background as an actor, so I know how to communicate with the cast. We don't really have time to try out things. What's important is the rhythm, you have to keep everybody at the same pace, and find the right rhythm for the film as a whole. Some directors can't keep that rhythm steady.

So how do you do that?

I don't know, maybe it's a gift. Is it taste? Aesthetics? Usually we are working too hard to stop and think about it.

Have you been editing as you go along?

We tried that, but there's so much pressure, you just can't keep up.

When you do edit, does your vision of the movie evolve?

I don't usually accumulate a lot of footage. I don't try a lot of takes. I'm more like a "cutting in the camera" kind of guy. Especially this time. We are on a tight schedule. My friend put it this way: "Forty days? Unbelievable."

You're a member of the DGA [Directors Guild of America]. Will that play a role in your future projects?

I'm not too eager to become what people call an "international" director. I'm more focused on the Chinese market. It's good to use DGA standards in my own work, but I want to keep making Chinese films for the Chinese market. Because that market is big, and it's growing very fast. The DGA has a lot of good directors to serve America. China needs good directors to serve the Chinese.

Asian films can reach the same technical and artistic levels as Hollywood films. Can you use your position to build a broader base of acceptance for Chinese-language films throughout the world?

That's one of my goals, to expand the Chinese film audience globally, to get more people from the around the world to appreciate Chinese film.

Once upon a time, the Hong Kong film industry made a lot of films that were loved by the world. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat. But films from mainland China have never been that popular. They've never had a golden age, a global acceptance.

How will that happen?

A lot of Chinese comedies are very language-based, one person telling a joke to another so the audience will laugh. I want to try something else. I want the comedy to appear naturally in the storytelling, instead of relying heavily on language. If your movie's heavily language-oriented, the people who don't speak Chinese will never be able to understand it. But if you imbue the comedy into the story, make it naturally part of the storytelling, more people will be able to appreciate that.

[GeneChing]

...of the original Detective Chinatown (2015), which is now on Amazon Prime.

Another buddy film with Wang Baoqiang cast as the bumbling fool. Set in Thailand too. Unfortunately this one sucks. It was a holiday release, and the sequel (released last year for Chinese New Years was well received as mentioned above) so I figured I'd go back for the original. Very disappointing on many accounts. The fights are bad, a waste of Wang's skills, and almost all of them end up in groin grabs and strikes, for comedic effect. Wang's buddy is a failed police candidate raised on detective stories and does a Sherlockian-style of memory effects when he discovers clues (he's so eidetic that he can recognize Thai even though he can't read it). Wang gets framed for murder, and there's too many absurd chase scenes through Bangkok where dozens of cops are running behind Wang and his buddy. There's a lot of hackneyed comedy tropes, like an extended everyone-hide-in-the-hottie's-boudoir scene, which is almost funny. There's a running joke on a foppish cop who keeps getting his nose broken that drew a smirk at one of the final breaks but not quite a laugh. There are multiple lines where they say something akin to 'that's like something out of a bad movie', a painfully self-aware observation. Also ironic is that 'buddy' is subtitled 'bubby' in several spots.

I almost didn't make it through to the ending, and sadly, the reveal wasn't bad. The mcguffins were actually pretty good - the murder plot was complex and works, although by that point, it didn't redeem the film.

Here's the trailer. Might as well watch it because I'm not recommending this film at all.

[GeneChing]

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Detective Chinatown 2
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