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Thread: Wolf Warrior 2

  1. #16
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    backfired?

    I'm sure Wu Jing is crying all the way to the bank.

    Chinese netizens are so feckin catty. I imagine it's because of the censorship.


    Wu Jing made Wolf Warriors 2 for a measly 200 million yuan. The movie has now grossed 4 billion yuan at the box office. Photo: new.china.com

    Chung Man
    Aug 21, 2017 9:41am
    How Wu Jing’s patriotic blockbuster backfired on him

    Recently, the mega-hit Chinese action thriller Wolf Warriors 2 directed by and starring martial artist and actor Wu Jing has taken the mainland by storm and become a huge sensation among Chinese moviegoers.

    The box office results indeed spoke volumes about how well-received the movie was: despite being a “B” movie with a budget of just 200 million yuan, Wolf Warriors 2 has so far grossed a whopping 4 billion yuan in box office across the country.

    The story of Wolf Warriors 2 is set in today’s Africa, in which a People’s Liberation Army soldier, Leng Feng, played by Wu Jing manages to save, against all odds, the lives of hundreds of civilians during an armed rebellion orchestrated by “western villains” in an African country. In the movie, Wu Jing not only demonstrates extraordinary intelligence, bravery, gallantry as well as dazzling kung fu, but also remarkable patriotism.

    One of Leng Feng’s most frequently spoken lines in the movie is: “Whoever dares to lay a finger on my beloved country, I’ll get them, no matter how far they are.”

    And at the end of the movie, a string of words printed on a page of a mock-up Chinese passport is given a close-up shot, which reads: “no matter what kind of danger you have encountered overseas, remember, your mighty motherland always has your back.”

    Apart from being packed with intense and nail-biting fight scenes, Wolf Warriors 2 also showcases a lot of China’s fancy and state-of-the-art weapons.

    However, what truly makes the movie such a huge box office success is actually not its fight scenes and fancy weapons, but rather, the patriotic and nationalist themes it pitches, which have just hit exactly the right note with mainland viewers at a time when ultra-nationalist sentiment is prevailing across the nation.

    Another crucial factor behind its commercial success is its endorsement by mainland officialdom because the film toes Beijing’s current hawkish patriotic line under President Xi Jinping.

    However, as it turns out, ultra-nationalism is indeed a double-edged sword. While Wu Jing has made a lot of money with his movie that pitches ultra-nationalism, ironically he has also recently found himself at the receiving end of the patriotic emotions his movie has evoked.

    At a recent public event, Wu once again recited the string of words that appeared at the end of his movie, and added that “the passport of the People’s Republic of China might not be able to bring you everywhere around the world, but it can certainly bring you home safe no matter where you are and what troubles you have run into.”

    Yet, much to his surprise, Wu immediately came under fire from mainland netizens for being hypocritical, since, they pointed out, Wu himself has acquired the citizenship of Hong Kong, while his wife is a green card holder, not to mention that his son was born in the UK and is therefore a British citizen.

    As some angry mainland netizens put it: “what a bloody nerve that a guy who has given up his Chinese citizenship is telling people to love their motherland.”

    Worse still, after Wu had donated one million yuan to the victims of the recent Sichuan earthquake, he drew more ridicule and criticism from netizens, resulting in an open season on him online.

    Many netizens accused Wu of being a penny-pincher because he had only donated one million yuan, which was peanuts compared to the big bucks he had made with his recent blockbuster.

    There were also many others who mocked that he should have donated 100 million, 500 million yuan or even all the money made from the movie to the earthquake victims in order to prove that he is not just a patriot on the big screen, but also a genuine patriot in real life as well.

    Amid the public ridicule, all Wu could do was bite the bullet and remain silent, as he was well aware that any rebuttal from him would only provoke further public backlash.

    Many movie critics in the mainland have often compared Wu’s Wolf Warriors series to the First Blood series starring Sylvester Stallone in the 1980s.

    Ironically, while Wu, the Chinese equivalent of Rambo, is always invincible on the big screen, in real life he turns out to be completely vulnerable and powerless in the face of the online lynching.

    This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Aug. 18

    Translation by Alan Lee
    Gene Ching
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  2. #17
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    a two-fer today

    I've been waiting for this review, waiting for this other shoe to drop. The important distinction to make here is that Grillo et.al. play American mercenaries, former U.S. military but not active.

    Anyone else see this yet aside from me?

    August 22, 2017 2:03 pm
    China’s biggest movie franchise is obsessed with killing Americans

    “Wolf Warrior 2,” the biggest movie in China, has raked in $768.5 million at the box office since it debuted on July 28. That’s an incredible amount of money, far more than the domestic box office total for James Cameron’s “Avatar.” The $30 million film is the most successful one in Chinese history. It’s grossed 45 percent more than the last movie to bust that record, last year’s “The Mermaid,” which took in $527 million.

    There’s one big difference between “The Mermaid” and “Wolf Warrior 2,” though: only one of them has American villains.

    Films in the “Wolf Warrior” series have the conventional action movie setup: a lone, spectacularly-talented-and-potentially-flawed character takes on group of bad guys and beats them after a series of explosions and fight sequences.

    But in both films, the villain is an American.

    The original “Wolf Warrior” pitted action star Wu Jing against former Navy SEAL “Tom Cat,” played by Scott Atkins. Backed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Wu Jing’s character takes on Tom Cat, intent on assassinating him, as well as a plot to “smuggle blood samples out of China so that Western countries can ‘manufacture medicine and food products harmful to Chinese health based on their DNA.'”



    In the sequel, Wu Jing goes to Africa to fight “Big Daddy,” an American mercenary who, at the peak of the fight, gets a knife to Wu’s throat and tells him “Get used to it. People like me will always be better than people like you.” Wu, countering, cuts Big Daddy’s throat and tells the cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking character “That’s ****ing history” as a line of cruise missiles fired by the Chinese Navy destroy Big Daddy’s forces.

    American films, of course, have portrayed many nations as American adversaries, including China.

    But that’s tempered in recent years; China has the second-largest market for films in the world, and the government restricts the number of foreign films that make it to screens in the country. Since they automatically blacklist films critical of the nation, some films (Transformers 4, for example) actually cast China in an openly positive light, hoping to be greenlit and well-distributed.

    The remake of “Red Dawn” (2012) was the last major motion picture to cast a Chinese enemy.

    Patrick McMahon, Rare Staff
    Ha! We remember Red Dawn. The Chinese were NOT the enemy, at least not after some digital tweaks. This author needs to get his facts straight.
    Gene Ching
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  3. #18
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    Grillo speaks

    'Wolf Warrior II' Star Frank Grillo on How China's $780M Blockbuster Was Made (Q&A)
    10:10 PM PDT 8/22/2017 by Patrick Brzeski


    Barry King/Getty Images
    Frank Grillo

    The megahit's only American actor discusses becoming an overnight celebrity in the Middle Kingdom, why director Wu Jing is the "next global superstar" and what Hollywood can learn from the film's success.

    As Hollywood remains mired in a downturn at the North American box office, Chinese action movie Wolf Warrior II has firmly established itself as the blockbuster phenomenon of the summer.

    With a budget of just $30 million, the film opened in China on July 27 and has earned an astonishing $780 million since. That makes it both China's highest-grossing film ever (Stephen Chow's The Mermaid now sits in a distant second at $527 million) and the second-biggest movie of all time in a single market, with only Star Wars: The Force Awakens having earned more from one territory ($936.7 million, North America).

    Written by, directed by and starring Chinese martial artist Wu Jing, the film follows a former Chinese special-forces operative as he battles bloodthirsty Western mercenaries to protect Chinese civilians caught up in an African civil war. The central theme of the film — which is often likened to Rambo — is well encapsulated by the strident jingoism of its tagline: "Whoever offends China will be hunted down no matter how far away they are."

    Insiders point to two intertwined factors behind Wolf Warrior II's profound resonance with the Chinese audience: Hollywood-caliber action coupled with a story about unrestrained pride in Chinese national identity.

    The heavy dose of Hollywood came courtesy of Marvel mainstays Joe and Anthony Russo (co-directors of the Captain America franchise), who consulted on the project via their Chinese studio venture Anthem & Song, which has a strategic partnership with Beijing Culture Media, the film's lead local producer. The Russos arranged for their usual stunt team, led by veteran stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave (The Avengers, Suicide Squad, The Hunger Games), to join the project and elevate its action. They also introduced the American actor who would play the film's villain, Frank Grillo.

    Grillo is a familiar face in Hollywood action projects, having played key parts in films like Warrior (2011), The Grey (2011) and the Purge franchise (2014-2016), as well as the villain Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But his starring role in Wolf Warrior II, which is set to cross $800 million next weekend, will probably come to be viewed as his biggest break to date.

    Grillo plays the ruthless American mercenary Big Daddy, who faces off against Wu Jing in a final fight scene that even the film's detractors have tended to praise as simply eye-popping.

    "To say that Wu Jing has his thumb on the pulse on what the Chinese people need cinematically is a gross understatement," says Grillo.

    THR gave Grillo a call this week to ask him what it was like working on China's biggest movie ever, how it feels to suddenly become an A-list star in the world's most populous nation and why Hollywood should regard Wolf Warrior II as a wake-up call.

    How did you originally get involved in this film?

    Joe Russo had thrown my name in the hat, and they responded and came to me with this offer. And frankly, I was intrigued because it was Chinese. Everyone in Hollywood is trying to get into the Chinese market, or has tried and failed, or is already in co-productions. I think this is good business. I spoke with Wu Jing and absolutely fell in love with him, and it was a no-brainer. They were generous and terrific to talk to — so that's it, I'm going to China.

    What were your expectations going into the project, and what's your reaction to the phenomenon it's become?

    I had very low expectations. I had seen the first film, and I thought it was cool in terms of the Chinese cinema I had seen. You know, having been involved in the Marvel world or even the Purge films, the production values are a bit higher on this side. I just thought, if it's a solid success again in China, that will be great. And then this explosion happened. We just surpassed Avatar and we're only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the No. 2 movie in a single market in the history of cinema. So to say that Wu Jing has his thumb on the pulse of what the Chinese people need cinematically is a gross understatement. I'm blown away by it all.

    It's always hard to pinpoint precisely why a given movie connects with an audience. But what's your take on why the Chinese have embraced this movie so strongly?

    Not to be a jerky overblown actor guy, but I think it goes back to what we do as storytellers — how we continue legacies and pass on our history through storytelling. I think Wu Jing was aware of what he was doing; it's no accident. There's a consciousness that has been developing in China. Maybe it started in 2008 when the country started opening to the world and consumerism became a bigger part of the culture. People say this movie is nationalistic and it's propaganda — and in a sense, it is. But this pride in China is real, and the audience wants to believe that being Chinese means something special. Wu Jing has touched upon something that the world needs to take note of and say, "Wow, this is interesting; this is something important."

    Particularly with what's going on in our country, where it's a mess. You can't elect a clown and not expect a circus. I think a lot of Americans are trying to hang onto our own sense of dignity — we're going back to look at videos of John F. Kennedy and trying to understand how to make some sense of what's going on today.
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
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  4. #19
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    continued from previous post

    What was your experience like on set, and how did it compare to film shoots in the U.S.?

    Well, you know, there are no unions in China, and it's not regulated in the same way movies are in Hollywood. So it was more of an independent feel — run and gun. But what the Russo brothers did was they implemented Sam Hargrave and his team, who are the best in the business in stunts, action and fighting. They elevated all of the action to the level that they're used to, which is the standard of a Marvel movie — and that's the top of the food chain. So it was great for me. I had friends there, and Wu Jing and the Chinese team were fantastic to work with — I had a wonderful experience.

    How do you think this film will affect the course of your career, now that you're a recognizable face to hundreds of millions of people in China?

    This is the kind of business where a phone call or the right role can change the course of your life. It's not unlike the lottery. I've gotten calls from people saying, "Right now you're bigger than Matt Damon in China." And I'm like, what?! I don't know if it's true, but it's crazy to me that people are even saying it. I'm already in talks with Joe Russo to do something kind of Lethal Weapon-ish with a Chinese superstar. CAA has already put me together with a bunch of Chinese production companies. So, it's absolutely already changed my career. I loved my experience in China, so if my star — whatever it is — has risen to a point that allows me to go and make more movies like this in China, I am in 1,000 percent.

    Leading-question alert: In China, local movies have tended to beat Hollywood imports in the comedy and romance genres because Chinese viewers naturally want to see their own language and culture on the screen. But Hollywood has always dominated in the action and effects-heavy tentpole category. Wolf Warrior II is perhaps the first Chinese action flick with Hollywood-level production values — and it has outperformed any Hollywood movie ever there. Should U.S. studios be worried about their competitive edge?

    Yeah, I do think they should be concerned. If Chinese studios hire the right experienced people — which their market can support now — Chinese action movies can compete head-to-head with Hollywood at the local box office. This movie shows that.

    What should really worry Hollywood is when the next iteration of Chinese films starts showing signs of crossing over. Wolf Warrior II is amazing, and it's done some business overseas, but it's mostly a Chinese film for China. When directors like Joe Russo, who understand story from a very global perspective, start working more and more with Chinese filmmakers, you'll start seeing Chinese films that connect with audiences all over Asia, Europe and South America — maybe even North America. That's what will break China out of the home market and make them a big threat to Hollywood's dominance. (Wolf Warrior II has earned $2.3 million in North America since its release on July 28. U.S. distributor The H Collective says it is planning to expand the release in the coming weeks because of audience curiosity over the film's huge China performance.)

    There's obviously tremendous interest in Wu Jing now. What can you tell us about him?

    I think he's the next Jackie Chan. He's that guy. He can do anything physical. He's charming, handsome and smart. He understands filmmaking. He's open, collaborative and fun to work with. I think this guy is the next global megastar.

    What should people in the U.S. who don't normally watch much Chinese cinema know about this film?

    People from around the world who don't live in China and don't take in many Chinese movies — they should just see it. Because a movie that has resonated so deeply in a country of 1.3 billion people needs to be seen. Whether you agree with the politics or not, whether you think it's up to snuff with other action movies or not, it's part of history now. People should see it for themselves and try to understand it.
    Solid interview with Frank Grillo. I think he comes off very eloquent on this and no one has insight like he does in this particular situation.
    Gene Ching
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  5. #20
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    First forum review!

    Okay, here's that review I've been promising to post for two weeks. Gotta get it out before Birth of the Dragon so I'm catching up on forum reviews (see my Atomic Blonde review just posted minutes ago too).

    Right. Wolf Warrior 2. Wow. What extraordinary ultravi. It is action packed - full auto tank battle explosion action. Wu Jing delivers some major gratuitous ultravi. It's quick cut choreography, one cut, one action, the Russo style which isn't really to my liking after being spoiled by those full-body long single shot fight sequences from classic Shaw Brothers films, but it's still satisfying in its complexity. There's a plot about rebels in Africa, and a plague, but that only serves to catch your breath. The rest is explosions and gunfire. Wu Jing can really move, giving his balletic gunplay an air of grace. There are themes of loyalty, racism, justice, revenge, but mostly patriotism. Gaping plot holes and absurd action (classic bad guys who can't shoot the good guys even though they are running about without cover) but who cares? Just blow up more stuff. Wu Jing vs Grillo finale fight is gritty bloody fun. I'm still not sure what it says about the PRC now but I'm not going to think on that too hard for now. I'm going to defer to what Grillo said in his interview posted above. Grillo really earned my respect with that, and with this film.

    The theater I saw it in was fairly full, which is rare because usually when I go to these U.S. theatrical showings, I'm one of the only people in the house. The predominantly Chinese audience applauded at the end.
    Gene Ching
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  6. #21
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    A pact

    China's Alibaba Pictures Pacts With 'Wolf Warrior II' Production Company
    3:02 AM PDT 8/28/2017 by Patrick Brzeski


    Alibaba Pictures Group
    Alibaba Pictures CEO Fan Luyuan

    Jack Ma's film studio says it will work closely with Beijing Culture on film financing, marketing and distribution after the studio's latest release pulled in more than $800 million.

    Jack Ma's Alibaba Pictures Group has formed a strategic partnership with Beijing Culture, one of the production companies behind Wolf Warrior II, China's biggest blockbuster of all time.

    The partnership was unveiled at a press conference in central Beijing on Friday. The two companies said they would cooperate in areas spanning film financing, promotion and distribution, along with movie merchandising.

    Fan Luyuan, Alibaba Pictures' newly appointed CEO, pointed to the partners' recent collaboration on Wolf Warriors II as an example of the scale of success that's possible when Chinese stakeholders work together to get the formula right — while also leveraging the internet prowess of tech giants like Alibaba.

    "We want to be part of the infrastructure of China’s movie industry,” Fan said.

    Written by, directed by and starring Chinese martial artist Wu Jing, Wolf Warrior II has earned a colossal $810 million in China since its release on July 26. Fan said some 40 percent of all Wolf Warrior II ticket sales were transacted over Alibaba's Taopiaopiao mobile ticketing platform. The service also was used to drive marketing and merchandising offers to filmgoers.

    Beijing Culture has been amassing a powerful collection of partners. In April 2016, the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Anthem and Song, the Chinese studio venture set up by Joe and Anthony Russo, the Hollywood directors of Marvel's Captain America franchise. That tie-up proved especially fruitful for Wolf Warrior II, on which the Russos consulted and provided their usual stunt team, led by veteran stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave (The Avengers, Suicide Squad, The Hunger Games), elevating its action to a Hollywood standard. The Russos also introduced the film's villain, Frank Grillo, to their Chinese partners.

    "For China's film industry infrastructure to be improved, we need to work together," said Alibaba's Fan.

    Beijing Culture produces and distributes films, television and internet series, as well as runs a talent agency. The studio's next release will be Feng Xiaogang's period drama Youth, written by popular Chinese novelist Yan Geling, out in China on Sept. 30.
    I doubt Youth will do as well. But then again, I had no idea Wolf Warriors 2 would do well.

    Alibaba & Wolf Warrior 2
    Gene Ching
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  7. #22
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    Big Wilson Yip interview from SCMP

    Hong Kong director Wilson Yip on SPL instalment Paradox, Wu Jing’s rise and Bruce Lee’s key part in the upcoming Ip Man 4
    Filmmaker explains his casting of Louis Koo in a martial arts action film, says he’s not surprised SPL stars Donnie Yen and Wu Jing have become superstars, and talks about Ip Man 4’s focus on the relationship between Ip Man and Lee
    PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 23 August, 2017, 2:16pm
    UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 August, 2017, 4:58pm
    Edmund Lee
    edmund.lee@scmp.com



    Fans of Chinese kung fu cinema will recall the deadly fight scene between Donnie Yen Ji-dan and Wu Jing in the 2005 action film SPL – Hong Kong director Wilson Yip Wai-shun’s ambitious attempt to blend the gritty narrative of crime thrillers with bone-crunching violence delivered by top martial arts actors.

    “In my opinion, that scene in particular looked like it’s coming from a wuxia film – even though the characters are in contemporary clothing,” says Yip. “Some of Johnnie To’s films, like Running Out of Time, also play like wuxia movies. SPL is a bit similar to that in style.”



    While SPL was – even by Yip’s own account – “quite a weird movie”, it struck a chord with many movie fans, who have since seen both its main actors rise to superstardom – Yen via the Ip Man films, also directed by Yip, including Ip Man 3 , and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Wu with the record-breaking Wolf Warrior 2 .



    Yip, 53, handed the directing duties to close friend and long-time work partner Soi Cheang Pou-soi (The Monkey King 2) when a sequel to SPL was made in 2015. By reshuffling its plot elements for a new story, SPL2: A Time for Consequences – on which Yip served as both producer and script consultant – provided an efficient template for future instalments to follow.
    In new film Paradox – which Yip curiously refuses to call “SPL3” but is really just that in all but name – the franchise’s fixation on karma and destiny finds a new expression with the recasting of the previous chapter’s villain as the film’s hero: just as Wu Jing went from playing the protagonist’s nemesis in SPL to the hero in SPL2, Louis Koo Tin-lok has followed the same path between SPL2 and Paradox.

    “It’s a coincidence,” says Yip, who reveals that his original intention was to tell the origin story of Koo’s character in SPL2 – the evil leader of an organ-trafficking syndicate – until he realised that this amoral tale was never going to get past the censors. Instead, the director turned to an idea that had been gestating since he watched the Liam Neeson vehicle Taken in 2008.
    “It’s true that Taken has a considerable influence on me,” he admits. “I remember very well that I showed it to Sammo Hung Kam-bo when we were shooting the first Ip Man film; it’s a really great movie. I’ve kept the story inside me as a potential idea. … Here, I’ve used a father’s search for his daughter as the story’s starting point, but after that, our films [diverge].”

    In Paradox, Koo plays a Hong Kong policeman who arrives in Thailand to look for his teenage daughter after she is abducted there. As a widower who can’t afford to see his only child in peril, Koo turns into a vengeful killing machine on his way to tracking down the organ traders responsible for his daughter’s disappearance.

    The casting of Koo in the intense action film – featuring splendid action choreography by Hung – represents a statement of sorts by Yip, who explains that he wanted to show he “could still make an SPL film even without a brilliant martial arts actor in the lead”.
    “I would just as comfortably label a film SPL even if it’s all gunfights. I think of this simply as an action series with strong dramatic elements,” the director says.



    While it remains to be seen whether Koo will replicate the meteoric rise of Yen and Wu after their respective star turns in SPL and SPL2, Yip isn’t surprised by the subsequent success of his regular leading men.

    “Actually, you could see the signs,” he says. “After Yen made SPL, people in the industry were all waiting for him [to make it big]; we all considered him a really capable veteran.



    “Wu, at that time, was also doing great. He didn’t have many scenes in [Tsui Hark’s] The Legend of Zu (2001), but [as a] teenager [he] was already very eye-catching. [These actors] need time [to develop] – and 20 years after [he started his acting career], Wu Jing is taking flight. As a martial arts actor, you usually need some time [to make the next step].”

    Yip will reunite with Yen on Ip Man 4, his next directorial project. The filmmaker is currently developing the script, and hopes to start shooting in 2018 and release the film by the end of that year.
    “In Ip Man 4, I’m inclined to show how Ip Man views his relationship with Bruce Lee,” Yip says of the real-life teacher-student pair around which the film will be based. Danny Chan Kwok-kwan is – if his schedule allows – Ip’s preferred actor to reprise his role in Ip Man 3 as Lee, who, Yip says, will have “a very important presence” in the new film.



    “[The story] won’t be just about Ip Man,” says Yip. “How in reality did Chinese martial arts practitioners live after they went overseas in the 1960s and ’70s? [The film will explore this] through Lee and his martial arts school the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, and his relationship with Ip.”



    In the meantime, the SPL series is also set to roll on for a fourth instalment, which is still in the scriptwriting stage and won’t be ready for shooting until next year at the earliest. To many people, the fact SPL2’s Soi Cheang will return to direct the fourth instalment may be less of a surprise than Yip’s decision to label that film SPL3.

    “I don’t treat Paradox as SPL3,” he reiterates. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t include the name ‘SPL’ [in the Chinese film title] at first. It’s only when I wanted to tell the audience about the tone of my film that I added SPL to it.”
    (From left) Tony Jaa, Louis Koo and Wu Yue in Paradox.
    I tell Yip that his resolve to name the fourth instalment SPL3 is going to cause a great deal of confusion for everyone involved. “Never mind, we’ll deal with it when it’s here. That’s fate,” he says with a chuckle, before adding: “Or maybe we should call that SPL4 instead? It’s just a name.”

    Paradox opens on August 25
    SPL3: Paradox + Wolf Warrior 2 & Ip Man 4
    Gene Ching
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  8. #23
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    Wolf Warriors TV show

    Shoulda seen this one coming...

    Chinese Box Office Smash Hit ‘Wolf Warriors’ Set To Become TV Show
    BY FERGUS RYAN AUG 30, 2017

    The jingoistic action thriller that has taken China by storm is now heading for the small screen.


    Official still of ‘Wolf Warriors 2’

    ‘Wolf Warriors II’ (战狼II) rode a wave of patriotic fervor to become the second film in history to reach $800 million in a single territory over the weekend, and now it’s heading for the small screen.

    The 2006 military novel that inspired the Chinese box office hit will be adapted into a new TV series, the film’s executive producer Han Hao confirmed this week.

    “A deal was made last year for the IP of the novel, so the show is a certainty,” Han said in an interview with the Yangtse Evening Post on Monday.

    ‘Dan Hen’ (弹痕), which translates as “Bullet Hole”, is a hit online novel by writer Dong Qun which he wrote under the pseudonym Fen Wu Yao Ji. Originally published on literature site Qidian Chinese, the novel has garnered a cult following since it was first published in 2006. Dong Fun later became the main scriptwriter for Wolf Warriors II, which is based on his work.

    Wolf Warriors II, the second installment of the Wolf Warriors series, became the second film in history to reach US$800 million in box office in a single territory. It is the only non-English film to make it to the top 100 across the globe.

    The film tells the story of a Chinese special forces operative who takes on missions around the world and finds himself in the midst of an African coup against vicious foreign mercenaries.

    Han told the Yangtse Evening Post that the TV show will need to distinguish itself from simlalir shows that are already flooding the Chinese entertainment market. “It will need to be different,” he said.

    Filming for the show is set to kick off next year, but casting is already under way. Wu Jing, the lead actor, and director of the Wolf Warriors movies will not take part in the TV series.

    The news comes as Wolf Warriors II has been crowned as China’s top grossing film in history, an achievement made within only a month of its debut on July 27. Second-tier Chinese cities have taken the lion’s share of the sales, according to online movie tickets platform Maoyan.

    Despite the outsized success of the film, reaction to the announcement it is being turned into a TV show was met with skepticism and derision online.

    Many Weibo users scorned what they saw as a cynical ‘churning out’ of derivative products to capitalize on the Wolf Warriors fever – something they think will be counterproductive. “Stop the hype, people are going to lose their interest,” said one Weibo user. “Nothing can guarantee its success, the smash hit success of Wolf Warriors II can’t be copied so easily,” said another.

    Additional reporting Amber Ziye Wang
    Gene Ching
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  9. #24
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    rethinking

    ‘Wolf Warrior II’s’ Massive Success Forces Studios to Rethink China Approach
    Patrick Frater
    Asia Bureau Chief


    COURTESY OF WEI HONG YUAN
    AUGUST 31, 2017 | 10:00AM PT

    As the Chinese box office sagged alarmingly for an entire year, from July 2016 to June 2017, filmmakers and studios in the Middle Kingdom began desperately searching for answers. Many concluded that bigger Chinese properties were the solution and banked on new, higher-quality franchises coming on stream in 2018.

    No one was paying much attention to “Wolf Warrior II.” They are now.

    Since its July 27 debut in China, the action thriller has confounded expectations to become a box office stunner. In less than two days, it surpassed the $88 million scored by the franchise’s first installment in 2015. Ten days later, it overtook last year’s sensation, “The Mermaid,” as China’s top-grossing film of all time. Now, its $810 million take after just five weekends has made “Wolf Warrior II” the second-highest-earning title in a single territory in history, behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in North America.

    In the process, it has sparked rethinking in both China and Hollywood over how best to approach and exploit the Chinese movie market, which is on track to become the world’s largest in the next few years. “Wolf Warrior II” shows just what a well-crafted Chinese film — made with some foreign help — can do.

    The movie features a muscular, adrenaline-fueled story whose unstoppable hero is a former member of a fictitious Chinese special ops unit called the Wolf Warriors. The action takes place in an unnamed African country where China has built hospitals and provided factory jobs for the locals; the bad guys are revolutionaries and Western mercenaries. (If the politics sound jarring, just swap the nationalities.)

    Chinese audiences have responded strongly to the film’s patriotism and to the relentless action provided by former martial arts star Wu Jing as both director and protagonist.

    “China has found its ‘Rambo.’ This is definitely an important event.”
    RANCE POW, ARTISAN GATEWAY
    “It is a feel-good story for the Chinese population. The hero is a military guy, and the message is that he treats everyone equally. It is very modern, there’s a touch of comedy, and some 30% is spoken in English,” says Jeff Yip, business development director at The H Collective, a new U.S.-Chinese production and distribution firm. The company owns the rights to “Wolf Warrior II” for North America, where the film has made more than $2.3 million. A gross of $1 million is considered a hit for a Chinese movie Stateside, but the unparalleled performance of “Wolf Warrior II” in China has piqued greater interest. An Imax conversion that bowed Aug. 25 was given a limited outing in the U.S.

    The movie isn’t the product of one of China’s mega-studios, such as Huayi, Bona, Enlight or China Film Group, though Wanda owns a small piece. Rather, it was conceived and controlled by Beijing Century and by Wu, who started planning a sequel immediately after the first film, made for $5 million, hit pay dirt.

    Hollywood talent has contributed significantly to the second film. Increasing the budget to $30 million allowed Wu to bring in Joe and Anthony Russo as consultants and to pay for better production values. With the Russos came stunt director Sam Hargrave (“Captain America: Civil War”), composer Joseph Trapanese (“Tron: Legacy”) and a largely foreign sound unit. American actor Frank Grillo stars alongside Wu.

    The early signs weren’t promising. In May, a trailer launch was criticized for seemingly borrowing footage from “X-Men: First Class.” Even the film’s July 27 opening date seemed questionable, since it clashed directly with the government-backed propaganda movie “The Founding of an Army,” from director Andrew Lau. With the nationalistic plot of “Wolf Warrior II,” the two films seemed to appeal to the same constituency.

    But “Wolf Warrior II” has left “The Founding of an Army” in the dust, showing that support from the Chinese government isn’t everything. “What really worked for ‘Wolf Warrior II’ was combining the best elements of action and international stars in service of something enjoyable to Chinese audiences,” says Yip.

    The film was no doubt helped by being released during the summer blackout period, when major foreign movies are banned from domestic release. But that’s only part of the equation.

    “The filmmakers worked really hard to make this a quality production,” says Jane Shao, co-founder of exhibition chain Lumiere Pavilions. “At base, this is a hero movie no different from a Western or a Jackie Chan or Jet Li martial arts movie of old.”

    For Hollywood, the lesson is that its obsession with China’s quota on imported films, now the subject of a new round of talks by U.S. and Chinese negotiators, is potentially shortsighted. Instead, Hollywood studios looking to bolster their bottom lines might want to redouble efforts to back local filmmakers in China and invest in high-quality local content, not just in their own tentpoles.

    “China has found its ‘Rambo.’ We expect more movies in this space,” says Rance Pow, founder/CEO of consultancy Artisan Gateway. “This is definitely an important event.”

    Always trying to make films that work in both the U.S. and China might be a futile exercise. Many variations on the theme have been tried: overblown co-productions; Hollywood films that try to cater to Chinese tastes but still get it wrong; Chinese pictures that wrongly assume that the casting of a Western star will translate into overseas sales.

    The astounding box office performance of “Wolf Warrior II” suggests that in a country of 1.3 billion people, succeeding on home turf alone can be more than enough.
    At this point, is it wise to make assumptions about what China might assume?

    WolfvWarrior 2 & [URL="http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising"Chollywood rising[/URL]
    Gene Ching
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  10. #25
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    Wu Jing speaks

    Wu Jing on Wolf Warrior 2’s record-breaking run, his cinematic roots in Hong Kong and Wolf Warrior 3’s story direction
    Actor-director pays tribute to cast and crew of his record-breaking film, and credits ‘friends and teachers’ in Hong Kong film industry, and says his happiest moment was when film broke even
    PUBLISHED : Friday, 08 September, 2017, 5:00pm
    UPDATED : Friday, 08 September, 2017, 9:10pm



    Edmund Lee
    edmund.lee@scmp.com
    http://twitter.com/thatEdmundLee

    “What I want to do most is to have a good night’s sleep,” says the director, co-writer, co-producer and star of action epic Wolf Warrior 2 , which, with ticket sales of 5.6 billion yuan (US$860 million) and counting, is the runaway box office champion of Chinese language cinema. For perspective, the second-highest grossing Chinese film ever made is Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s The Mermaid , which took 3.39 billion yuan.



    “It’s been one city per day, and 10 cinemas in every city. This tour – it’s torture; it’s unimaginable for you here,” says Wu, 43, in an interview before the film’s Hong Kong premiere on Wednesday. “But luckily today is the last stop for Wolf Warrior 2.”
    Film review: Wolf Warrior 2 – Wu Jing cements Chinese action star status with record-breaking hit

    While his film’s remarkable coup may leave many with mental pictures of him swimming in money, Wu is understandably keen to downplay his new fortune.



    In a way, Wolf Warrior 2 is my way of repaying these friends and teachers. It’s my homework assignment. Technically, these directors are a lot better than me.WU JING
    “Every journalist I’ve encountered asked: Do I have a target box office figure in mind? Do I want to make it on so-and-so top-grossing charts? Do I want to break 6 billion yuan? Is that even possible? I have no idea at all,” he says. “From July 27, 8:01 am onwards [when the film opened in China], the life of Wolf Warrior 2 ceased to belong to me.
    “But before that, it was priceless to me. It was something that 1,700 people had spent a huge amount of time working on. Twenty-two of us were bitten and partly paralysed by spiders in Africa. Someone got bitten on the hand by a lion. Another had a gun pointed at his head. We made so many sacrifices [for this film].”



    At 5.6 billion yuan and counting, takings for Wu Jing’s film Wolf Warrior 2 have smashed the box office record for a Chinese language film.
    With hindsight, Wu pinpoints the moment Wolf Warrior 2’s gross passed 800 million yuan – when the production started to break even – as his happiest memory since its release.
    “So many partners and friends had come and helped me out on this project – and then I completed my mission,” he says. “I didn’t owe anyone any more; I hate to be indebted to others. So at that moment I was relieved. And after that, the box office figure kept soaring.”
    Wu says he picked Hong Kong as his road tour’s final stop because his “movie dream started here”.



    Then he reveals the list of people he’d like to thank, which reads like a who’s who of Hong Kong cinema.
    They include Chang Hsin-yen, who gave him his first film role in 1996; Yuen Woo-ping; showbiz influencer “Uncle Ba” Chan Tat-chi, who brought him to Hong Kong; talent manager Paco Wong Pak-ko, who signed his first Hong Kong contract; and filmmakers Dennis Law Sau-yiu (“who took care of me a lot”), Wilson Yip Wai-shun (“I learned a lot chatting with him during the making of Magic to Win”), Benny Chan Muk-sing and Soi Cheang Pou-soi.



    “In a way, Wolf Warrior 2 is my way of repaying these friends and teachers. It’s my homework assignment. Technically, these directors are a lot better than me. But I just happened to have had better timing.”
    The pressure is now huge for Wu to replicate the success in Wolf Warrior 3, a sequel promised in the current film’s closing credits. While he had prepared the scripts for a Wolf Warrior film trilogy as early as 10 years ago, he acknowledges the challenge of adjusting those ideas for today.
    “What should I do with Wolf Warrior 3? I have no idea about how to shoot it yet,” says Wu. “I wasn’t stupid – I knew that I should develop a series for myself. But could it become successful? Few people thought it would be at the time of Wolf Warrior 1.



    “Now that we know, my story for the third film is already 10 years old. The world has changed, geopolitical situations have changed, [China] has changed, and some countries have even changed presidents several times already. The script doesn’t work any more. I need to reshuffle the deck.
    “The main thing I want to show will still be family and national sentiments, and I owe the audience a resolution to the romance [between the two protagonists] in Wolf Warrior 1,” he adds.
    Wolf Warrior 2 is in cinemas now
    Paralyzed by spiders? Bitten by a lion? Held at gunpoint? WTH?
    Gene Ching
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  11. #26
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    Celina Jade

    Wolf Warrior 2's Celina Jade: 'I don’t think it was in anybody’s expectations it would do that well'
    The Chinese-American daughter of the US kung fu star Roy Horan, who worked with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, stars in China's super successful box-office hit 'Wolf Warrior 2' with Wu Jing
    Geoffrey Macnab @TheIndyFilm 6 days ago


    Celina Jade as UN doctor Rachel in 'Wolf Warrior 2'

    If you add up the numbers for her latest film, Chinese-American movie actress Celina Jade can justifiably claim that she is currently one of the biggest movie stars in the world. You may not have seen Wolf Warrior 2 but more than a hundred million other people have. An action movie in the Rambo vein, directed by and starring Wu Jing and with the tag line “Whoever offends the Chinese will be wiped out no matter how far away,” it has grossed over $800m (£590m) in China alone. This is, by a distance, the country’s biggest grossing film ever.

    Wolf Warrior 2 is an explosive yarn about a Chinese Special Forces agent Leng Feng (Wu Jing) caught in the middle of an African revolution. As if the guns weren’t enough, there’s a disease killing the locals too. Jade plays the courageous UN doctor, Rachel, desperately trying to find an antidote for the deadly virus as the Chinese soldiers take on the evil western mercenaries. Leng Feng and Rachel decide to risk their lives for the people and fight their war – naturally, she also becomes Wu Jing's character's love interest. After the film’s release Jade was signed up by US talent agency CAA and described in the trade press as “one of the most visible new faces in China.”

    “I don’t think it was in anybody’s expectations it would do that well,” Jade reflects on the seismic impact of the film on the Chinese box office.

    Wolf Warrior 2 came out in China on 27 July at 8.01pm precisely to celebrate the founding of the People’s Liberation Army in the summer of 1927. She and Wu Jing went on a road tour to promote Wolf Warrior, visiting between eight and 11 cinemas a day. As she travelled cross-country, the 32-year-old actress knew Wolf Warrior was doing well but she had no idea quite what a phenomenon it had become. That’s why she was so startled when she went back to Hong Kong (where she lives) on a two day break to relax and do her laundry. The movie hadn’t yet been released in Hong Kong and she was looking forward to rest and relaxation in blissful anonymity.


    Jade and Wu Jing in 'Wolf Warrior 2' has grossed around $800m in China alone

    Jade went to get a coffee in her flip flops, short and t-shirt when all of a sudden, she heard people calling, using her Chinese name. “I thought that’s weird because people in Hong Kong call me Celina.” She turned around to be confronted by some visitors from mainland China who’d seen the film. They asked for autographs and photos. That was unsettling enough but when she rejoined the promotional tour, there was a mob waiting for her at Beijing airport.

    “People would come upon with their phones and they would shoot you without asking.” Jade remembers. She told them that she wasn’t an animal in the zoo. All they needed to do was ask politely and she would happily pose with them. They were happy with that response but the crowd around her grew and grew. “I literally went into the toilet and hid,” she says “I don’t want to say ‘no’ to photos but I needed to catch my flight and it was overwhelming. I was travelling alone.” That was the moment Jade realised that, in China at least, she was a very big star indeed. When wemet her in Venice in late August, she calculated that 140 million people had seen Wolf Warrior. That’s one in 10 of the entire Chinese population of just under 1.4 billion.

    Petite and elegant, Jade nonetheless knows how to kick ass. She is the daughter of the US kung fu star Roy Horan, the so-called “lord of the super-kickers” who worked with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan among others, and she has studied martial arts from her earliest youth.


    The Chinese-American star studied at the London School of Economics before acting full-time (Lauren Engel)

    Jade also excelled academically. “I had a total tiger mum. She was the mum who put me in guitar classes, dancing classes, painting, mathematics and tutoring from a very early age.” She remembers her mother once getting cross because Jade only managed 98 per cent in an exam. “Where did the other two marks go?” the mother asked.

    Ironically, when Jade later found her mother’s own report cards from high school, she discovered that they were “very average”.

    Jade’s father is known as a martial artist but he later became a neuroscience expert and Arctic explorer. “He basically studied the effects of meditation on the brain but also on a person’s creativity.”

    Growing up in Hong Kong, she recalls being traumatised by watching her father’s films. She didn’t like seeing him being killed on screen.

    At school, Jade was bullied… but not for long. She and her sister were teased because they were mixed race.

    “Back in those days, we weren’t called ‘mixed.’ We were called ‘******* kids.’”


    Jade as Hiu Wor with Wu Jing as Bo Tong Lam in 'Legendary Assassin' (2008)

    When they came home crying, their mother would recommend going to see the Principal but the father’a advice was altogether more practical. “Kick them in the stomach,’ was his suggestion for the best way to deal with their tormentors. “There will be no bruising and they will never touch you again.”

    Jade would also use her father’s BB gun to shoot coca cola cans which were being drunk by the bullies. Unsurprisingly, the bullying didn’t last.

    When Jade was 14, she went to live with her aunt in New Jersey. “I found it extremely boring. I was in a place called Lawrenceville. There was just cows and grass. I was a very rebellious young teenager."

    She didn’t take drugs herself but saw the effect they had on those around her. To alleviate the boredom, she began to study even harder.

    Jade’s original ambition was to become a singer-songwriter. She studied management at the London School of Economics, where she got a first class degree. “That might not seem very logical,” she says of the decision to attend the LSE. However, having released her first album as a 15 year old, she realised quickly that music was a “business.”


    Jade as Shado and Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen in the US TV series 'Arrow' (The CW)

    “If you want to have control over your career, it’s important to have an education and understand the structure of the business and how things work,” Jade explains. That’s why she ended up living in halls in Southwark (“just across from Tate Modern”), then in a flat in Marble Arch next to the Odeon (“I remember wearing my PJs and going to watch movies”), then in Southampton Row and then Covent Garden and finally Chelsea.

    After graduating from LSE, Jade went back to Hong Kong. She was talent spotted by Wu Jing, who persuaded her to take a stab at acting in Legendary Assassin. Now, a decade later, she has achieved numbers that it would take Hollywood stars an entire career to match.

    She still has one foot in the East and one in the West. While Chinese audiences now know her for Wolf Warrior, she is recognised more in the US for her role in TV superhero series Arrow.

    Yes, there is likely to be a Wolf Warrior 3. “Everything is up in the air. Wu Jing probably needs time to relax and feel inspired to move forward with that. It is going to be a lot of pressure for him. If it was me, I’d just say let’s end on a high point but knowing Wu Jing and his personality, he will probably go for it.”
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
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    continued from previous post



    As for Jade herself, she is determined to use her “fame and recognition for a cause.”

    “I think as a woman, I have a responsibility to play roles that have complexity and that can reflect the modern female,” Jade declares, making it very clear that she simply won’t accept the stereotypical roles that Hollywood tends to offer Asian actresses. “We don’t play decorative roles in society and so why should I play a decorative role in a movie. It is a time for me to challenge myself. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into being the martial arts actress … being able to fight is a skill set. Being able to sing and dance is also a skill set. I am not going to lessen the integrity of my role just to show people I can fight!”

    She is soon to be seen in another 'ass-kicking role' in English language action movie Triple Threat and that she was cast in A Sweet Life, a Chinese drama. She also recently appeared in US indie drama April Flowers alongside Keir Dullea from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    Jade’s final words are advice for the US studios as they scramble to tap into the Chinese market in a year when North American box office is dipping. “Asian audiences don’t want to see stereotypical, cliched roles. Hollywood needs to wake up and say ‘look, if we want to tap into that market, we need just as good characters and material [as in US studio pictures].’”

    'Wolf Warrior 2' is out now
    Celina Jade has tremendous potential to play to both sides of the Pacific. She's poised and one to watch.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  13. #28
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    2017 in a nutshell for China

    3 Reasons China’s Box Office Soared This Summer While the US Flopped
    One hit movie and a fanbase with diverse tastes helped the Middle Kingdom get back on its double-digit growth track
    Matt Pressberg | September 25, 2017 @ 5:35 PM



    This summer, a high-octane action movie captivated audiences in one of the world’s largest film markets, grossing nearly $1 billion and changing the trajectory of its box office forecast. And while that seems like welcome news for the slumping U.S. box office, it wasn’t: the movie was China’s “Wolf Warrior 2.”

    “Wolf Warrior 2,” directed by and starring Wu Jing, made more than $800 million in China at the same time U.S. box office was struggling through its worst summer slump in more than a decade. (New Line’s record-setting “It” helped the domestic box office bounce back in September, but it remains down nearly 5 percent year-to-date.)

    At the Future of Asia Conference put on by the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in Santa Monica earlier this month, Leeding Media CEO David U. Lee said the Chinese box office could finish up as much as 20 percent this year, a welcome performance after the world’s fastest-growing movie market flatlined last year following years of double-digit growth. Jonathan Papish, a box office analyst at China Film Insider, said that growth rate is possible if including online ticketing fees, but even adjusting for those, it should still finish up by a healthy mid-teens percent.

    With all the doom and gloom in Hollywood, here’s how China held strong:

    Sometimes it only takes one movie

    “The difference between this year and last can mainly be attributed to the success of ‘Wolf Warrior 2,'” Papish told TheWrap. “In fact, removing its current gross (5.28 billion yuan) would actually place this year’s box office behind last year’s, excluding ticketing fees.”

    “Wolf Warrior 2” passed Stephen Chow’s “The Mermaid,” which was released last February, to become China’s all-time highest-grossing movie. “The Mermaid” got 2016 off to a strong start, but a combination of reduced ticket subsidies and a weak local slate turned it into a major disappointment, as the Chinese box office grew just 4 percent last year, and actually declined in dollar terms, as the Chinese yuan weakened against the U.S. currency.

    But “Wolf Warrior 2’s” record-setting performance, which came during the busier summer season, almost single-handedly gave 2017 a different ending.

    China isn’t as reliant on one type of film as the U.S. has become


    In 2015, it took “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to propel the domestic box office to a record high. Last year, five of the 10 highest-grossing films in North America were either “Star Wars” or superhero movies. And even this year, the industry is largely counting on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” along with comic-book adaptations “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Justice League” to rescue a brutal 2017.

    But despite China being a much less mature movie market, its audiences seem to have a diversity of tastes that make it less reliant on droids and Avengers than the U.S. is.

    Hollywood continues to count heavily on caped crusaders and their ilk, with Warner Bros. “Wonder Woman,” Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” making up three of the top 5 domestic films thus far this year. But it’s a different story in China, where a mix of homegrown films and non-comic book based movies have been among its strongest performers.

    “If ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ eventually surpasses ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ a Hollywood superhero film will fail to rank in the top 10 highest-grossing imports of the year for the first time since 2003,” Papish wrote earlier this month.

    Hollywood hits disappointed at home, but imports soared in China

    “Wolf Warrior 2” was easily the major story behind China’s box office turnaround, but imports also did their duty.

    Hollywood’s superhero hits didn’t do the numbers in the Middle Kingdom they did at home, but domestic disappointments like “Transformers: The Last Knight” and “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” soared in China. And Indian film “Dangal,” which made just $12.4 million domestically, hauled in a whopping $193 million in China.

    “2017 has been a stronger year for imported films,” Papish said. “Can’t [just] say Hollywood because ‘Dangal’ is currently the 3rd highest-grossing import of the year.”

    China still needs Hollywood films to fill its ever-expanding supply of theaters. But the good news for its filmmakers — potentially bad news for Hollywood — is that its box office no longer lives and dies with them.
    Chollywood rising due to WW2

    Transformers: The Last Knight
    xXx: Return of Xander Cage
    Dangal
    Gene Ching
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    Oscar nominated?

    We'll see how far this gets. I would be impressed if it makes it into the finalists.

    Oscars: 92 Films Submitted in Foreign-Language Category
    10:09 AM PDT 10/5/2017 by Gregg Kilday


    Tim Boyle/Getty

    Nominations will be announced Jan. 23.

    A record 92 countries have submitted films for consideration in the foreign-language film category for the 90th Academy Awards.

    Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria have all submitted films for the first time.

    The 2017 submissions are:
    Afghanistan, A Letter to the President, Roya Sadat, director;
    Albania, Daybreak, Gentian Koçi, director;
    Algeria, Road to Istanbul, Rachid Bouchareb, director;
    Argentina, Zama, Lucrecia Martel, director;
    Armenia, Yeva, Anahit Abad, director;
    Australia, The Space Between, Ruth Borgobello, director;
    Austria, Happy End, Michael Haneke, director;
    Azerbaijan, Pomegranate Orchard, Ilgar Najaf, director;
    Bangladesh, The Cage, Akram Khan, director;
    Belgium, Racer and the Jailbird, Michaël R. Roskam, director;
    Bolivia, Dark Skull, Kiro Russo, director;
    Bosnia and Herzegovina, Men Don’t Cry, Alen Drljević, director;
    Brazil, Bingo – The King of the Mornings, Daniel Rezende, director;
    Bulgaria, Glory, Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva, directors;
    Cambodia, First They Killed My Father, Angelina Jolie, director;
    Canada, Hochelaga, Land of Souls, François Girard, director;
    Chile, A Fantastic Woman, Sebastián Lelio, director;
    China, Wolf Warrior 2, Wu Jing, director;
    Colombia, Guilty Men, Iván D. Gaona, director;
    Costa Rica, The Sound of Things, Ariel Escalante, director;
    Croatia, Quit Staring at My Plate, Hana Jušić, director;
    Czech Republic, Ice Mother, Bohdan Sláma, director;
    Denmark, You Disappear, Peter Schønau Fog, director;
    Dominican Republic, Wood******s, Jose Maria Cabral, director;
    Ecuador, Alba, Ana Cristina Barragán, director;
    Egypt, Sheikh Jackson, Amr Salama, director;
    Estonia, November, Rainer Sarnet, director;
    Finland, Tom of Finland, Dome Karukoski, director;
    France, BPM (Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo, director;
    Georgia, Scary Mother, Ana Urushadze, director;
    Germany, In the Fade, Fatih Akin, director;
    Greece, Amerika Square, Yannis Sakaridis, director;
    Haiti, Ayiti Mon Amour, Guetty Felin, director;
    Honduras, Morazán, Hispano Durón, director;
    Hong Kong, Mad World, Wong Chun, director;
    Hungary, On Body and Soul, Ildikó Enyedi, director;
    Iceland, Under the Tree, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, director;
    India, Newton, Amit V Masurkar, director;
    Indonesia, Turah, Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo, director;
    Iran, Breath, Narges Abyar, director;
    Iraq, Reseba – The Dark Wind, Hussein Hassan, director;
    Ireland, Song of Granite, Pat Collins, director;
    Israel, Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz, director;
    Italy, A Ciambra, Jonas Carpignano, director;
    Japan, Her Love Boils Bathwater, Ryota Nakano, director;
    Kazakhstan, The Road to Mother, Akhan Satayev, director;
    Kenya, Kati Kati, Mbithi Masya, director;
    Kosovo, Unwanted, Edon Rizvanolli, director;
    Kyrgyzstan, Centaur, Aktan Arym Kubat, director;
    Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Dearest Sister, Mattie Do, director;
    Latvia, The Chronicles of Melanie, Viestur Kairish, director;
    Lebanon, The Insult, Ziad Doueiri, director;
    Lithuania, Frost, Sharunas Bartas, director;
    Luxembourg, Barrage, Laura Schroeder, director;
    Mexico, Tempestad, Tatiana Huezo, director;
    Mongolia, The Children of Genghis, Zolbayar Dorj, director;
    Morocco, Razzia, Nabil Ayouch, director;
    Mozambique, The Train of Salt and Sugar, Licinio Azevedo, director;
    Nepal, White Sun, Deepak Rauniyar, director;
    Netherlands, Layla M., Mijke de Jong, director;
    New Zealand, One Thousand Ropes, Tusi Tamasese, director;
    Norway, Thelma, Joachim Trier, director;
    Pakistan, Saawan, Farhan Alam, director;
    Palestine, Wajib, Annemarie Jacir, director;
    Panama, Beyond Brotherhood, Arianne Benedetti, director;
    Paraguay, Los Buscadores, Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schembori, directors;
    Peru, Rosa Chumbe, Jonatan Relayze, director;
    Philippines, Birdshot, Mikhail Red, director;
    Poland, Spoor, Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik, directors;
    Portugal, Saint George, Marco Martins, director;
    Romania, Fixeur, Adrian Sitaru, director;
    Russia, Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;
    Senegal, Félicité, Alain Gomis, director;
    Serbia, Requiem for Mrs. J., Bojan Vuletic, director;
    Singapore, Pop Aye, Kirsten Tan, director;
    Slovakia, The Line, Peter Bebjak, director;
    Slovenia, The Miner, Hanna A. W. Slak, director;
    South Africa, The Wound, John Trengove, director;
    South Korea, A Taxi Driver, Jang Hoon, director;
    Spain, Summer 1993, Carla Simón, director;
    Sweden, The Square, Ruben Östlund, director;
    Switzerland, The Divine Order, Petra Volpe, director;
    Syria, Little Gandhi, Sam Kadi, director;
    Taiwan, Small Talk, Hui-Chen Huang, director;
    Thailand, By the Time It Gets Dark, Anocha Suwichakornpong, director;
    Tunisia, The Last of Us, Ala Eddine Slim, director;
    Turkey, Ayla: The Daughter of War, Can Ulkay, director;
    Ukraine, Black Level, Valentyn Vasyanovych, director;
    United Kingdom, My Pure Land, Sarmad Masud, director;
    Uruguay, Another Story of the World, Guillermo Casanova, director;
    Venezuela, El Inca, Ignacio Castillo Cottin, director;
    Vietnam, Father and Son, Luong Dinh Dung, director.

    Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

    The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on ABC.
    Wolf Warrior 2 & The-Academy Awards
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,946

    Following up on yesterday's announcement

    Oscars: China Selects Blockbuster 'Wolf Warrior II' for Foreign-Language Category
    1:30 AM PDT 10/6/2017 by Patrick Brzeski


    Courtesy of Well Go USA
    'Wolf Warrior 2'

    Written, directed by and starring Wu Jing, the film earned $852 million to become China's biggest box-office success ever.
    China has selected mega-blockbuster Wolf Warrior II as its submission for the best foreign-language film category at the 2018 Oscars.

    The film is easily the most financially successful movie ever to be submitted in the Academy Awards category. Written, directed by and starring Chinese martial artist and multi-hyphenate Wu Jing, Wolf Warrior II has earned an astonishing $851.6 million in the Middle Kingdom since its release on July 27. Only one film has ever earned more from a single market — J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens (2015) with $936.6 million in North America.

    A crowd-pleasing patriotic action flick, Wolf Warrior II follows a former Chinese special-forces operative (Wu) as he battles bloodthirsty Western mercenaries to save Chinese civilians who have gotten caught up in an African civil war. American actor Frank Grillo (Captain America: Civil War, Warrior) plays the film's villain, while American-Hong Kong actress Celina Jade is the female heroine.

    News of the film's selection was first carried locally by China's state-backed newspaper Global Times.

    Wolf Warrior II was co-produced by emerging powerhouse studio Beijing Culture, China Film Group, Bona Films and others. While a distinctly Chinese success story, traces of Hollywood's influence can be detected on the final product.

    Marvel mainstays Joe and Anthony Russo, co-directors of the Captain America franchise, consulted on the film via their Chinese studio venture Anthem & Song, which has strategic partnership with Beijing Culture. The Russos are understood to have introduced Grillo and some of their usual stunt team, led by veteran action coordinator Sam Hargrave (Captain America: Civil War, Atomic Blonde), to boost the production values of the film's fight scenes. Many attribute the film's local success to this seamless combination of Hollywood production polish and rousing, authentically Chinese storytelling.

    China has been nominated in the best foreign-language film category twice — for Ju Dou (1990) and Hero (2002), both directed by Zhang Yimou — but the world's most populous country has yet to bag an Oscar.
    Ah yes, we remember Hero.


    Wolf Warrior 2 & The-Academy Awards
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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