The Tomb Raiding, Grave Robbing, Post-Indiana Jones movie genre in China

[GeneChing]

I've been watching this trend rise in Chinese films lately - something I'm dubbing the 'Tomb Raiding, Grave Robbing Post-Indiana Jones genre' until I can think of a shorter name. The notion of trap-ridden tombs and adventurous anthropologists are all in the wake of Indiana Jones, but PRC never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in theaters. For China, it really starts with Tomb Raider (2001). Now with a Tomb Raider reboot coming soon, I'm launching this thread to collate these films and monitor this genre more carefully.

Here's a list of some of the films already listed on this forum that are of this genre. Please feel free to add more.

Beyond the new Tomb Raider, here are the ones coming soon:
Guardians of the Tomb
Untitled Genghis Khan tomb hunt flick
The Hanging Coffin
Rise of the Terracotta Warriors
Shang Kuan Ting

Here are ones that have already been released
Time Raiders
Mojin: The Lost Legend
Wu Dang
The Storm Warriors (aka Stormriders 2)
The Mummy III

Jackie's Armour of God trilogy was a self-confessed Indiana Jones tribute. We've only got a thread for the last one -
Chinese Zodiac: Armour of God 3. And even though it wasn't part of his Asian Hawk franchise, The Myth, should've been one too. Kung Fu Yoga could've also fit into this franchise (I feel Kung Fu Yoga is derivative of The Myth in many ways too).

[GeneChing]

I think the reason why the Tomb Raiding, Grave Robbing Post-Indiana Jones genre is so popular in China is that they still have massive ancient tombs, like the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, and tomb raiders really exist. The genre appeals to something within the Chinese zeitgeist.

Chinese antique dealer ‘hired gang of tomb raiders and used stolen artefact as a coffee table’
Police round up suspected gang members after historic objects found in raid
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 10 January, 2018, 3:25pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 10 January, 2018, 4:33pm



Catherine Wong
http://www.twitter.com/catherinewongbj
catherine.wong@scmp.com

A man in eastern China has been accused of hiring 12 thieves to raid a historic tomb and using one of the artefacts he had stolen as a coffee table at home, mainland media reported.

The man, who was only identified by his surname Cai, is an antique dealer in Hangzhou the capital of Zhejiang province, the local radio station fm918.net, reported on Monday.

Cai had previously been given a suspended sentence in 2014 for a similar offence, the report said.

Cai is accused of hiring 12 people, including a driver and movers, to steal 12 artefacts from the graves of two Buddhist monks between September and November.

Tomb raider gangs arrested after Chinese police smash ring that stole priceless artefacts from Han dynasty graves

Police were tipped off about the case after a group of villagers who were on their way to harvest bamboo shoots spotted a gang moving the stones in mid-November.

Cai was arrested on December 8 and police said he had admitted his role.

When they raided his house, police found the looted artefacts – apparently being stored before they were sold.

Officers said he had decided to keep one of them and was using it as a coffee table.

Police arrested 12 suspected thieves on January 3.

Chinese police arrest suspected serial grave robber

The graves the gang is accused of robbing date back to the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from the mid-17th century until the early 20th.

Chen Xingliang, the village chief, told the radio station that the two graves were well known among local villagers and had a special significance for them.

“We have known these two graves since we were little. They have been deserted for many years and people seldom go up there,” said Chen.

The police investigation is still ongoing.

[GeneChing]

Mojin X is the sequel to Mojin: The Lost Legend and another Chinese tomb-raiding flick.

OCTOBER 4, 2018 5:23AM PT
Celina Jade to Star in ‘Mojin X’ Chinese Tomb-Raiding Film (EXCLUSIVE)
By PATRICK FRATER
Asia Bureau Chief


CREDIT: COURTESY OF ECHELON TALENT MANAGEMENT

Celina Jade, the breakout actress from “Wolf Warriors II,” is set as the star of Chinese big-budget tomb-raiding action film “Mojin X.” The film is a sequel to 2015 hit “Mojin: The Lost Legend.”

Directed by Li Yifan, “Mojin X” also stars Zhang Hanyu (“Assembly”) and Jiang Wu. Working through Saints Entertainment, the producer is Zhang Wang (also known as Er Yong). His other credits include the recent “Hidden Man” as well as award winners “The Postmodern Life of My Aunt,” “Peacock” and “In the Heat of the Sun.”

Jade, who has been singing and acting for over a decade, has enjoyed a career surge since last year’s “Warriors II,” which earned $850 million to become the highest-grossing film of all time in China.

Jade was last year named as an Asian Talent to Watch by Variety and the International Film Festival Macao. She is currently riding high as the star of “Hello Mrs. Money,” a comedy that opened on top of the Chinese box office this weekend. In five days “Mrs Money” has grossed $63 million.

The tomb-raiding theme has proved a subset of the action-adventure genre that generates disparate box office results. The first “Mojin,” directed by Wuershan, earned $256 million in China. More recently, the Li Bingbing- and Kellan Lutz-starring “Guardians of the Tomb” earned $7.9 million.

Celina is riding high with Wolf Warrior 2 & Mrs. Money.

[GeneChing]

How did 7 Guardians of the Tomb slip past my The Tomb Raiding, Grave Robbing, Post-Indiana Jones movie genre in China thread? I'll copy it with this review.

Li Bingbing gets top billing. She plays an expert on poison looking for her brother who disappeared while tomb raiding. He was searching for an elixir of immortality, the waidan for those that know Daoist alchemy. Fraser (Kelsey Grammar) is the obvious villain, the CEO of the company founded by Li's parents. He'll always be Fraser to me and despite his painful over-acting here, I still saw Fraser. Kellen Lutz is a mercenary tracker, an almost complete negligible character. I was grateful he didn't hook up with Li because it looked like it was going there. There are others on the rescue mission, which takes them into the desert which spontaneously explodes because it emits gas when struck by lightning caused by a massive sandstorm. That got a bit silly, but it was a device for lots of random explosions. The tomb looked like a bad movie set, which in fact, it was. It is guarded by hordes of spiders, somewhat reminiscent of the Mummy film with all the scarabs (can't remember which one that was - the first one maybe?) There was an opportunity to really work arachnophobia, and they almost get there with the creepy factor in the finale, but ultimately it falls short. The dialog is stilted, the tomb traps were rather cliche (pit of lava, slow crushing ceilings, spiderweb trip wires that bring spider hordes or shoot arrows). Li is good actually - she almost rises above it all with an earnest performance. There's a wise-cracking Aussie that saves it all. He actually makes fun of the tomb trap cliches several times - Shane Johnson playing 'Gary'. It's half in English, half in Mandarin, trying to play to both sides of the Pacific and failing in the process. No Kung Fu. There's a sword, but no real sword fight. Lots of spiders.