When the man who gave us such critically acclaimed, award-winning epics as Red Sorghum, Hero, and Raise the Red Lantern makes a self-described “popcorn flick,” it’s a pretty big deal. Director Zhang Yimou had a brief chat with me about some of the misconceptions and challenges of his internationally-produced “monster flick,” The Great Wall, and what it was like to make a film that his teenage sons could finally enjoy. The Lady Miz Diva: After A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop, I believe this is the second time you are working from a story written by Americans. As those characters in that film were transformed into Chinese, was there any discussion with The Great Wall to have William and Tovar be Asian,...
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- 2/22/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.
This Past Weekend:
The Lego Batman Movie won the weekend as expected, but not with nearly as much money as I had predicted, not besting the opening of The Lego Movie as expected, but instead ending up with a reasonable and not so bad $53 million. Fifty Shades Darker proved that the audience for movies based on the popular books was still great enough for it to win Friday with $21 million (to Lego Batman’s $15 million) and end up second for the weekend with a strong $46.6 million. That was still almost $40 million less than the opening of the previous movie Fifty Shades of Grey, but the sequel also didn’t have the benefits of Valentine’s Day and a four-day holiday. Coming in...
This Past Weekend:
The Lego Batman Movie won the weekend as expected, but not with nearly as much money as I had predicted, not besting the opening of The Lego Movie as expected, but instead ending up with a reasonable and not so bad $53 million. Fifty Shades Darker proved that the audience for movies based on the popular books was still great enough for it to win Friday with $21 million (to Lego Batman’s $15 million) and end up second for the weekend with a strong $46.6 million. That was still almost $40 million less than the opening of the previous movie Fifty Shades of Grey, but the sequel also didn’t have the benefits of Valentine’s Day and a four-day holiday. Coming in...
- 2/15/2017
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
The Great Wall movie with Matt Damon: awkward-accented British mercenary fights the Taotie in costly Chinese-American collaboration. 'The Great Wall' movie: Zhang Yimou-Matt Damon collaboration evidence that – for better or for worse – countries can work together In this divisive age, when countries are turning inward with a nationalist, xenophobic fervor, it's comforting to know that the United States and China, their relationship mercurial and wary, can work together and, in the spirit of cooperation and unity, make a terrible movie. A co-production between Legendary East (the Chinese arm of Burbank, California-based, Legendary Entertainment) and China Film Group, The Great Wall is reportedly the most expensive film ever shot in China, a nation with aspirations to make films that rival Hollywood in their scope and success. Hollywood is willing to help if it ultimately leads to the release of more of its films in the tightly controlled Chinese market,...
- 1/28/2017
- by Mark Keizer
- Alt Film Guide
Legendary Entertainment's much-anticipated period monster epic The Great Wall opens across China on Friday — and the whole industry will be watching to see how the unprecedented fusion project pans out.
With an estimated budget north of $150 million, the film is the biggest Hollywood-China co-production ever, designed to bridge the world's two largest box office territories.
The Great Wall is directed by Chinese maestro Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) — his first picture in English — and stars Matt Damon, Willem Defoe and Pablo Pascal, along with a phalanx of A-list Chinese talent, including Hong Kong's Andy...
With an estimated budget north of $150 million, the film is the biggest Hollywood-China co-production ever, designed to bridge the world's two largest box office territories.
The Great Wall is directed by Chinese maestro Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) — his first picture in English — and stars Matt Damon, Willem Defoe and Pablo Pascal, along with a phalanx of A-list Chinese talent, including Hong Kong's Andy...
- 12/15/2016
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A theater dedicated to Chinese films has opened its doors in the heart of Seoul.
The theatre is a joint venture between Jongno Ward Office and Chinese Cultural Centre in South Korea. According to Yonhap News, the municipal government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Cultural Center in South Korea and the Dongyang Arts Center to run exclusively screen Chinese films. The cultural center will assist in the supply and translation of the Chinese films into Korean.
The theater is one of three screening rooms in Dongyang Arts Center located in Daehangno, famous for being the theatrical capital of Seoul. It has a capacity of 220 seats. In the official opening ceremony last Friday, the authorities advised it may add another 162-seat room if the theatre proves to be popular.
Golden Bear winning classic Red Sorghum by Zhang Yimou screened on opening day as well as Meet Miss Anxiety by Kwak Jae-yong.
The theatre is a joint venture between Jongno Ward Office and Chinese Cultural Centre in South Korea. According to Yonhap News, the municipal government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Cultural Center in South Korea and the Dongyang Arts Center to run exclusively screen Chinese films. The cultural center will assist in the supply and translation of the Chinese films into Korean.
The theater is one of three screening rooms in Dongyang Arts Center located in Daehangno, famous for being the theatrical capital of Seoul. It has a capacity of 220 seats. In the official opening ceremony last Friday, the authorities advised it may add another 162-seat room if the theatre proves to be popular.
Golden Bear winning classic Red Sorghum by Zhang Yimou screened on opening day as well as Meet Miss Anxiety by Kwak Jae-yong.
- 4/4/2016
- by Stellarise
- AsianMoviePulse
For many mainstream filmgoers, Farewell My Concubine is perhaps the best-known Chinese language film of the 1990s, helped in no end by its success at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Chen Kaige (Yellow Earth, Temptress Moon), the film traces the troubled friendship between two Peking Opera performers during 50 years of war-ravaged Chinese history. Leslie Cheung (A Better Tomorrow, Days Of Being Wild) and Zhang Fengyi (The Emperor And The Assassin, Red Cliff) play the central duo Dieyi and Xiaolou, while Gong Li (Red Sorghum, Raise The Red Lantern) portrays Jiuxian, the former prostitute who drives them apart. Beginning in 1924, Farewell My Concubine follows a country in turmoil, from the Japanese occupation, through the resistance movement by the Kuomintang and ultimately the...
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- 3/21/2016
- Screen Anarchy
The Berlin international film festival's ties with Chinese cinema run deep. The event was the first major European festival to screen a Chinese movie in its main competition — Chun Yen 's The Valley of the Lost Soul (Wang hun gu) in 1957 — and it was the first to award its top prize to a Chinese picture. Zhang Yimou won the Golden Bear in 1988 for Red Sorghum, five years before the Cannes Film Festival gave Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine the Palme D'or (two additional Golden Bears have been awarded to Chinese films in the years hence, while no
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- 2/10/2016
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From the late 80’s until the early 00’s, Chinese cinema has been a mainstay at A-list film festivals worldwide, picking up trophies left and right. Things changed, however, as the Mandarin film market experienced an exponential growth in the last decade, inspiring many award-winning “underground” filmmakers to go “mainstream.” While making movies for a mass audience is in itself a perfectly valid pursuit, the drastic decline in quality of these auteurs’ commercially-oriented work has been more than disheartening. Golden Bear (Red Sorghum) and two-time Golden Lion (The Story of Qiu Ju; Not One Less) winner Yimou Zhang, for example, has given us splashy CG-extravaganzas like House of Flying Daggers or Curse of the Golden Flower that are a far cry from his earlier work in terms of subtlety and insightfulness. Palme d’Or winner Kaige Chen (Farewell My Concubine) crashed and burned with the much-maligned Sacrifice; and Cannes Granx Prix...
- 9/20/2015
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy admits to EW that the other "Star Wars" anthology movie they had been developing, the one with a script by Simon Kinberg and which Josh Trank was slated to direct, is still very much active.
The film was originally slated to open in 2018 between "Star Wars: Episode VIII" and "Star Wars: Episode IX". That slot has now been taken by the young Han Solo film, likely pushing back this one by two years.
Despite the delay, Kennedy says there nearly was the same sort of proof-of-concept teaser trailer shown for the film at Star Wars Celebration this year as there was for "Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One". She adds that everyone remains committed to the project:
"It's still one of the stories that we absolutely want to tell. There is a lot of innovative technology in and around what it is we're doing with that story,...
The film was originally slated to open in 2018 between "Star Wars: Episode VIII" and "Star Wars: Episode IX". That slot has now been taken by the young Han Solo film, likely pushing back this one by two years.
Despite the delay, Kennedy says there nearly was the same sort of proof-of-concept teaser trailer shown for the film at Star Wars Celebration this year as there was for "Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One". She adds that everyone remains committed to the project:
"It's still one of the stories that we absolutely want to tell. There is a lot of innovative technology in and around what it is we're doing with that story,...
- 8/13/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
According to Yahoo! Singapore, Chinese thesp Jiang Wen has signed on for an unspecified role in what will be the first of the Star Wars Anthology movies, Rogue One. We had heard earlier reports that Godzilla director Gareth Edwards was actively looking to cast Chinese actors in this movie and this would seem to confirm it. Jiang hasn't made a huge splash Stateside yet, but he will probably be familiar to U.S. audiences for his role in Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut Red Sorghum, while back in his homeland he’s best known for Let the Bullets Fly and Gone With the Bullets. The man likes his bullets. As for who he could be playing, anything is possible! The first plot details we got for this movie outlined a Rebel plan to steal the plans for the first Death Star, but since that we've heard some pretty crazy rumors...
- 8/13/2015
- ComicBookMovie.com
Godzilla director Gareth Edwards may have added another actor to his already very impressive Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One cast. According to Yahoo! Singapore, Chinese thesp Jiang Wen has signed on for a role in what will be the first of the spinoff Anthology movies, though obviously no details on what specific character he will play are given.
We had heard that Edwards was looking to cast Chinese actors (this also follows the news that Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen is being courted for a role in Episode VIII), and this would seem to confirm it. Indeed, Hollywood in general has begun to seek out more and more Chinese stars for their movies, as success in that region guarantees a big pay day.
Jiang will be most familiar to U.S. audiences for his role in Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut Red Sorghum, while back in his homeland he...
We had heard that Edwards was looking to cast Chinese actors (this also follows the news that Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen is being courted for a role in Episode VIII), and this would seem to confirm it. Indeed, Hollywood in general has begun to seek out more and more Chinese stars for their movies, as success in that region guarantees a big pay day.
Jiang will be most familiar to U.S. audiences for his role in Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut Red Sorghum, while back in his homeland he...
- 8/13/2015
- by Mark Cassidy
- We Got This Covered
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