Headlines from China: Fan Bingbing’s New Film to be Released?

The Perfect Blue

Fan Bingbing’s New Film to be Released?

Recently, a poster of upcoming Chinese film Ta Sha or The Perfect Blue (她杀) was released with actress Fan Bingbing in it standing in front of a blackboard. Directed by Cao Baoping and starring Fan Bingbing and Huang Xuan, the film is a sequel to the director’s 2015 film The Dead End. Cao completed the shooting of The Perfect Blue in May of 2018. Then in June 2018, Fan Bangbing was affected by tax evasion scandal and disappeared from the public eye for several months. A few films featuring the actress also stalled. It remains to be seen if The Perfect Blue will make it to the big screen eventually. Read more on Mtime

‘Alita’ Collaborates with Chinese Electronics Brand Xiaomi to Cross-promote

Recently, Lei Jun, CEO of the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi, had a talkback on AI with renowned director James Cameron in China. It turns out that James Cameron’s new film Alita is collaborating with Xiaomi’s new smartphone product Mi 9 to cross-promote each other. Xiaomi not only used Alita to name the transparent edition of its Mi 9 phone, but also released special trailer for the film combining clips of the film with images of the phone. The film has lots of high-tech elements while the phone a technologically advanced flagship product of Xiaomi. The two seem to have found resonance there. In the past, Chinese brands collaborate with Hollywood films to promote themselves mainly through product placement. But today, the approaches are increasingly diverse and creative. Read more on entgroup.cn

China to Publish James Baldwin Novel ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

As the movie adaption of  If Beale Street Could Talk won the Best Supporting Actress at the 91st Academy Awards, China’s publisher Shanghai Translation Publishing House announced today that it would publish a Chinese-version of the original novel of the same name. The release date is expected to be in the middle of this year. Firstly published in 1974, If Beale Street Could Talk is the fifth novel by American writer James Baldwin. In addition to If Beale Street Could Talk, the publisher also plans to translate and publish another Baldwin’s novel in mainland China, Giovanni’s Room. Read more on CQ News