‘Gossip Girl’ Getting Chinese Remake by iQiyi
Hit American teen drama series Gossip Girl is getting a remake in China, according to sources familiar with the matter. Currently, the show is casting actors and will start shooting in October in Shanghai. The show is co-produced by leading Chinese streaming platform iQiyi and Sugarman Media. iQiyi announced its plan to remake Gossip Girl back in 2016, but didn’t start executing the plan until now. The hit American drama series is based on the book series of the same name and revolves around the lives of privileged upper class adolescents living in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Read more on Mtime
Chinese Movie Ticketing Firm Maoyan Files IPO in Hong Kong
On September 3, China’s leading online ticketing firm Maoyan officially submitted a prospectus to Hong Kong Stock Exchange to launch an IPO. In the prospectus, Maoyan claims to be the largest online movie ticketing platform in China with a market share of 60.9 percent. An influx of cash through the IPO will give Maoyan, the Tencent-backed company, an edge to compete with Alibaba’s Tao Piao Piao. Although the firm is still unprofitable as of the filing, it has gradually reduced the amount of its annual loss over the past three years. Read more on Sohu
Wuershan Starts Filming ‘Fengshen Trilogy’ with A Massive Budget of $440 M
On September 5, Chinese director Wuershan officially starts filming his upcoming fantasy drama trilogy Fengshen at Wanda’s Oriental Movie Metropolis in Qingdao. According to sources familiar with the matter, Wuershan started developing the script in 2014 and preparing for the shooting since 2016. The three films in the Fengshen series are expected to release between 2020-2022. The trilogy reportedly has a mega budget of 3 billion yuan ($440 million), which makes many questions how the money will be spent. According to the film’s producer Du Yang, about 30 % of the budget will be spent paying actors while the remaining will be spent on production. Read more on Mtime
