Headlines from China: TFBoys’ Wang Yuan to Star in ‘xXx 4’ Alongside Vin Diesel

TFBoys’ Wang Yuan to Star in ‘xXx 4’ Alongside Vin Diesel

It’s announced today that Chinese actor Wang Yuan (a.k.a. Roy Wang), who is also a member of China’s hottest boy band TFBoys, will play a leading role in xXx 4 alongside Vin Diesel. The previous installment of the series, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which stars Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, and Kris Wu, achieved huge success in China last year, raking in 1.13 billion yuan ($165 million) in ticket sales. According to sources familiar with the matter, xXx 4 will start filming in January 2019. Read more on Mtime

‘Air Strike’ (‘Unbreakable Spirit’) Is Billed as a Bruce Willis Movie in North America

Recently, Lionsgate released English trailer and poster for upcoming Chinese war film Air Strike (大轰炸, formerly translated as Unbreakable Spirit), which is directed by Chinese director Xiao Feng and stars Liu Ye, Bruce Willies, and Adrien Brody. Both the trailer and poster are centered around Bruce Willis’ role, a U.S. air force officer who came to China during the WWII to help the Chinese army fight against the Japanese intruders. The film was originally scheduled to be released on August 17 in China, but later rescheduled to be released on October 26 in order to have a same-day worldwide release. Read more on Mtime

Wanda Film Reports $ 131.4 M in Net Profit for First Half of 2018

On August 28, Wanda Film released the company’s semi-annual report for the first half of 2018. According to the report, Wanda Film’s total revenues increased by 11.38% to 7.37 billion yuan ($1.08 billion) during the reporting period. Net profit was 900 million yuan ($131.4 million), up 1.46% compared to the same period last year. About 65.65% of the total revenues came from cinema operations. One highlight in the report is the company’s merchandise revenues, which went up by 118% during the reporting period. In June, Wanda Film announced that it would acquire a 96.8% stake in Wanda Media, the film production arm of Wanda Group, in order to consolidate Wanda Group’s film units. Read more on jrj.com