Jackie Chan will be a prominent figure on Chinese screens in December and January, with two new films set to premiere.
Despite saying in 2012 that he planned to retire, at least from action movies, Skiptrace star Jackie Chan will appear in two new films in December and January, respectively, while shooting on Viy 2, co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, continues.
Chan takes a more political turn in Railroad Tigers, directed by Ding Sheng, who previously worked with the kung-fu legend on Little Big Soldier and Police Story 2013. The film’s title refers to a group of railroad workers who also fight against Japanese invaders as communist guerillas during World War II. That film, co-starring Huang Zitao and Wang Kai, arrives on Chinese screens Friday, December 30.
The Drunken Master star is also set to take on the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year period, with the Bollywood co-production Kung Fu Yoga, premiering on January 28, 2017. With a reported budget of US$65 million, the film also stars top Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, and co-starring Sonu Sood and Amyra Dastur. Yoga is directed by Hong Kong’s Stanley Tong. It’s Chan’s first Indian film foray since 2005’s The Myth.
Most recently Chan was spotted shooting scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is making a cameo in the Sino-Russian film Viy 2, based on a horror novella by Nikolai Gogol. That production is also shooting in London and Moscow. Chan also accompanied Schwarzenegger to Sichuan province for the announcement of the former California governor’s appearance in the upcoming The Guest of Sanxingdui.
Chan reasserted himself with China’s film audience this year with Skiptrace, an English-language film co-starring Fan Bingbing and Johnny Knoxville. The movie took in about $100 million in China, and was the biggest local box office success of the summer.
