Peiling Chou. Photo: Weibo.
Oriental DreamWorks to Make Animation ‘The Monkey King’?
Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai-based film production company backed by DreamWorks, CMC Capital Partners, Shanghai Media Group, and Shanghai Alliance Investment Limited, announced on September 27 (Beijing Time) that the company had named Peiling Chou as Chief Creative Officer. The company also announced a few upcoming projects Chou would be in charge of, including ‘The Monkey King’, an animation featuring the popular Su Wukong, better known to western audiences as the Monkey King. ‘The Monkey King’ is written by Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich, whose animated movies include ‘Brother Bear’ and ‘Chicken Little.’ Read more on Mtime
Too Many Trashy Films in China Says Son of Wanda CEO
On September 26, a press conference for filmmaking competition “Banana Project: New Directors” took place in Beijing. Wang Sicong, founder of “Banana Project” and son of Wanda CEO Wang Jianlin, attended the press conference and commented on the current state of China’s film industry. In his opinion, there are too many trashy films and unprofessional filmmakers in China. According to Wang Sicong, this filmmaking competition is his passion project. He doesn’t expect to make a fortune by organizing it. Aiming to discover talented commercial filmmakers, the competition will set high cash awards and be judged by ordinary audiences rather than industry professionals. Read more on ifeng
Another Film Cancels China Release for Unspecified Reasons
The October 13 China release of Xin Yu-kun’s latest crime action film ‘Wrath of Silence’ has been canceled for unspecified reasons. ‘Wrath of Silence’ is the director’s second feature film. His directorial debut ‘The Coffin in the Mountain’ was well received critically and won over a large number of audiences in China. ‘Wrath of Silence’ has been screened at the FIRST International Film Festival early this year, and was described as the most violent film ever made in China. Read more on Glofilm
Four Suspense Web Series Stir up Discussions on WeChat Amongst Male Audience in China
China’s entertainment market has been seeing booming of quality web series this year. Many recently released web series become hot topics on Chinese social media WeChat. Among them, four suspense shows, including ‘Wuxin: The Monster Killer 2,’ ‘Burning Ice,’ ‘Day and Night,’ and ‘Line Walker 2,’ are mentioned most frequently. According to data released by Ent Group, male audiences between 18 and 29 years old make up the majority of the audience of the four web series. Read more on Ent Group
14 Chinese Language Films Enter the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival
The 30th Tokyo International Film Festival has announced this year’s lineup, which includes 14 Chinese language movies. ‘The Looming Storm’, which stars Duan Yihong and Jiang Yiyan, is selected to compete for Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, the top award of the festival for the best film. In addition, 3 Chinese language films, including ‘Old Beast’ (Dir. Zhou Ziyang), ‘Soul Inn’ (Dir. Zheng Yi), and ‘Alifu, the Prince/ss’ (Dir. Wang Yuling), are selected to compete for the Asian Future Best Film Award. The 30th Tokyo International Film Festival will take place this year from October 25 to November 3. Chinese actress Zhao Wei will join the jury to judge the main competition section. Read more on Jiemian
