Stephen Chow’s ‘The New King of Comedy’ Set for Chinese New Year Release
It’s announced yesterday that Stephen Chow’s new film The New King of Comedy has been set to release on Chinese New Year’s Day. The announcement was made through a poster published on the film’s official Weibo account. Over the past few years, Stephen Chow made several big-budget VFX-heavy blockbusters, which brought him commercial success. However, many fans miss his comical portraits of ordinary people in his early works. The New King of Comedy will likely bring his early style back, which makes his fans very excited. Read more on Sina
Cathy Yan’s ‘Dead Pigs’ Scores January 25 China Release
2018 comedy drama film Dead Pigs, which is directed by Cathy Yan and executive produced by Jia Zhangke, has scored a January 25 China release. In the film, five lives suddenly collide when pig farmer Old Wang’s entire stock dies en masse and turns up in Shanghai waterways, setting off a public health crisis. Starring Vivian Wu, Yang Haoyu, Li Meng and Li Chun, the film won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting at Sundance. Cathy Yan came under the spotlight for becoming the first Asian Female director to helm a DC film. Read more on Mtime
Future Looks Bright for Chinese Science Fiction Movies
Recently, the 3nd China Science Fiction Convention took place in Shenzhen. Over 1000 participants, including science fiction writers, scholars, scientists, film studios, and sci-fi fans, attended the opening ceremony. A report on the development of science fiction sector in China was released during the Convention. According to the report, science fiction film and TV shows generated over 14 billion yuan in revenues in 2017. 72% of the total revenues were generated by imported science fiction movies while domestic sci-fi movies made up 8%. However, as the first science movie adapted from a Liu Cixin novel will be released during the 2019 Chinese new year and more movies based on homegrown sci-fi novels are being produced, industry insiders expect the Chinese sci-fi sector to prosper in near future. Gao Wentao, partner of Ent Group, predicts that, unlike America, superheroes will not become the go-to protagonists for Chinese sci-fi movies. Read more on entgroup.com
