Kris Wu’s Career in Jeopardy as China State Media Call for Investigation of Sexual Misconduct Claims
The scandal over sexual misconduct allegations against multi-hyphenate superstar Kris Wu has grown beyond the scope of mere celebrity gossip to become a significant incident with public-interest implications, Chinese state media declared Tuesday.
The rebukes from the country’s top official news outlets, whose stances align with that of the ruling Communist Party, likely indicate trouble ahead for Wu, who has strongly denied the allegations leveled against him. In China, politicians and entertainment industry associations have championed the idea that artists deemed to be “immoral” should be banned for life.
Earlier this month, 19-year-old student Du Meizhu began writing social media posts alleging that Wu, 30, had date-raped her when she was 17, and lured numerous other young girls to his bed through unscrupulous means. She spoke in greater detail about her claims in a Sunday interview, sparking a frenzy of attention and commentary.
China’s strictly controlled state broadcaster CCTV issued...
The rebukes from the country’s top official news outlets, whose stances align with that of the ruling Communist Party, likely indicate trouble ahead for Wu, who has strongly denied the allegations leveled against him. In China, politicians and entertainment industry associations have championed the idea that artists deemed to be “immoral” should be banned for life.
Earlier this month, 19-year-old student Du Meizhu began writing social media posts alleging that Wu, 30, had date-raped her when she was 17, and lured numerous other young girls to his bed through unscrupulous means. She spoke in greater detail about her claims in a Sunday interview, sparking a frenzy of attention and commentary.
China’s strictly controlled state broadcaster CCTV issued...
- 7/21/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Awards
After taking 2020 off, BAFTA’s Children’s Awards are set to return in November 2022 following a review starting in May of last year. The upcoming awards will place a stronger focus on engaging young audiences through updated categories and a ceremony to be held at the end of a larger weekend of BAFTA Kids activities. Entry to the awards will open in May of next year with an extended eligibility period reaching back to July 1, 2019. Details for the revised categories, eligibility and rules will be announced in due time. BAFTA was recently recognized, alongside children’s mental health charity Place2B, by Action for Children’s Arts with an outstanding contribution award.
Documentary
Discovery Plus has commissioned a new docuseries with former England striker-turned-pundit and podcaster Peter Crouch, “Save Our Beautiful Game.” Banijay’s Workerbee will produce the eight-part series, which follows Crouch as he returns to grassroots soccer...
After taking 2020 off, BAFTA’s Children’s Awards are set to return in November 2022 following a review starting in May of last year. The upcoming awards will place a stronger focus on engaging young audiences through updated categories and a ceremony to be held at the end of a larger weekend of BAFTA Kids activities. Entry to the awards will open in May of next year with an extended eligibility period reaching back to July 1, 2019. Details for the revised categories, eligibility and rules will be announced in due time. BAFTA was recently recognized, alongside children’s mental health charity Place2B, by Action for Children’s Arts with an outstanding contribution award.
Documentary
Discovery Plus has commissioned a new docuseries with former England striker-turned-pundit and podcaster Peter Crouch, “Save Our Beautiful Game.” Banijay’s Workerbee will produce the eight-part series, which follows Crouch as he returns to grassroots soccer...
- 6/23/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Leading Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming will take a production role on selected film titles emerging from Stars Collective, the talent incubator program backed by China- and Los Angeles-based financier Starlight Media.
Huang, who has credits including “The Message” and “American Dreams in China,” will lead Stars Collective’s talent discovery efforts in China, be a mentor to the selected filmmakers and take a formal producer role on selected, individual projects the program hatches.
Stars Collective was launched last year with the idea of supporting 50 emerging filmmakers. Starlight now says it has over 100 filmmakers sighed up and has earmarked $100 million for development and initial production.
“The majority of those selected of the program are female, and represent a highly diverse mix of nationalities, ethnicities, races and personal and professional backgrounds,” the company said. “Stars Collective integrates global resources by bringing together local alliances of film producers and film commissions, throughout Europe for instance,...
Huang, who has credits including “The Message” and “American Dreams in China,” will lead Stars Collective’s talent discovery efforts in China, be a mentor to the selected filmmakers and take a formal producer role on selected, individual projects the program hatches.
Stars Collective was launched last year with the idea of supporting 50 emerging filmmakers. Starlight now says it has over 100 filmmakers sighed up and has earmarked $100 million for development and initial production.
“The majority of those selected of the program are female, and represent a highly diverse mix of nationalities, ethnicities, races and personal and professional backgrounds,” the company said. “Stars Collective integrates global resources by bringing together local alliances of film producers and film commissions, throughout Europe for instance,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Zhang Yimou’s censored film “One Second” apparently now finds itself in the Chinese government’s good books: it has been given pride of place as the opener at the government-run Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival.
The film was initially set to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2019. But its treatment of the still sensitive Cultural revolution period is believed to have been its undoing. It was abruptly pulled from the festival due to “technical reasons,” a common euphemism for censorship, in one of the highest profile cases of Chinese state intervention seen abroad in recent years.
Now, after apparent reshoots and, at long last, government approvals for a Nov. 27 commercial theatrical release, it is set to debut at the festival in Xiamen city on Nov. 25.
Zhang’s premiere likely seeks to add glitz and a bit of legitimacy to the Roosters, which critics have historically...
The film was initially set to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2019. But its treatment of the still sensitive Cultural revolution period is believed to have been its undoing. It was abruptly pulled from the festival due to “technical reasons,” a common euphemism for censorship, in one of the highest profile cases of Chinese state intervention seen abroad in recent years.
Now, after apparent reshoots and, at long last, government approvals for a Nov. 27 commercial theatrical release, it is set to debut at the festival in Xiamen city on Nov. 25.
Zhang’s premiere likely seeks to add glitz and a bit of legitimacy to the Roosters, which critics have historically...
- 11/11/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Human: China’s HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ Production Slate at FilMart
URL: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
Seo Head: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
Key phrase: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
By Vivienne Chow
China’s HiShow Entertainment has unveiled a slate of new productions ahead of the first online edition of Hong Kong FilMart. Its lineup includes the highly-anticipated series “Game Changer.”
Scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter this year, “Game Changer” is one of a handful of mainland Chinese drama series that tells a contemporary urban story, with “fast-paced American-style” storytelling that is intended to appeal to overseas audiences, according to Wang Haiyi, HiShow’s head of the international business.
Starring heartthrob Huang Xiaoming as a journalist-turned-publicist alongside Tan Zhuo, Cai Wenjing and Zhang Bo, the 40-episode series dives into the world of public relations with stories revolving around the crisis management arm of a PR firm.
URL: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
Seo Head: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
Key phrase: HiShow Unveils ‘Game Changer’ at FilMart
By Vivienne Chow
China’s HiShow Entertainment has unveiled a slate of new productions ahead of the first online edition of Hong Kong FilMart. Its lineup includes the highly-anticipated series “Game Changer.”
Scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter this year, “Game Changer” is one of a handful of mainland Chinese drama series that tells a contemporary urban story, with “fast-paced American-style” storytelling that is intended to appeal to overseas audiences, according to Wang Haiyi, HiShow’s head of the international business.
Starring heartthrob Huang Xiaoming as a journalist-turned-publicist alongside Tan Zhuo, Cai Wenjing and Zhang Bo, the 40-episode series dives into the world of public relations with stories revolving around the crisis management arm of a PR firm.
- 8/26/2020
- by Vivienne Chow
- Variety Film + TV
Trinity Cine Asia is proud to be first in bringing back Asian cinema to the UK with Sheep Without A Shepherd, recent #1 box office hit in China, to be released on Friday, 21 Aug 2020 across the UK.
Sheep Without A Shepherd is a remake of 2015 Indian Thriller Drishyam. The film was directed by Malaysian Chinese director Sam Quah and executive produced by Chen Sicheng, director of top-grossing franchise Detective Chinatown. Sheep Without A Shepherd features an outstanding performance from lead actress Joan Chen and became an instant box office hit after its release in China in December 2019, grossing 187 million Usd.
Packed with ubiquitous cinephilic references, it is the perfect choice for film-lovers to resume their cinema-going in the UK. Sheep Without A Shepherd was the last box office hit in China, before the whole country went into lockdown. It is currently leading the Chinese box office after cinema reopening.
Synopsis
Lee...
Sheep Without A Shepherd is a remake of 2015 Indian Thriller Drishyam. The film was directed by Malaysian Chinese director Sam Quah and executive produced by Chen Sicheng, director of top-grossing franchise Detective Chinatown. Sheep Without A Shepherd features an outstanding performance from lead actress Joan Chen and became an instant box office hit after its release in China in December 2019, grossing 187 million Usd.
Packed with ubiquitous cinephilic references, it is the perfect choice for film-lovers to resume their cinema-going in the UK. Sheep Without A Shepherd was the last box office hit in China, before the whole country went into lockdown. It is currently leading the Chinese box office after cinema reopening.
Synopsis
Lee...
- 8/13/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Huang Wei, the VP of China’s Bona Film Group who managed its cinema division, has died by suicide, jumping from the 18th-floor offices of the company’s Beijing headquarters today, according to multiple Chinese reports. He was 52.
In a brief statement posted to social media late Wednesday, Bona wrote that he had died on June 10, saying: “Our entire company is in deep mourning.” It added no further details.
Bona’s headquarters are located in central Beijing next to the U-Town Mall in Chaoyang district. Bona Film Group founder and chairman Yu Dong will lead the funeral committee for his colleague’s passing, the company has said.
Huang came to Bona in 2009 from rival cinema chain China Film Stellar, where he had previously been chairman and general manager, among other roles.
Many in the film industry were shaken by the sudden loss, posting candle emojis or messages of grief.
Director...
In a brief statement posted to social media late Wednesday, Bona wrote that he had died on June 10, saying: “Our entire company is in deep mourning.” It added no further details.
Bona’s headquarters are located in central Beijing next to the U-Town Mall in Chaoyang district. Bona Film Group founder and chairman Yu Dong will lead the funeral committee for his colleague’s passing, the company has said.
Huang came to Bona in 2009 from rival cinema chain China Film Stellar, where he had previously been chairman and general manager, among other roles.
Many in the film industry were shaken by the sudden loss, posting candle emojis or messages of grief.
Director...
- 6/10/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Huang Wei is understood to have died by suicide by jumping from the studio’s corporate headquarters in Beijing.
Chinese studio Bona Film Group vice president Huang Wei is understood to have died by suicide by jumping from the company’s corporate headquarters in Beijing today.
Bona released a brief statement, saying: “Huang Wei, vice president of Bona Film Group, passed away in the early hours of June 10, at the age of 52. Our entire company is in deep mourning.”
Bona did not release any further details.
Huang was in charge of the studio’s cinema business. China’s cinemas have...
Chinese studio Bona Film Group vice president Huang Wei is understood to have died by suicide by jumping from the company’s corporate headquarters in Beijing today.
Bona released a brief statement, saying: “Huang Wei, vice president of Bona Film Group, passed away in the early hours of June 10, at the age of 52. Our entire company is in deep mourning.”
Bona did not release any further details.
Huang was in charge of the studio’s cinema business. China’s cinemas have...
- 6/10/2020
- by 14¦Screen staff¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Major Chinese production company and distributor Bona Film Group has this week established a new headquarters in the southern Chinese capital of Guangzhou. It has also announced three new major projects — all patriotic blockbusters that will likely align closely with the narratives authorities will be seeking to tell in 2021, a year that marks the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party.
Bona president Yu Dong said he hopes to help the greater bay area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau become the third key cultural and creative hub for the Chinese film industry after Beijing and Shanghai.
“Bona is willing to work together with all film professionals in Guangdong hand in hand to build a key hub for Chinese cinema,” Yu said, according to video footage of a press conference held in Guangzhou.
The move was announced Monday, a day before China’s legislative body approved a controversial new national...
Bona president Yu Dong said he hopes to help the greater bay area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau become the third key cultural and creative hub for the Chinese film industry after Beijing and Shanghai.
“Bona is willing to work together with all film professionals in Guangdong hand in hand to build a key hub for Chinese cinema,” Yu said, according to video footage of a press conference held in Guangzhou.
The move was announced Monday, a day before China’s legislative body approved a controversial new national...
- 5/29/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
The Beijing International Film Festival will run an online fest on streamer iQIYI over China’s May 1 Labor Day holiday, typically one of the busier times of year for cinemas, which are still struggling with coronavirus-imposed shutdowns.
Fifth Generation helmer Chen Kaige, actor Tong Dawei and actress Tan Zhuo will serve as specially invited curators.
The tenth edition of the annual Beijing International Film Festival was supposed to have taken place from April 19-26, but the event was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. It is now offering up the “Spring Online Film Festival” from May 1-5 as a stopgap measure for cinema fans thirsty for new content but unable to return to theaters just yet.
In an announcement, the festival said it remains “postponed,” without directly using the word “canceled.”
The move comes as film festivals worldwide are getting canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. On Monday, YouTube...
Fifth Generation helmer Chen Kaige, actor Tong Dawei and actress Tan Zhuo will serve as specially invited curators.
The tenth edition of the annual Beijing International Film Festival was supposed to have taken place from April 19-26, but the event was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. It is now offering up the “Spring Online Film Festival” from May 1-5 as a stopgap measure for cinema fans thirsty for new content but unable to return to theaters just yet.
In an announcement, the festival said it remains “postponed,” without directly using the word “canceled.”
The move comes as film festivals worldwide are getting canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. On Monday, YouTube...
- 4/28/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
The full list of nominations for the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards has been revealed. However, the dates are still unknown; the mid-April event in fact, will be probably postponed due to the Covid-19 (a.k.a. coronavirus). So for now let’s just have a look at the nominees.
This year’s edition sees Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung’s “Better Days” leading the competition with an amazing 12 nominations, followed at close range by Heiward Mak’s “Fagara” with 11 nominations and Wong Hing-Fan’s “I’m Livin’ It” with 10. Moreover, Wilson Yip’s “Ip Man 4: The Finale” bagged 9 nominations, including Best Director and Best Action Choreography.
Read the full list of nominations below:
Better Days by Derek Tsang
Best Film
Better Days by Derek Tsang
Suk Suk by Ray Yeung
Fagara by Heiward Mak
I’m Livin’ It by Wong Hing-fan
The New King Of Comedy by Stephen Chow
Best...
This year’s edition sees Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung’s “Better Days” leading the competition with an amazing 12 nominations, followed at close range by Heiward Mak’s “Fagara” with 11 nominations and Wong Hing-Fan’s “I’m Livin’ It” with 10. Moreover, Wilson Yip’s “Ip Man 4: The Finale” bagged 9 nominations, including Best Director and Best Action Choreography.
Read the full list of nominations below:
Better Days by Derek Tsang
Best Film
Better Days by Derek Tsang
Suk Suk by Ray Yeung
Fagara by Heiward Mak
I’m Livin’ It by Wong Hing-fan
The New King Of Comedy by Stephen Chow
Best...
- 2/14/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The idea of fire-fighting on film has never had much competition beyond the spectacle-filled “Backdraft” from Ron Howard, who mixed together family melodrama with harrowing realism and top-notch effects work in its numerous action scenes. The result was a film that still stands up to this day as a fantastic action film and one of the most underrated Hollywood action films of the 90s. Director Tony Chan tries to accomplish this same feat in his latest disaster epic “The Bravest”, based on the real-life incidents in Tianjian, China in 2015 and hitting digital platforms January 14 from Sony Pictures.
After a disastrous incident, firefighter Li Wei (Xiaoming Huang) is booted from the group after the deaths of several team-members in a blazing inferno under his watch. Finding solace in a secondary unit, he turns over command to a hotshot rookie who wishes he were still in the regular Army Corps than stuck fighting fires.
After a disastrous incident, firefighter Li Wei (Xiaoming Huang) is booted from the group after the deaths of several team-members in a blazing inferno under his watch. Finding solace in a secondary unit, he turns over command to a hotshot rookie who wishes he were still in the regular Army Corps than stuck fighting fires.
- 1/16/2020
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
North America generated $11.4bn for second highest year behind 2018.
Global and international box office set new records in 2019, reaching $42.5bn and $31.2bn according to fresh data from ComScore.
North America generated $11.4bn, the second highest year of all time behind 2018 on $11.88bn, marking the fifth consecutive year that ticket sales have gone over $11bn.
ComScore sources attributed the global and international numbers to growth in the vast majority of the top international territories including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Spain, Brazil and Italy among others.
In selected highlights, China’s box office climbed 5.4% to $9.2bn; France delievered...
Global and international box office set new records in 2019, reaching $42.5bn and $31.2bn according to fresh data from ComScore.
North America generated $11.4bn, the second highest year of all time behind 2018 on $11.88bn, marking the fifth consecutive year that ticket sales have gone over $11bn.
ComScore sources attributed the global and international numbers to growth in the vast majority of the top international territories including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Spain, Brazil and Italy among others.
In selected highlights, China’s box office climbed 5.4% to $9.2bn; France delievered...
- 1/10/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
"If I tell you everything, who'd have the guts to go in and put out the fire?" Sony Pictures has released an official Us trailer for the Chinese action movie The Bravest, which originally opened in China last July. The epic fire disaster movie is about a group of Chinese firefighters who struggle to contain a huge fire after an oil pipeline explodes. The story is based on a real-life incident, the Xingang Port oil spill, and chronicles the firefighters' efforts to protect a city from the massive fire. Starring Huang Xiaoming, Du Jiang, Tan Zhuo, Yang Zi, Zhang Zehan, Gu Jiacheng, Yin Xiaotian, & Gao Ge. The Chinese are clearly getting better and better at making movies that look and sound like big Hollywood blockbusters. This looks intense. Here's the official Us trailer (+ original posters) for Tony Chan's The Bravest, from Sony's YouTube: When the oil pipeline...
- 1/6/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Just two Us studio films, Avengers: Endgame and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw, made it into the year-end top ten.
China’s box office increased by 5.4% to $9.2bn (RMB64.3bn) in 2019, according to figures from the China Film Administration, mostly off the back of a small number of out-sized local releases.
Local films accounted for 64% of total box office with a combined haul of $5.9bn (RMB41.2bn), despite a slowdown in local production due to increased censorship and the fallout from the tax scandal in 2018. Hollywood and other imported titles saw their market share decline further as Chinese films...
China’s box office increased by 5.4% to $9.2bn (RMB64.3bn) in 2019, according to figures from the China Film Administration, mostly off the back of a small number of out-sized local releases.
Local films accounted for 64% of total box office with a combined haul of $5.9bn (RMB41.2bn), despite a slowdown in local production due to increased censorship and the fallout from the tax scandal in 2018. Hollywood and other imported titles saw their market share decline further as Chinese films...
- 1/6/2020
- by 14¦Screen staff¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Hollywood films had a historically unsuccessful year at the China box office in 2019, data from Chinese authorities and online ticketing platform Maoyan show, although the country’s theatrical revenues rose to a new all-time high.
American titles accounted for just two of the country’s top ten grossers last year, with “Avengers: Endgame” placing third and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” placing tenth. Meanwhile, nine out of China’s top ten highest grossing films of all time are now Chinese, four of which came out in 2019. “Avengers: Endgame” is the only foreign title to remain on the list.
Yet even without Hollywood, the Chinese market continued to grow. Box office revenue rose 5.4% to a new record of $9.2 billion (RMB64.3 billion) in 2019 — albeit at a slower rate of growth than its 9% rise last year.
Chinese animation “Ne Zha,” Chinese new year sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth,” and “Avengers” were...
American titles accounted for just two of the country’s top ten grossers last year, with “Avengers: Endgame” placing third and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” placing tenth. Meanwhile, nine out of China’s top ten highest grossing films of all time are now Chinese, four of which came out in 2019. “Avengers: Endgame” is the only foreign title to remain on the list.
Yet even without Hollywood, the Chinese market continued to grow. Box office revenue rose 5.4% to a new record of $9.2 billion (RMB64.3 billion) in 2019 — albeit at a slower rate of growth than its 9% rise last year.
Chinese animation “Ne Zha,” Chinese new year sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth,” and “Avengers” were...
- 1/3/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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