MONDAY, MARCH 19 2012


TODAY AT FILMART www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial (852) 2582 8959 Advertising (852) 5439 4741 DW lands with Tycoon, Rose John Woo


Woo pushes 1949 to 2013


BY SEN-LUN YU John Woo’s epic about lovers torn apart during the Chinese Civil War has been postponed until early 2013 due to actor-scheduling con- fl icts, and sources say Woo is plan- ning to take advantage of the delay by shooting his long-cherished remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 classic Le Samourai this year. Woo’s producer and Lion Rock


Production partner Terence Chang would not reveal much about the English-language film, which he hopes to announce in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Zhang Ziyi and


Song Hye-kyo are still lined up to star in the love story, tentatively titled 1949, which already has most of its budget in place, with backers including Beijing Galloping Horse, Zhejiang Huace Film and TV Cor- poration, and China Film Group.


Lotte sells Ghastly horror


BY JEAN NOH South Korean sales company Lotte Entertainment is launching sales here on horror film Ghastly star- ring Hyo-min, of popular girl group T-ara, in her acting debut. Directed by Ko Suk-min, the fi lm


also stars Han Eun-jung and Lee Hyung-suk. Ghastly follows a fam- ily that goes through a twisted kid- napping, birth and death. Lotte has also started sales on


romantic drama Architecture 101, starring Suji from girl group Miss A and Lee Je-hoon. Produced by Myung Films (Cyrano Agency), the film follows a man and a woman who fi nd each other again 15 years after they fell in love at fi rst sight. “The response to the fi lm’s pre-


views has been hot,” said Lotte’s head of international investment & distribution Juyoung Park.


Wanda Media has acquired mainland China distribution rights to war epic Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale, directed by Taiwan’s Wei Te-sheng. The release is scheduled for early April. Wanda Media is the film production and distribution arm of Chinese real- estate conglomerate Wanda Group and the sister company of cinema circuit Wanda Cinema Line,


Wanda to unleash Warrior in China The film has yet to receive a


screening permit from China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) but has been cleared on the reviewing process by Chinese censors, according to sources near Wanda and producer Jimmy Huang, who handles rights in Chinese-speaking regions on behalf of Wei’s ARS Film Productions. Wei has edited a 150-minute


BY LIZ SHACKLETON Distribution Workshop, the Hong Kong-based sales arm of Chinese studio Bona Film Group, is at Fil- mart with a slate of hot projects including gangster thriller The Last Tycoon starring Chow Yun Fat. To be directed by Wong Jing, the


fi lm tells the story of real-life gang- ster Du Yuesheng who built his crime empire in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. Infernal Affairs director Andrew Lau will produce


and Peter Pau is on board as DoP. The cast will also include martial- arts maestro Sammo Hung. The project, previously known as Grand Shanghai, is in pre-production. Also new on Distribution Work-


shop’s slate is Christmas Rose, the directorial debut of Hong Kong star Charlie Yeung, which was selected as a HAF project in 2009. Aaron Kwok, Xia Yu and Kwai Lun-mei will star in the fi lm which has Wing Shya on board as production


designer and Henry Chung as DoP. At the time of its HAF selection, Oxide Pang was on board as pro- ducer, but Tsui Hark and Jacob Cheung will now produce the $3.5m project. Pre-production is scheduled to start in April. In addition, Distribution Work-


shop will introduce David Hsun- wei Chang’s action comedy Double Trouble at a press conference here tomorrow. In post, the film stars Jaycee Chan, Xia Yu and Jessica C.


Khoo fills Urn, engages Apprentice


BY LIZ SHACKLETON Gorylah Pictures, one of two pro- duction labels run by Singapore fi lm-maker and Asian Film Awards jury president Eric Khoo, is joining forces with Clover Films and MM2 Entertainment to co-produce supernatural thriller Inside The Urn (working title), to be directed by Gilbert Chan. The three companies previously


collaborated on Chan’s hit horror film 23:59. His new project,


scripted by Tan Fong Cheng, tells the story of a family haunted by a child spirit, known in South-East Asia as a Toyol, which has been invoked by a witch doctor from a dead human foetus. Production is scheduled to start in June for a year-end theatrical release in Sin- gapore and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Khoo’s other Singa-


pore-based production label, Zhao Wei Films, is developing Boo Jun- feng’s Apprentice with Singapore’s


Peanut Pictures and Akanga Film Asia. The film, tentatively sched- uled to start shooting from the end of the year, tells the story of a Malaysian prison officer who strikes up a friendship with the prison’s chief executioner. Khoo will executive produce


with Raymond Phathanaviran- goon, Fran Borgia and Zhao Wei’s Gary Goh producing. Boo’s debut feature Sandcastle premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes in 2010.


Donnie Yen and Keanu Reeves were among the special guests at the inaugural Power Of Film Gala. The event took place last night at the Grand Hyatt to raise funds for FilmAid Asia, which uses the power of film to bring information and relief to refugees and other strife-torn communities around the globe. Reeves was an honouree at the gala alongside activist Duncan Jepson, while Yen is a member of the FilmAid Global Artist Council.


Nicholas Tse


NEWS Fighting fires Emperor Motion Pictures backs fire- fighting drama with Nicholas Tse » Page 6


Universe launches big titles Chan to direct untitled police actioner, Pang shooting Conspirators » Page 7


REVIEWS Love In The Buff Pang’s sequel to Love In A Puff is a relentlessly entertaining romance » Page 10


SCREENINGS What’s screening today » Page 18


Fortissimo goes Full Circle


BY LIZ SHACKLETON Fortissimo Films has picked up international rights outside China to Zhang Yang’s upcoming feature Full Circle. In post-production, the film


revolves around a group of lively senior citizens in a nursing home who compete in a television variety show. Veteran Chinese actors Wu Tianming, Xu Huanshan, Li Bin and Yan Bingyan head the cast. Produced by Ann An, Li Li and


Zhang Qiang with the involvement of China Film Group and Desen International Media, the fi lm is set for a wide commercial release in China later this year. Founded in 2006 by Ann An, Desen is a Bei- jing-based production and distri- bution outfit with production credits including 14 Blades, Ip Man 2 and Lee’s Adventure. Meanwhile, Fortissimo has also


sealed sales deals on other titles on its slate with new distributors in Korea and India. Korea’s JoyNContents Group


version of the film for the mainland release, different from the version that premiered at Venice last year; a few of the brutal battle scenes have been taken out. The film took $29m in Taiwan in late 2011. Several mainland distributors showed interest in the film but Wanda Group’s strength in the exhibition sector is believed to have clinched the deal. Fortissimo Films handles sales for the film outside China. Sen-lun Yu


has acquired Wei Te-sheng’s War- riors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale and Yonfan’s Bugis Street Redux, which recently screened in the Panorama section at Berlin. Both titles are being lined up for a Korean theatrical release. Start-up Indian distributor DAR


Media Group acquired two horror- suspense titles handled by Fortis- simo, The Shock Labyrinth and Tormented, both directed by Takashi Shimizu. DAR plans to release the fi lms theatrically in 3D and 2D formats throughout India this summer.


DAY 1


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