‘Goldfinger’: First Look At Tony Leung & Andy Lau’s ‘Infernal Affairs’ Reunion For New Hong Kong Thriller

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefVeteran Hong Kong director Herman Yau has assembled a top-notch cast for “War Customised,” a high-octane action thriller that is one of the highest-profile commercial productions to emerge from the territory in the past couple of years.The cast is headed by Jacky Cheung (“Private Eye Blues,” “Bullet in the Head”) and Nicholas Tse (“Raging Fire,” “Gen-X Cops”), along with Karena Lam (“Inner Senses,” “July Rhapsody”) and Francis Ng (“Infernal Affairs 2,” “Bullets over Summer”). The supporting cast includes Liu Yase (“Limbo”), Michelle Wai (“Caught in Time,” “Triad”), Angus Yeung (“Raging Fire”), Melvin Wong (“Above the Law”), Ben Yuen (“Tracey,” “Anita”), Amanda Strang (“Final Romance”), and Brahim Chab (“Monkey Man,” “Vanguard,” “Ganopath”) as the villain of the piece.

Jimmy Wang Yu, a Taiwanese actor who was once one of the biggest stars of martial arts cinema, died Tuesday in a Taipei hospital from an undisclosed illness he battled for six years. He was 79 and his death was announced on Instagram by his daughter, Linda Wang.

Vivienne Chow Two Hong Kong protest-related films that are unlikely to ever be screened in their home territory will take center stage at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, in the event’s Chinese independent documentaries section. The festival runs at multiple venues May 6-15, 2022.The eight-title Chinese independent documentaries section will give “Blue Island” by Chan Tze Woon (“Yellowing”) its Asian premiere and a world premiere to “The Grass is Greener on the Other Side” by Crystal Wong.The two films explore the fate of Hong Kong against the backdrop of the aftermath of the 2019 protests.

EXCLUSIVE: Paloma Kwiatkowski (Riot Girls), Donal Logue (Sons Of Anarchy), David Mazouz (Gotham), Camille Sullivan (Hunter Hunter), and Golden Globe nominee Adam Beach (Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee) have been set to star in supernatural thriller The Island Between Tides.

Wilson Chapman editorWhile another trio is hosting the Oscars this year, Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short made an appearance during the telecast in the first look teaser footage for Season 2 of their hit Hulu comedy series “Only Murders in the Building.”The three actors star in the series as Mabel Mora, Charles-Haden Savage and Oliver Putnam, three tenants at a New York apartment complex the Arconia who discover a shared love for true crime podcasts. In Season 1, the strangers team up together to solve the murder of Mabel’s childhood friend and fellow Arconia tenant Tim Kono (Justin Cihi).Season 2 follows up on the cliffhanger ending of the season finale, which saw the case solved but the crew framed for the murder of Arconia board president Bunny (Jayne Houdyshell).

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has your first look at the film Across the River and Into the Trees, starring six-time Golden Globe nominee Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), which is opening the Sun Valley Film Festival on March 30.

Andy Cohen is announcing some major news about Real Housewives of New York City.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHit by mandatory closures through 40% of 2020-21, the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park and resort trimmed its losses to HK$2.4 billion ($308 million), management reported on Monday.The park and its hotels operate a financial year that runs from October to September and reported the figures nearly six months in arrears. The park and hotels are currently closed, following yet another government order in early January 2022.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA first look at the third and final season of “Derry Girls” is finally here.U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled the first Season 3 still and trailer for the show, which garnered global popularity via Netflix.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong’s broadcasters and streamers were active buyers of content ahead of this week’s FilMart. Pay-TV platform, Now TV picked up a nine-title package of factual content from All3Media International.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAfter “Parasite” and “Squid Game” struck planet-wide notes with their critique of elitism, Trevor Choi’s “Smashing Frank” is a timely Hong Kong twist on the revenge-against-the-rich theme. It is being pitched at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) that this week runs alongside the FilMart rights market.“This is a comedy-drama about four millennials who form a squad to rob the rich. During the course of the crime, they are outraged as they gradually realize that the older generation will never change their ways.

Vivienne Chow Hong Kong’s ongoing anti-COVID restrictions are forecast to cost the city’s cinemas HK$1.5 billion ($192 million) in lost box office receipts and cause the unemployment of thousands of people in the cinema business.The Hong Kong Theatres Association, which represents the city’s cinema operators, says that the damage to the industry in 2022 will be worse than in the past two years.Cinemas have been ordered to remain closes from Jan. 7 until at least April 20, 2022 (a minimum of 104 days) reflecting the course of the virus’ fifth wave in the city, which has turned out to be by far the most deadly.Hong Kong cinema are certain to lose both the Lunar New Year and the Easter holiday seasons, two of the peak viewing periods.

Vivienne Chow After a film career spanning more than three decades, production-costume-art designer Tim Yip has achieved plenty, including winning an Oscar and a BAFTA award. But he is only now launching his most uncompromising production, which he calls a “living film project,” and which he hopes will challenge the tradition of cinema.“I want to make a film that is infinitely long,” Yip told Variety.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFree Stone Productions has added a quartet of new Japanese film titles to its sales slate for this week’s virtual edition of Hong Kong FilMart. The female-led company is selling romance “Leave in Summer” and drama film “Yes, I Can’t Swim” both of which will release later this year.Directed by Igashi Aya, “Leave in Summer” is a tale of a lost soul and his spiritual guide. It depicts a man washing up in a seaside town at the end of the season and seeking to stay so that he can reconnect with his recently deceased wife.

Mirror singer and actor Anson Lo has joined the cast of Bizhan Tong’s upcoming action thriller Chungking Mansions. Billed as Hong Kong’s biggest zombie film ever, the Phoenix Waters Productions pic, in co-production with AMM Global and Salon Films Japan, has also added Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee and Jeannie Chan, Korea’s Choi Si-Hun and Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAsian sports streaming platform SPOTV has launched in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines. The move was announced on the first day of the virtual FilMart rights market.The service is available as a subscription-based app that includes linear channels and on demand event coverage. The sports it covers include MotoGP World Championships and World Superbike Championships; World Badminton Federation Tour; the Korean Baseball League; V.League Japan and Formula E motor racing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOrganizers of Hong Kong FilMart, normally Asia’s biggest film and TV rights market, are putting on a brave face despite their prestige event being forced into an online-only format for the third time in a row.The city’s borders are closed to travelers from several key countries and its onerous quarantine on-arrival conditions show no sign of being lifted during the current fifth wave of COVID-19 infections.But, while many Asian industry executives have been unable to attend an in-person festival or market for some two years now, and are keenly awaiting the first opportunity, these days they are also vastly more experienced at dealing with virtual markets, video conferencing and online screenings. The number of companies participating as exhibitors at FilMart 2022 is set to reach 750, compared with 680 last year.