City Hong Kong Showbiz Latest News and Updates

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has acquired North American rights to Keoni Waxman’s romantic comedy The Modelizer, written by and starring Byron Mann (The Big Short), slating the film for a day-and-date release on July 14th.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Television Broadcasts, Hong Kong’s leading free-to-air broadcaster, has said that it is considering legal action against a group of shareholder activists. The shareholder group, seemingly led by Chow Ngai Keung and publishing its critiques on Facebook, has made a series of complaints about TVB. These include the allegation that TVB is operating a streaming app Maiduidui in Mainland China without the proper authorization and that TVB has misled shareholders over the official name of the company that ultimately holds executive control. The minority shareholders have also criticized TVB for investments in Mainland Chinese firm SMI and State Reserve Energy Bonds, which have cost the company HK$1 billion ($128 million) of losses, and for its 2021 acquisition of e-commerce platform Ztore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong Film Awards gave a huge dose of support to veteran filmmaker Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, naming her documentary “To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” as best film on Sunday, despite local controversy which saw it pulled from screens earlier this year. The numerical winner on the night was “Detectives Vs Sleuths,” which earned four major awards: best director, best screenplay, best actor (Sean Lau Ching-wan) and best cinematography. The hugely popular Sammi Cheng was named winner of the best actress award, her first win after six previous nominations. Michelle Yeoh was on hand to present the prize for best new performer to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman, for his role in “Sunny Side of the Street.” Yeoh, who recently won the Oscar for best actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” established her career in Hong Kong and won the same award back in 1986 with “Yes, Madam.”

Mabel Cheung’s controversial documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self scooped Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night (April 16), where the crowds also applauded an appearance by Best Actress Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Michelle Yeoh, who made history by winning the best actress Oscar for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” last month, made an emotional return trip to her native Malaysia last week. She visited her mother in time for the traditional Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, and stopped by the grave of her father who died in 2014. In an Instagram post on Wednesday she said, “Brought Mr. O home. Without my parents’ love and trust and support, I wouldn’t be here today.”A post shared by Michelle Yeoh 楊紫瓊 (@michelleyeoh_official) Her trip home represented a promise that Yeoh made during her Oscars acceptance speech.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji’s “Stonewalling” won the Chinese-language section of the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Firebird Young Cinema competition. Lila Aviles’s “Totem” won the equivalent Firebird Award for international films. The festival began on March 30 and concluded on Sunday evening with a world premier screening of “Vital Sign” at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre. The screening was accompanied by cast and crew including Louis Koo, director Cheuk Wan-chi, producer Jacqueline Liu and performers Neo Yao, Angela Yuen, Ng Wing-sze, Tony Wu and So Yuet-yin. In total, “Stonewalling” picked up three awards. In addition to the best film prize, it also collected the best actress prize for leads Huang Xiaoxiong and Yao Honggui and the FIPRESCI Award. The tale of an unwanted pregnancy, the film premiered at Venice and Toronto last year. The HKIFF jury said it “[reminds] us of the confusion, difficulty and suffering women face nowadays and the inescapable responsibilities they have to shoulder.  It inspires the audience to reflect on this important issue in modern society.  It is an invaluable film replete with empathy.”

Stonewalling, co-directed by Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji, was the big winner at Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), taking home three prizes including best film in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language) of the Firebird Awards. 

It has been a tough five years for Charlie Scott, but now he is firmly back on his feet.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine will open with a double bill of He Shuming’s “Ajoomma” and Kai Ko’s “Bad Education.” It will close with Zhang Yimou’s blockbuster period epic “Full River Red.” In between, the festival will showcase a stunning 78-title array of commercial and art-house films from across East Asia. Operating according to a motto of diversity –implying cultural asymmetries and artistic multiplicities – the 25th edition of the festival will run April 21-29. Organizers say that their selection “shows in real time how the cinemas of East and Southeast Asia have re-emerged from the gruelling period of the pandemic, not all in the same way and not all with the same results.”

Oscars due to his support of the Chinese government.The Hong Kong actor presented the award for best song at the Oscars earlier this month (March 12). Prior to the event, a petition was set up by activist Tong Wai-hung, claiming the actor’s involvement in the show “shows contempt for the people of Hong Kong” and that his presence will “damage the image and reputation of the film industry”.The petition, which accrued over 110,000 signatures, emerged following an interview with Yen where he doubled down on his opposition to the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.“It wasn’t a protest, ok, it was a riot,” the actor told GQ. “I’m not going to be here talking about how to change how people feel about it.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and media group, unveiled a top to bottom corporate restructuring that it says is intended to “unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness.”  The group, which has a current market capitalization of $228 billion, will split itself into six divisions of differing sizes. Each unit will have a CEO and a board of directors and can pursue independent fund-raising or even IPOs, when they are ready. At present Alibaba has its shares and ADR shares listed in Hong Kong and New York. Some parts of its media business also have their own Hong Kong share listing Alibaba Pictures. (And there is a healthcare business with yet another share quote.)

Tatiana Siegel On a chilly Oscars eve, Donnie Yen has just returned from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where he was rehearsing for the Academy Awards along with a slew of fellow global superstar presenters like Spain’s Antonio Banderas and India’s Deepika Padukone. The “John Wick: Chapter 4” scene-stealer, who hails from southern China, feels good about how the following night might unfold, namely for his friend and Hong Kong neighbor Michelle Yeoh. Her victory and that of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” would be a landmark moment for Asian representation, he says.  “I’ve known her for more than 20 years, and that’s one of the reasons I’m here — to support her and share in a possible historical moment,” he says of his “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny” co-star. “And ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ has a lot of Chinese language and it talks about the Chinese heritage, which I find out has been so accepted and embraced here. So, that really warmed my heart. I’m sure hoping for Michelle.” 

increasing censorship in the city.Film distributor VII Pillars Entertainment announced on Facebook that the release of “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” on Thursday had been canceled with “great regret” in Hong Kong and neighboring Macao.In an email reply to The Associated Press, the distributor said it was notified by cinemas that they could not show the film as scheduled, but it didn’t know why. The cinema chains involved did not immediately reply to a request for comment.For many residents, the Winnie the Pooh character is a playful taunt of China’s President Xi Jinping and Chinese censors in the past had briefly banned social media searches for the bear in the country.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was due to take place in the special administrative region of China this week. However, it would seem that the horror film‘s release has now been cancelled without a reason being provided.VII Pillars Entertainment said on its Meta socials (both Facebook and Instagram) that it was with “great regret” that the scheduled release of the film on 23 March had been cancelled.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The theatrical release of low-budget slasher movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in Hong Kong has been abruptly canceled just two days before its scheduled outing. No explanation has been offered, but suspicions that the film may have crossed one of Hong Kong’s increasingly complicated political red lines are certain to be raised. That is because the Winnie the Pooh character is unflatteringly perceived to have a physical resemblance to China’s president, Xi Jinping. Online search for Winnie the Pooh is heavily censored within mainland China and Winnie the Pooh products are not distributed. China did not permit the import and release of Disney’s 2018 Winnie the Pooh film “Christopher Robin.”

Although Filmart felt quiet on its first morning, with many attendees glued to their phones watching the Oscars, it soon turned into a reasonably vibrant market, with sales companies locked in back-to-back meetings, new project announcements and a few star appearances to liven up proceedings. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong Trade Development Council said Thursday that 7,300 executives from 41 countries had attended its FilMart and Entertainment Pulse events this week (March 13-16). “The revived physical marketplace was as vibrant and active as in the past,” organizers claimed. In 2019, the last year that FilMart was held as an in-person event, the TDC reported “close to 9,000 visitors from 52 countries and regions.” For 2023, it reported “over 700 exhibitors from 30 countries and regions,” including a record Mainland China exhibitor tally exceeding 330. Those numbers compared with 888 exhibitors from 35 countries and regions in 2019, including 264 exhibitors from China.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “We 12,” a movie featuring the entire group of 12 Mirror Canto-pop stars is part of the expanding production slate of Makerville, the talent and production arm of Hong Kong telecoms and TV group PCCW. The development is paralleled by an expansion of the production operations of Viu, PCCW’s multi-territory video streamer which recently confirmed its profitability. Makerville is the talent agency behind Mirror, which was created in 2018 through the “Good Night Show – Kingmaker” talent show on ViuTV, a PCCW terrestrial channel. And it was able to put all the band members on stage Wednesday at a promotional event within the FilMart rights market in Hong Kong.

Naman Ramachandran The future is Web3 was the consensus at a high-powered panel discussing the subject at Hong Kong’s FilMart on Wednesday. Weighing in with their knowledge and experience were Evan Auyang, group president, Animoca Brands; Jenefer Brown, executive VP and head of global products and experiences, Lionsgate; Lucas Cheungmanaging partner, Hong Kong, Gusto Collective and Jaeson Ma co-founder, 88rising, OP3N and EST Media. For the benefit of the lay people in the audience, Ma provided a handy definition of what exactly Web3 is. Ma explained that web1 was a phase where people could search for and read content, web2 is where companies were able to publish content and web3 is all about ownership.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kowloon Walled City — one of Hong Kong’s most famous landmarks, or infamous trouble spots, depending on your point of view — fell prey to the developers’ bulldozer 30 years ago. But it remains an icon of the territory’s gritty spirit and is being painstakingly re-created for action thriller feature “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.” The film is a beacon for how Hong Kong cinema is now evolving. Directed by hot-shot Soi Cheang, whose “Mad Fate” recently played in Berlin and is set for imminent local release, “Twilight” boasts leading stars Louis Koo, Sammo Hung and Richie Jen, plus emerging talents Philip Ng, Raymond Lau and Terrance Lau.

Marcus Lim Chinese TV producer Linmon Media struck a decidedly international tone during the presentation of its 2023-24 slate at FilMart, with presenters speaking about their Chinese-language projects in only English and Korean, and handing out sleek project literature in multiple languages. Apart from a slate of romance, medical and crime dramas targeted at domestic audiences, the studio is actively remaking its hit female-led contemporary drama “Nothing but Thirty” in Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong, having previously licensed the remake rights to Korean pay TV network JTBC. The drama, which follows the lives of three women as they transition from their 20s into their 30s, is emblematic of the Linmon slate, which is heavy on female-centric contemporary romance dramas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.K.- and Hong Kong-based company Phoenix Waters Prods. has formally partnered with Hong Kong’s Agog Films to create Phoenix Waters Asia, a new venture aimed at increasing content production in Asia. The venture was announced on the sidelines of a film investment conference held Tuesday in Hong Kong at the FilMart rights market, where Phoenix Waters Prods. CEO Bizhan Tong was a speaker. The two companies previously collaborated on “Chungking Mansions,” an ambitious pan-Asian action film on which Tong is director, and where production was previously scheduled for last year. Tong told Variety that lensing will start later this year, “after address any issues that could hinder filming in Hong Kong.”

EXCLUSIVE: MakerVille, the recently launched entertainment subsidiary of Hong Kong media group PCCW, is set to make a splash at Filmart, unveiling an ambitious slate of movies and premium series, following its debut feature Mad Fate, which had its world premiere at Berlin film festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, is back in full force in 2023, celebrating its 25th anniversary edition from April 21–29. A key component of the celebrations will be a focus on the Asian films of the 1980s. “We have never programmed these films, nor put together this kind of program before,” says Thomas Bertacche, the FEFF’s co-head. “But these were the films and directors that inspired us to shape Udine into the festival that it is today.” Pitching the historical lineup as “hidden treasures,” the selection is expected to include early works by Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Thailand’s Nonzee Nimibutr and South Korea’s Jan Sung-woo.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “We need more love stories, even if they have their ups and downs,” says Hong Kong-based producer Cora Yim, who is behind the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) in-development project “The Marriage Drive.” HAF runs takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  The film is a simple-to-describe idea that writer-director Lawrence Kan has been kicking around and developing for some six years. The story involves a middle-class professional couple — he’s in the legal sector, she’s in finance — and tracks their childless, but not loveless, marriage over a period of 10 years from marriage to divorce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Work-in-progress film project “The Remnant” is both a spotlight on those who feel powerless and also a very Hong Kong example of elements of the city pulling themselves up. “The Remnant” is one of the projects in the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unspooling March 13-15 alongside Hong Kong’s Filmart market. It tells the story of a former gangster who, upon his release from prison, sets up a laundry in an anonymous district and lives a quiet life. After property developers try to grab a rundown building, young gangsters try to throw people out of the building, drug addicts cause trouble and the old-timer heeds his neighbors’ calls and fights back.

Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, told Variety. “This support will increase the presence of Italian audiovisual content not only in cinemas, but also on streaming platforms, online distribution, television, everything,” he added.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Despite a barnstorming address celebrating the re-opening of Hong Kong and China by Bona Film Group COO Jiang De Fu, it is clear that the film industry in China is still suffering its own version of long-COVID, with box office tracking at around half of 2018 levels. “The Chinese box office was RMB60.7 billion ($8.89 billion at current rates of exchange) in 2018. And 83 films made over RMB100 million. 16 films that made over RMB1 billion. Post-pandemic, in 2022, China’s box office was RMB29.9 billion. [Just] 41 films made over RMB100 million. [And] 8 films made over RMB1 billion. We are now only at 50% of the level in 2018,” said Jiang aty a presentation on the first day of Hong Kong’s FilMart.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Post-Truth,” a Chinese comedy film about a cemetery plot salesman trying to salvage his reputation in the face of online assaults, topped the cinema box office in mainland China over the weekend, ahead of another new release title “Revival.” Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed that “Post-Truth” earned $17.0 million between Friday and Sunday. Including preview, it has a cumulative of $20.3 million. Crime drama, “Revival” earned $10.3 million over the weekend and has a running total of $11.4 million including previews. The two newcomers dominated the box office and relegated Hong Kong-produced courtroom drama “A Guilty Conscience” to a distant third place. “Guilty” took $2.3 million (RMB15.8 million) for a cumulative of $23 million since releasing on Feb. 24.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car was awarded with best feature at the Asian Film Awards (March 12), along with prizes for best editing and best original music. The multiple award winning Japanese drama premiered at Cannes film festival in 2021 and also won the Oscar for Best International Feature last year.  

From Crazy Rich Asians to an Oscar nomination! Michelle Yeoh started off her acting career in Hong Kong with action and martial arts films and has since become a critically acclaimed actress.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After three editions that were canceled due to a combination of COVID and bad timing, Hong Kong’s FilMart film rights market may have finally had some things go its way. It opens March 13 with many factors now moving in its favor. Not least of these are the moves by the Hong Kong government to end its previously harsh and persistent disease-control measures. The city wound down its disruptive quarantine and tracking measures at the end of 2022, opened its borders in January and finally dropped its mask mandate in the last 10 days. “We saw an immediate jump in interest from buyers and sellers after Chinese New Year’s border opening and there were no more restrictions on the food and beverage sector,” says Gloria Chan, section head for the entertainment industry at FilMart organizer, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The much-decorated Japanese drama “Drive My Car” was named the best film Sunday at the Asian Film Awards, defeating hot favorite “Decision to Leave.” Other notable awards went to Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda whose “Broker” debuted at Cannes, but which was largely shunned in his home country. “Decision to Leave,” which started the evening with ten nominations, was nevertheless rewarded with three awards, best screenplay, best production design and best actress for China’s Tang Wei.

Naman Ramachandran “Emily in Paris” star Lucas Bravo is thankful to George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who starred with him in hit 2022 romcom “Ticket to Paradise.” The dashing French star, who is also known for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” was speaking at a press meet for the 16th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, where he is a presenter. “George and Julia happen to be the most generous, kind and protective people I’ve ever worked with — they go out of their way to make the set a safe place,” Bravo said. “They gave me an opportunity to improvise, they made me feel loved and accepted. And I’ve learned with them that the bigger the star, the nicer the person, so it gives me a lot of fuel for the rest of my career.”

When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still — that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!So begins the narration for The Haunted Mansion, an attraction that originally opened in Disneyland, just outside of Anaheim, California, in 1969.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CJ ENM is putting an emphasis on TV content over feature film at the upcoming FilMart rights market in Hong Kong. The South Korean behemoth, which operates multiple studios and the TVing streaming platform, is touting at least six shows and formats. Sebastian Kim, the group’s director of international content sales and acquisition, will also be taking part in a Monday morning seminar “Spotlight Conversation: The Asian Wave in 2023 and Beyond” at FilMart. His lineup is headed by “The Heavenly Idol,” a fantasy, romance series which sees a priest from a different era transported to the present day as a pop idol. His training makes him a hopeless celebrity, but he has to learn to adapt. Starring Kim Min-gue and Go Bo-gyeol, the 12-part series began airing mind-February on tvN.