Trevor Choi Pitches ‘Smashing Frank’ as Meaningful Entertainment From Hong Kong – HAF

A special delivery. Pete Davidson borrowed girlfriend Kim Kardashian‘s new pink car to hang out at Kourtney Kardashian‘s ex Scott Disick‘s house.

HBO Max is slowly turning into the home for projects directly connected to the cinematic side of WarnerMedia. The streaming service hosts multiple feature films set in the DCEU and even two shows directly set in the world of Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.” Now, HBO Max is setting its sights on a recent billion-dollar horror film property.

Martin Scorsese’s Boston gangster movie “The Departed” was loosely based on the thrilling Hong Kong crime epic “Infernal Affairs” that starred Asian superstars Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Well, the pair of actors are reuniting for a new thriller, “Goldfinger,” aka, “Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong,” that will be written/directed by Felix Chong, who penned the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy.

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.

Oorbit, the emerging technology company making high-quality interactive entertainment for the metaverse available to everyone, has closed a $5 million (£3.8m) seed round of funding.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefColleen Kwok’s “The Stars The Sun The Moon” won the top prize for a Hong Kong-produced in-development project at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. Mainland Chinese title “Not Found” by Huang Ningwei won the equivalent prize for the best non-Hong Kong project.A total of 14 prizes were announced at a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, with “Silent Ghosts,” another local project, directed by Hang Yeng, collecting the top work in progress award.HAF organizers said that this year’s online platform hosted more than 900 private meetings between filmmakers and potential backers, a figure that was almost double the level of activity in 2020, when COVID forced the project market into a virtual format for the first time.

Franz Ferdinand have announced a North American tour following the release of their greatest hits compilation, ‘Hits To The Head’ – buy tickets here.The US leg runs from August to September with stops in Atlanta, New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles and will mark the Scottish band’s first tour of the country since 2018. General on-sale for the tour kicks off Friday (March 18) at 10am local time.

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.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe shares of China’s largest entertainment and tech companies plunged for a second day on Tuesday as Russia’s war in Ukraine, regulatory warnings and China’s slowing economy all combined to signal tougher times ahead.Alibaba shares crashed 11.7% to reach an all-time low of HK$71.2 in Hong Kong, where they have a secondary listing. Tencent shares plunged by 10.2% to HK$298, their lowest in several years. Both companies have in the past held the title of China’s largest enterprise and are major components of the Hang Seng Index of leading equities.The Hang Seng Index fell by more than 1,000 points and by nearly 6% on Tuesday to close at 18,415.

Matt Hancock has been accused of using the UK's refugee scheme to improve his personal image by taking in a Ukrainian family.

Naman Ramachandran Celebrated Israeli filmmaker Matan Yair, whose “Scaffolding” has had festival play at Cannes, Zurich and Singapore, is nearly ready with his new film, coming-of-age drama “A Room of His Own.”The film, which is in the work-in-progress strand of Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), follows 17-year-old Uri, who has botched his first army interview. Since Uri’s father moved out, his mother has been sleeping in Uri’s room.

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.