McDull - The Pineapple Bun Prince doesn't change a winning team : director Yuen Kun-To and producer Brian Tse are in charge of the McDull sequel which is due to 2004.This second animated movie should be focused on the father, Mc Bing, in a similar 2D/3D mix style. Trailer in 56k and in 300k.
Farm Boy Azhi is a Chinese animated movie produced by Animation Workshop studio and directed by Buck Mok. The animation (2D in a cell-shading technique) is very simple and a very Chinese design is used for a pleasant visual result. Trailer in 56k and 300k
Dragon Blade, directed by Anthony Szeto, is the first HK animated movie in full 3D ever produced. If we are far from the technical level of the latest 3D productions, the project remains interesting in his intentions. The plot seems to be typically inspired by kung fu and wu xia universe… Trailer available on the official website.
After a teaser as full of action as many trailers which made a buzz on the web, here's the trailer of Kill Bill Volume 1, the new film by Quentin Tarantino with Yuen Woo Ping as a choregrapher, legendary martial arts stars Sonny CHIBA and Gordon LIU Chia Hui and young japanese actress KURIYAMA Chiaki. The official running time of Volume 1 is 1h52. For Volume 2, nothing has been announced yet.
With the very kind permission of HK Film Top Ten, we are now able to gather all the news about movies currently in production and classify them so you'll be sure to not miss any informations on a movie during all its production process (just click on the "news/more about button" on each movie file). This kind of news will be updated weekly. We start today with a first batch of upcoming movies, the rest will follow next week. Note: if the links lead you tothe movie file in French, just click on the English flag on your left. Have a pleasant reading:
Once again, thank you very much to HK Film Top Ten for its appreciated contribution.
Tsui Hark has confirmed during a press conference in Korea that he will direct the adaptation of the manga and TV serie Initial D. The budget should be around 4M US$, and we only know that the name of Edison Chen is belonging to the cast. The story of Initial D is close to Legend of Speed, with youngsters doing illegal races in the streets.
About Seven Swords of Mount Tian:
-There should be 60 episodes instead of 35. The budget is announced around 10 millions de US$.
- Tony Leung Kai Fai and Charlie Young should join the cast. Liu Ye has also announced that Seven Swordmasters of Mt Tian should be his next project
-The shooting should begin at the end of year or beginning of 2004.
-Jacob Cheung, the co-director, will use this delay to direct another Wu Xia TV serie, Silkroad Hero, starring Nicky Wu et Theresa Lee as the main actors, and Chin Siu-Ho as the action director. The shooting should take place in the same location as for Seven Swords of Mt Tian, and will allow Jacob Cheung to prepare for the shooting of the Tsui Hark project..
Sources : wu-jing.org, Screendayli.com
Astec
That's when we thought that they were going to join Chuck Norris in the club of "Direct-to-video stars" that Jean Claude "Aware" Vandamme and Steven "Arm-breaker" Seagal are back in the spotlight thanks to some projects strongly related to Asia. JCVD has understood with Replicant that Ringo Lam is the only director who understands him and make good use of him. As a consequence, we should see him a lot in front of Ringo's camera. For Steven, the approach is a bit different, he is shooting or will be shooting a lot of movies in Asia and with asian staff.
The Savage (aka Hell) : the "Prison On Fire" of Jean Claude Vandamme and Ringo Lam has already a website ... in Spain! (Official spanish website) with a quite promising trailer... in spanish of course. Violent, dark, it's 100% Ringo's style. Let's hope and see...
After Death : we were expecting "The Monk", but Lam and Dam should be working on this 20 millions dollars project in 2004.
Out for A Kill : Now about our beloved Steven, we have this 20 millions US$ actioner. Seems that there is more action than usually, and the first reviews are much better than the ones for the latest productions from Steven. Have a look at the trailer...
Yakuza : another big project for Steven (with Gengis Khan) with this 35 millions US£ remake from Sidney Pollack's Yakuza. The interesting fact being that Donnie Yen and Corey Yuen should take care of the fight scenes. Not as crazy as his movie with Ching Chiu-Tung of course, but quite interesting...
Unleashed : Ringo Lam is not always shooting for JCVD, and this time it's Steven Seagal who is producing the movie. We don't know a lot about this project, except that it has a comfortable 22 millions US$ budget.
Belly of the Beast : we already talked about it a few weeks before, here comes the UFO, the Ching Siu-Tung actioner with Steven Seagal, shot in Thailand, with an 18 millions US$ budget. Russel Wong joined the cast, and the shooting is over. .
sources: imdb and google
Astec
For the website, see the link below
3 trailers for 3 blockbusters coming from China and Korea.
Warriors of Heaven and Hearth : postponed in order to avoid a too harsh concurrence with Hero in China, shooting of some additional action scenes to make it even mroe spectacular, direct references to Akira Kurosawa (here the Magnificient Seven)... The official website of this action blockbuster has just opened: Click, and features a first trailer.
My Wife is a Gangster 2: after the success of the first movie (already about to be remaked in the US with J-Lo), here come a sequel, again with Shin Eun-kyung. Zhang Zi-Yi will appear in a cameo. Official Website (in korean) and trailer (stream RM).
Natural City: another big budget from Korea, with a matrix-like science fiction style (means "big SFX with leather clothes"). The movie is directed by Min Byeong-Cheon and features Lee Jae-Un and Yoo Ji-tae. The story takes place in 2100 in submarine cities after the destruction of the world. Have a look at the trailer.
sources: monkeypeaches.com, koreanfilm.org, wu-jing.org
First indirect footage preview of GITS, Innocence is now available on the web. Its a one minute trailer seen in japaneses theaters and despite a low video quality, this sequence looks very exciting. Check it quickly 'cause this file can be removed at any time...
Thanks to catsuka.com, Projetcshirow.net and Ray from the IG Prod. forum
