The first part of John Woo's mega-budget blockbuster film Red Cliff (赤壁) has done phenominally well so far, topping box-offices in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan despite less than stellar reviews from the Chinese critics.
The second part of the two-parter is set for a Chinese New Year release in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on January 15, 2009, the film will premiere in South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore about a week later and in Japan in April 2009.
Can Red Cliff Part 2 do as well as Part 1? Well, we will have to wait till next year to find out but in the meantime, here is the trailer for Part 2 from YouTube... And from what I gather from the trailer, the style of Part 2 is very similar to Part 1, so if you enjoyed the first movie, chances are you will like the second one as well :-)
Source: http://varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/7516/53/
Tags: Red Cliff Part 2, John Woo, Red Cliff, Chi Bi.
Trailer for Red Cliff Part 2
Latest News On Chinese Movies
The Chinese movie industry has been abuzz with news on various big-budget films these last couple of days.
1. Jay Chou's new movie as a white haired gongfu expert.
Who would have thought that pop star Jay Chou (star of Iniial 'D' and Secret) will act as a white-haired highly skilled gungfu expert that teaches Once Upon A Time In China star Vincent Zhao, a highly trained martial arts exponent in real life, gongfu in Yuen Woo Ping's new movie True Legend. Check out this link for pics of Jay's new look in the film(gulp!). True Legend is about the life story of Beggar Su, a martial arts master who lived like a beggar and created the "Drunken Fist" style of martial art (popularised in the Jackie Chan classic movie Drunken Master). Jay will play the role of the er "Martial Arts God" in the film. Well, with special effects, anyone can be a gungfu expert and Jay Chou's gungfu moves were not all that bad in Curse Of The Golden Flower so... The film also stars Michelle Yeoh and Zhou Xun and is scheduled to be released in the middle of next year.
2. New Mei Lanfang Trailer
A new trailer on the much anticipated biopic of Chinese Opera legend Mei Lan Fang by Chinese director Chen Kaige and starring Leon Lai and Ziyi Zhang was released recently. Previously simply titled Mei Lanfang, it is now known as Forever Enthralled in English. I managed to find the trailer for this film on YouTube and it just has "epic" written all over it. The film will be released in China on December 12 this year. This should be good.
3. Andy Lau's Latest Project
Hong Kong star Andy Lau will star in a new Wong Jing sci-fi movie titled Future Cop. Co-stars include Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu, Xu Jiao (the cute kid in Stephen Chow's CJ7) and Taiwanese idol drama regular Mike He. According to this site, Andy Lau stars as a cop from the year 2085 who returns to 2010 to investigate crimes. Wow, a Chinese sci-fi film that is set in the future, we have not had this kind of film for a very long time. The movie is set for release in 2009 and there will also be on-location shoots in Dubai and Hong Kong.
More Chinese movie news next time...
Tags: Jay Chou, True Legend, Yuen Woo Ping, Vincent Zhao, Leon Lai, Ziyi Zhang, Mei Lanfang, Forever Enthralled, Andy Lau, Barbie Hsu, Future Cop, Chinese Movies.
