Alexi Tan, a screenwriter and director who was a protégé of John Woo, has teamed with artist Charles Simpson to launch comic book “Monk Wars.”
The “Monk Wars” universe is a dystopian gritty world filled with martial arts action and a broad array of diverse characters. The first book will follow Monk Ma, who has ancient animal powers, as he assembles his followers to take on the Rat-Men soldiers.
The project is being steered by David U. Lee’s Beijing-based Leeding Media which will manage all media rights to the comic book including film, television and web series. Weston Suh’s Los Angeles-based Final Order Comics has partnered to take print publication rights for the first book and subsequent issues.
“I want to create a world that introduces classic martial arts animal fighting styles from movies I grew up watching and turn them into superpowers for a new generation of young heroes,...
The “Monk Wars” universe is a dystopian gritty world filled with martial arts action and a broad array of diverse characters. The first book will follow Monk Ma, who has ancient animal powers, as he assembles his followers to take on the Rat-Men soldiers.
The project is being steered by David U. Lee’s Beijing-based Leeding Media which will manage all media rights to the comic book including film, television and web series. Weston Suh’s Los Angeles-based Final Order Comics has partnered to take print publication rights for the first book and subsequent issues.
“I want to create a world that introduces classic martial arts animal fighting styles from movies I grew up watching and turn them into superpowers for a new generation of young heroes,...
- 5/12/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The partners are moving ahead on their local-language co-production and Chinese remake of the rom-com in a move that will resonate with the global vision of new Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman.
My Best Friend’s Wedding is scheduled to open in China on Valentine’s Day 2016 and stars Shu Qi, Feng Shaofeng, Song Qian aka Chinese singer and actress Victoria Song (pictured) and Ye Qing.
Alexi Tan of Blood Brothers and Color Me Love fame will direct and produce with his company Play Productions.
Principal photography is scheduled to commence in late July on location in London, Italy and Beijing.
My Best Friend’s Wedding centres on a journalist who sets off to London to visit her lifelong best friend and win his heart after he announces he is to be married to a wealthy Chinese girl.
Hong Jiu, Fu Linran and Tan co-wrote the screenplay.
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Columbia Pictures on this...
My Best Friend’s Wedding is scheduled to open in China on Valentine’s Day 2016 and stars Shu Qi, Feng Shaofeng, Song Qian aka Chinese singer and actress Victoria Song (pictured) and Ye Qing.
Alexi Tan of Blood Brothers and Color Me Love fame will direct and produce with his company Play Productions.
Principal photography is scheduled to commence in late July on location in London, Italy and Beijing.
My Best Friend’s Wedding centres on a journalist who sets off to London to visit her lifelong best friend and win his heart after he announces he is to be married to a wealthy Chinese girl.
Hong Jiu, Fu Linran and Tan co-wrote the screenplay.
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Columbia Pictures on this...
- 5/26/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
That Blood Brothers director Alexi Tan intended to continue his relationship with producers Terence Chang and John Woo via their Lion Rock Entertainment is not at all news. Tan's relationship with that duo is well established and shortly after Blood Brothers word came out that they would be working together again on an action film titled Detour. So the working relationship, not a surprise. That they've actually gone and completed another film together now, also not a surprise. That the film they've done is not only not Detour but also of an entirely different genre, well, that part's a bit of a surprise.
With up and comer Yao Chen in the lead, Color Me Love appears to be a Chinese take on The Devil Wears Prada, a rom-com targeted directly at the growing class of Chinese young and upwardly mobile. The first trailer has just arrived and, this being a Tan film,...
With up and comer Yao Chen in the lead, Color Me Love appears to be a Chinese take on The Devil Wears Prada, a rom-com targeted directly at the growing class of Chinese young and upwardly mobile. The first trailer has just arrived and, this being a Tan film,...
- 9/28/2010
- Screen Anarchy
London -- Director-producer John Woo is to be awarded a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement during next year's Venice International Film Festival, organizers said Monday.
Venice organizers describe Woo as an "innovator of the contemporary language of cinema" and plan to dish the honor out during the 67th edition of the grand dame of film festivals, which runs Sept. 1-11.
The decision was made by the Biennale di Venezia board, chaired by Paolo Barattaa after Venice festival director Marco Mueller backed Woo for the plaudit.
Woo has plied his moviemaking trade both in Asia and Hollywood, making films such as "A Better Tomorrow," "The Killer" and "Bullet in the Head " in the Far East and "Broken Arrow," "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2, in the U.S. Woo also authors video games and graphic novels.
Woo will return to the Venice film festival for the fourth time. In 2004 he was...
Venice organizers describe Woo as an "innovator of the contemporary language of cinema" and plan to dish the honor out during the 67th edition of the grand dame of film festivals, which runs Sept. 1-11.
The decision was made by the Biennale di Venezia board, chaired by Paolo Barattaa after Venice festival director Marco Mueller backed Woo for the plaudit.
Woo has plied his moviemaking trade both in Asia and Hollywood, making films such as "A Better Tomorrow," "The Killer" and "Bullet in the Head " in the Far East and "Broken Arrow," "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2, in the U.S. Woo also authors video games and graphic novels.
Woo will return to the Venice film festival for the fourth time. In 2004 he was...
- 12/21/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- As the Toronto International Film Festival gets underway, upstart Canadian distributor Maximum Films on Thursday said it has signed a pact with Fortissimo Films that will see its films sold in Asia in return for releasing Fortissimo titles in Canada.
The two-year agreement will see Maximum -- launched in August by veteran producer Robert Lantos -- acquire the Canadian distribution rights to Fortissimo's lineup. The deal will kick off with Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", Australian director Peter Duncan's "Unfinished Sky", German filmmaker Jan Schuette's "Love Come Lately" and the Ran Tal documentary "Children of the Sun".
In turn, Amsterdam- and Hong Kong-based Fortissimo will shop Maximum titles in Asia, including Toronto opener "Fugitive Pieces" from Jeremy Podeswa, Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg" and Atom Egoyan's "Adoration".
The deal helps strengthen weak spots for both parties.
Fortissimo co-chairman Michael Werner said his company has traditionally relied on U.S. distributors to sub-license its titles to Canadian distributors. The Maximum deal, he said, will give Fortissimo more control in the market during a period of growth.
The two-year agreement will see Maximum -- launched in August by veteran producer Robert Lantos -- acquire the Canadian distribution rights to Fortissimo's lineup. The deal will kick off with Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", Australian director Peter Duncan's "Unfinished Sky", German filmmaker Jan Schuette's "Love Come Lately" and the Ran Tal documentary "Children of the Sun".
In turn, Amsterdam- and Hong Kong-based Fortissimo will shop Maximum titles in Asia, including Toronto opener "Fugitive Pieces" from Jeremy Podeswa, Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg" and Atom Egoyan's "Adoration".
The deal helps strengthen weak spots for both parties.
Fortissimo co-chairman Michael Werner said his company has traditionally relied on U.S. distributors to sub-license its titles to Canadian distributors. The Maximum deal, he said, will give Fortissimo more control in the market during a period of growth.
Related story: Three at fest headed to IFC
Related story: Christie's digital gets screen billing
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its most American-friendly lineup in years, capped off with new titles from Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader and Robin Swicord.
Toronto boasts no official competition. But the Hollywood contingent booked for the twice-nightly gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall looks set to turn the high-profile venue into an industry shindig.
Among the six new gala titles are Harlin's "Cleaner", a Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cop-turned-crime scene cleaner; the Richard Attenborough-directed love story "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton and Neve Campbell; and Schrader's "The Walker", a ThinkFilm release starring Woody Harrelson and Lauren Bacall that comes to Toronto by way of Berlin, Cannes and Sydney.
Also joining the Roy Thomson Hall party are two Sony Pictures Classics releases: Kenneth Branagh's Michael Caine-Jude Law starrer "Sleuth", which first bowed in Venice, and Swicord's "The Jane Austen Book Club", starring Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello. Also booked for a gala is French director Alain Corneau's "Le Deuxieme Souffle", starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci.
Those titles join such earlier Roy Thomson Hall entries as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton", Gavin Hood's "Rendition", Terry George's "Reservation Road" and Aristomenis Tsirbas' "Terra".
Toronto, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to make its festival more Hollywood friendly, also has included 28 U.S.-produced films in its 50-strong Special Presentations sidebar.
The latest Special Presentations titles include the Michael Moore documentary "Captain Mike Across America", Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's "Bill", Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts" and Jason Reitman's "Juno", the follow-up to "Thank You for Smoking", which was a Toronto festival breakout hit two years ago.
Also joining today are the latest works from Jonathan Demme, Alison Eastwood, Brian De Palma, Thomas McCarthy and Anand Tucker.
Toronto will unspool 352 films between Sept. 6 and 15 -- 261 features and 91 shorts. The lineup includes 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres, many of which will bow in Venice before jumping the pond to Toronto. In addition, 71 of the films are directorial debuts.
The festival lineup promises a strong French contingent, including a dozen titles arriving in Toronto with U.S. distribution deals in hand.
High-profile French titles looking for U.S. distribution include Amos Gitai's "Disengagement", Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee En Deux", which will bow in Venice, and Eric Rohmer's "Les Amours D'Astreet et De Celadon," another North American premiere by way of Venice.
John Kochman, executive director of Unifrance USA, said the strong French presence in Toronto is due primarily to festival co-directors Piers Handling and Noah Cowan remaining "unreconstructed Francophiles" eager to program French titles in their event.
Other new titles announced Wednesday include Wayne Wang's "The Princess of Nebraska" and "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," both portraits of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Wang will bring the two indie titles films to the festival's Masters program.
Toronto added eight more documentaries to its Real to Reel section, including films by Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner, Olga Konskaya and Andrea Nekrasov, Julian Schnabel, Ran Tal, Philippe Kholy and Grant Gee.
In addition, the previously announced "Body of War", co-directed by Ellen Spiro and talk show legend Phil Donahue, will see its premiere accompanied by a live performance by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who wrote original songs for the Iraq documentary.
The festival has its usual complement of films about war and political protest that, according to festival co-director Noah Cowan, reflect a "seriousness of purpose and a real sense of drive to tell political stories."
"In many ways, the body of films recalls the American independent movie of the 1970s," he added.
American auteur films including Alan Ball's "Nothing Is Private", a drama about sexual politics and bigotry set against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War, De Palma's war drama "Redacted" and Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" reflect anti-war "provocation," Cowan said.
Toronto's lineup also includes a surprising number of crime-themed dramas, including Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", a drama about three friends taking on a life of big-city crime; Comeau's fugitive drama "Le Deuxieme Souffle"; Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a thriller about a botched robbery; Brad Furman's "The Take", about the aftermath of an armored car heist; and Ira Sachs' "Married Life", a drama about a husband who kills his wife to spare her the shame of divorce.
Cowan said that the crime-themed movies this year recall the '70s-era vigilante movies that coincided with Vietnam.
"When the U.S. is faced with wars that are frustrating in their inability to be totally understood, that comes out in their films," Toronto's top programr said.
"Just as the 1970s, there's films that reflect paranoia about government and police corruption and which come from a frustration and rage about what's happening in the world," he added.
Other Toronto highlights announced Wednesday include talks by President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, an update on Bill Maher and Larry Charles' anti-religion documentary and a briefing on the ongoing crisis in Darfur courtesy of International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle.
Toronto is set to open Sept. 6 with Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" and close 10 days later with another Canadian film, Paolo Barzman's "Emotional Arithmetic".
A complete list of titles screening at Toronto follows:
Galas:
"Across the Universe", Julie Taymor, U.S.
"L'Age Des Tenebres", Denys Arcand, Canada
"Blood Brothers", Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong
"Caramel", Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France
"Cassandra's Dream", Woody Allen, Britain
"Cleaner", Renny Harlin, U.S.
Related story: Christie's digital gets screen billing
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its most American-friendly lineup in years, capped off with new titles from Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader and Robin Swicord.
Toronto boasts no official competition. But the Hollywood contingent booked for the twice-nightly gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall looks set to turn the high-profile venue into an industry shindig.
Among the six new gala titles are Harlin's "Cleaner", a Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cop-turned-crime scene cleaner; the Richard Attenborough-directed love story "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton and Neve Campbell; and Schrader's "The Walker", a ThinkFilm release starring Woody Harrelson and Lauren Bacall that comes to Toronto by way of Berlin, Cannes and Sydney.
Also joining the Roy Thomson Hall party are two Sony Pictures Classics releases: Kenneth Branagh's Michael Caine-Jude Law starrer "Sleuth", which first bowed in Venice, and Swicord's "The Jane Austen Book Club", starring Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello. Also booked for a gala is French director Alain Corneau's "Le Deuxieme Souffle", starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci.
Those titles join such earlier Roy Thomson Hall entries as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton", Gavin Hood's "Rendition", Terry George's "Reservation Road" and Aristomenis Tsirbas' "Terra".
Toronto, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to make its festival more Hollywood friendly, also has included 28 U.S.-produced films in its 50-strong Special Presentations sidebar.
The latest Special Presentations titles include the Michael Moore documentary "Captain Mike Across America", Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's "Bill", Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts" and Jason Reitman's "Juno", the follow-up to "Thank You for Smoking", which was a Toronto festival breakout hit two years ago.
Also joining today are the latest works from Jonathan Demme, Alison Eastwood, Brian De Palma, Thomas McCarthy and Anand Tucker.
Toronto will unspool 352 films between Sept. 6 and 15 -- 261 features and 91 shorts. The lineup includes 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres, many of which will bow in Venice before jumping the pond to Toronto. In addition, 71 of the films are directorial debuts.
The festival lineup promises a strong French contingent, including a dozen titles arriving in Toronto with U.S. distribution deals in hand.
High-profile French titles looking for U.S. distribution include Amos Gitai's "Disengagement", Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee En Deux", which will bow in Venice, and Eric Rohmer's "Les Amours D'Astreet et De Celadon," another North American premiere by way of Venice.
John Kochman, executive director of Unifrance USA, said the strong French presence in Toronto is due primarily to festival co-directors Piers Handling and Noah Cowan remaining "unreconstructed Francophiles" eager to program French titles in their event.
Other new titles announced Wednesday include Wayne Wang's "The Princess of Nebraska" and "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," both portraits of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Wang will bring the two indie titles films to the festival's Masters program.
Toronto added eight more documentaries to its Real to Reel section, including films by Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner, Olga Konskaya and Andrea Nekrasov, Julian Schnabel, Ran Tal, Philippe Kholy and Grant Gee.
In addition, the previously announced "Body of War", co-directed by Ellen Spiro and talk show legend Phil Donahue, will see its premiere accompanied by a live performance by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who wrote original songs for the Iraq documentary.
The festival has its usual complement of films about war and political protest that, according to festival co-director Noah Cowan, reflect a "seriousness of purpose and a real sense of drive to tell political stories."
"In many ways, the body of films recalls the American independent movie of the 1970s," he added.
American auteur films including Alan Ball's "Nothing Is Private", a drama about sexual politics and bigotry set against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War, De Palma's war drama "Redacted" and Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" reflect anti-war "provocation," Cowan said.
Toronto's lineup also includes a surprising number of crime-themed dramas, including Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", a drama about three friends taking on a life of big-city crime; Comeau's fugitive drama "Le Deuxieme Souffle"; Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a thriller about a botched robbery; Brad Furman's "The Take", about the aftermath of an armored car heist; and Ira Sachs' "Married Life", a drama about a husband who kills his wife to spare her the shame of divorce.
Cowan said that the crime-themed movies this year recall the '70s-era vigilante movies that coincided with Vietnam.
"When the U.S. is faced with wars that are frustrating in their inability to be totally understood, that comes out in their films," Toronto's top programr said.
"Just as the 1970s, there's films that reflect paranoia about government and police corruption and which come from a frustration and rage about what's happening in the world," he added.
Other Toronto highlights announced Wednesday include talks by President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, an update on Bill Maher and Larry Charles' anti-religion documentary and a briefing on the ongoing crisis in Darfur courtesy of International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle.
Toronto is set to open Sept. 6 with Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" and close 10 days later with another Canadian film, Paolo Barzman's "Emotional Arithmetic".
A complete list of titles screening at Toronto follows:
Galas:
"Across the Universe", Julie Taymor, U.S.
"L'Age Des Tenebres", Denys Arcand, Canada
"Blood Brothers", Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong
"Caramel", Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France
"Cassandra's Dream", Woody Allen, Britain
"Cleaner", Renny Harlin, U.S.
- 8/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival gave world cinema the stage Wednesday as it announced slots for the latest films from Ang Lee, Manoel de Oliveira and Francois Ozon.
Toronto, which considers itself a barometer for international cinema, also announced a high-profile slot at Roy Thomson Hall for Alexi Tan's Chinese-language period drama Blood Brothers, scheduled to debut at the Venice Film Festival.
The 32nd annual Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 6-15.
Fortissimo Films' Brothers was produced by John Woo and Terence Chang and portrays three friends in 1930s China who move from the countryside to a life of crime in Shanghai.
Toronto also booked a Roy Thomson Hall sendoff for Bengali director Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear, which stars Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in her first leading English-language role.
Other Toronto titles unveiled Wednesday that will head here after Venice include Lee's Lust, Caution from Focus Features, Ken Loach's It's a Free World and The Sun Also Rises, Jiang Wen's China-Hong Kong co-production.
"Not only does this international presence speak to the diversity of the city of Toronto, but seeing ourselves reflected in films from other countries, we see how the art of filmmaking unites us all," festival co-director Noah Cowan said in making the announcement.
Toronto, which considers itself a barometer for international cinema, also announced a high-profile slot at Roy Thomson Hall for Alexi Tan's Chinese-language period drama Blood Brothers, scheduled to debut at the Venice Film Festival.
The 32nd annual Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 6-15.
Fortissimo Films' Brothers was produced by John Woo and Terence Chang and portrays three friends in 1930s China who move from the countryside to a life of crime in Shanghai.
Toronto also booked a Roy Thomson Hall sendoff for Bengali director Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear, which stars Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in her first leading English-language role.
Other Toronto titles unveiled Wednesday that will head here after Venice include Lee's Lust, Caution from Focus Features, Ken Loach's It's a Free World and The Sun Also Rises, Jiang Wen's China-Hong Kong co-production.
"Not only does this international presence speak to the diversity of the city of Toronto, but seeing ourselves reflected in films from other countries, we see how the art of filmmaking unites us all," festival co-director Noah Cowan said in making the announcement.
- 8/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- The world premiere of "Blood Brothers", an action film set in 1930s-era Shanghai from director Alexi Tan, will be the closing film at the 64th annual Venice Film Festival, organizers said Friday.
While "Blood Brothers" is Tan's first feature-length film, the production will not lack for experience, with director John Woo and producer Terence Chang on board as co-producers. The film is based on Woo's 1990 film "Die Xue Jie Tou" (Bullet in the Head).
The film will screen in Venice one day before it opens in Hong Kong.
The Aug. 29-Sept. 8 festival opens with Joe Wright's "Atonement", based on Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-winning novel.
While "Blood Brothers" is Tan's first feature-length film, the production will not lack for experience, with director John Woo and producer Terence Chang on board as co-producers. The film is based on Woo's 1990 film "Die Xue Jie Tou" (Bullet in the Head).
The film will screen in Venice one day before it opens in Hong Kong.
The Aug. 29-Sept. 8 festival opens with Joe Wright's "Atonement", based on Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-winning novel.
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.