According to Beijing Times, producer of HERO Zhang Weijing, said filming of Zhang Yimou's next martial-art film, originally scheduled for next month, had been pushed back for at least two months due to the SARS factor. He said Zhang Ziyi was definitely in but no one else, including Andy Lau, had signed up. Zhang Yimou and his writing team are still working on the script. According to another paper, Shenyang Today, the budget of this untitled project will at lease match the level of HERO, which is US$31 million. He said several Hollywood studios had contact them for distributing the film in North American and other regions. Angered by MiramAxe's doing-nothing strategy for handling HERO, he has positively ruled out MiramAxe as the potential distributor.

Photos: http://www.sina.com.cn

According to a visitor to The Superhero Hype! Boards, someone called Howard Stern show, claiming he had seen the finished film, which was "nothing like what were seeing now" and was "INFREAKINGCREDIBLE". Click here for what else he has said.

Related Articles:

You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Ang Lee (Empire Online)

The "Hulk" of the Story is.. (Moviehole)

More... (Superhero Hype!)

According to Variety, here is the story of Jet Li's LABOR DAY:

An ambitious assistant DA gets the career-making job of prosecuting the son of an elusive crime lord. When the DA's pregnant wife is taken hostage by the crime lord, the prosecutor asks for help from his wife's ex-boyfriend, a Chinese gangster (Li). This is risky not only because the DA's new ally is on the wrong side of the law, but also because the gangster still loves the wife and thinks that saving her life might help win her back.

I say: it's just sound so familiar.

Related article: Jet Li Starring in Schwentke's Labor Day (Coming Soon!)

Jiefang Daily reports both names are kept as the project's working titles for now. Stephen Chow just finished his six-day trip to Shanghai. According to the paper, Stephen Chow visited several locations in Shanghai, including the Shanghai Film Studio backlot in the town of Chedun, which has hosted many film and TV productions including PURPLE BUTTERFLY, MO LI HUA KAI (JASMINES BLOOM) and MiramAxe production THE GREAT RAID. City scenes of the old Shanghai has been recreated on the backlot, which will be used to double Hong Kong from the 1950's. While in Shanghai, Stephen Chow also met Sammo Hung, the film's action director. Stephen Chow's assistant Tin Kai-man, told the paper the film will be "absolutely different from SHAOLIN SOCCER" but he refused to say any further. Tin played Iron Jacket in SHAOLIN SOCCER and will take another small role this time. Chinese director Feng Xiaogang (BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL), who worked together in an iced tea commercial, may take one or more than one cameos in the film. Zhao Wei, Mui the steamed bun cook from SHAOLIN SOCCER may also return, but not as the female lead and Stephen Chow has yet decide who should be the female lead. Stephen Chow will fly back to Shanghai next week.

Set in the 1950's Hong Kong and a few other places in the mainland China, Stephen Chow is playing some nobody who is dreaming about becoming a kung fu master. He travels around, meets many masters, and eventually becomes a master of his own.

MiramAxe has announced a wide released of a chopped and disfigured SHAOLIN SOCCER in North America on August 8, 2003, two years after the film's initial release in Asia.

SHAOLIN SOCCER, Miramax, and the Question of Subtitles

by Erich Kuersten, film and music critic

Thanks to Jason Powell

Wow, wow, wow, wow, and wow! I cannot believe what I just watched just now. This is one of many reasons why I avoid most movies from Hollywood.

John Book

Thanks to John Book

A photographer from Jiefang Daily, has grabbed a few snapshots on the set of SILVER HAWK. Story of the sequence is something like this: the bad girl (Li Bingbing) chased Silver Hawk (Michelle Yeoh) into an outdoor wedding party and later the inspector (Richie Jen) came to the scene.

According to Changjiang Daily, the film will be released in DVD and VCD as early as July, and theatrical  released has been aimed at September and October. In China, video distribution of a film is often handled by a separate company. Threatened by bootlegging, video released usually occur as early as only one week after being released in theaters. To fight piracy, TV productions are often released on video first and then  aired on TV later, a practice video producers have been trying to adopt for distributing movies. As the result of such cannibalization, tension between film industry and video industry has been growing. In January, bootlegged DVD and VCD of Chinese film HERO were released by one of its official video distributors, but were removed from the market by the authority. Financed by Columbia Pictures, Huayi Bros. Taihe and Xi'an Film Studios, WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH was shot almost two years ago but the release date have been pushed back again and again.

According to Screen Daily, John McTiernan (BASIC, DIE HARD 3, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, DIE HARD, PREDATOR) is set to helm MURDER IN CANTON*, a US$45 million action based on mystery novel series Judge Dee, by Dutch diplomat Robert Van Gulik. The project is pushed by Samuel and Victor Hadida's Davis Films, Peter Loehr's Ming Productions and Francoise DeDeu's D+ Productions, with backing from TF1. Hadida said "the basic story is a murder mystery but with adventure, fantasy, romance and martial arts." "Production is scheduled to start by the end of the year in New Zealand and China. The character of Judge Dee will be played by a Chinese actor with a Westerner as his sidekick."

The real "Judge Dee" (Chinese name: Di Renjie), lived in the 7th Century of China's Tang Dynasty. In nearly half centuries, he took various government positions, including president of the Supreme Court and Prime Minister. Di Renjie was known for his talent of solving cases and fighting corruptions. A novel about Di Renjie was written in the late 19th by an anonymous. Robert Van Gulik tried to translate the novel to Dutch (?) but later gave up and after WWII, he start writing his own novel - Judge Dee.

* "Canton" is the old way of translating the name of the city Guangzhou.

According to Hong Kong's Oriental Daily, Sammo Hung has been brought on board as the action director of KUNG FU, the upcoming comedy action by actor/director/screenwriter Steven Chow. Construction of the set of the 1950's Hong Kong will start next month in Shanghai. But he has yet found the female lead after months of searching.

More coverage:

A   B   C

Video:

The press conference

More Story: Zhang Ziyi appeared in TV commercial encouraging people to fight SARS

Aired on China's CCTV, it is one of 20 commercials featuring well-known figures from Chinese entertainment industry.

Here is the transcript (translation):

With a usual attitude, together, we will go through this unusually time. How to prevent SARS, it seems, we should wash our hands (more) frequently, keep the indoor air circulated, and don't forget wearing your surgical mask properly when going out. In this this usually time, besides paying more attention on personal hygiene, (one should) also be responsible for the health of other people. I believe protecting yourself means protecting others.

Keep Going, Chinese!

Sponsored by Mengniu Diary and the Commercial Department of CCTV

Watch the Commercial (Real Video / 33 seconds):      Stream (605 kb)      Download (zip file / 573 kb)

According to Hong Kong media, DRUNKEN MONKEY, the latest martial-art film by Shaw Brothers, had its premiere in Hong Kong yesterday. A May 1 theatrical released in the mainland China has been cancelled due to the SARS fear and instead, the movie has been released on DVD and VCD.

Leading man Wu Jing: A, B

More coverage on DRUNKEN MONKEY

According to Moviehole, "a test screening went down about as well as William Shatner's first LP" and "execs at Universal are turning green this week after a not so incredible screening of HULK." Apparently, Ang Lee "has turned in a melodramatic take on the comic book with an emphasis on drama - as in, really long and boring."

Drama is something Ang Lee has always been doing and he delivers what he has promised. Universal got the wrong people for the test screening.

"I would like to think that the fans, as loud and earnest as they can be, I hope they make up, like, 0.1 percent of the audience," Ang Lee told San Francisco Chronicle, "I wanted to embrace (the comic), but I also wanted to feel free to create my episode of the Hulk. If I got opinions from other places, I would be very distracted."

Related Articles:

"HULK" Sending Execs Green? (Moviehole.net)

Ang Lee's Transformation (San Francisco Chronicle)

The day before flying to Cannes, Zhang Ziyi had an telephone interview with Shenyang Today. She talked about the film, the director, her co-stars and herself...

Click here

According to Variety, 80 DAYS has been sold in more than 30 territories and "with Spain and Italy the only unsold major markets outside the U.S., foreign sales have kicked in more than 55% of the budget". With a budget of US$110 million, 80 DAYS is probably "the most expensive movie ever to be produced without a US distrib." The film is backed by Walden Media, controlled by Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz. In January, Paramount "broke off talks to serve as the partner on "Eighty Days" in the U.S. and a number of foreign territories". "Sources say the sticking points were budget and cast. Walden has a first-look deal with Disney, but "Eighty Days," which has been in development at the company for a few years, was never included in the deal." "Sources close to the pic say there's strong interest from U.S. majors, but studios have been waiting for footage."

Click here for the Variety article

Photos:

15 snapshots taken from the Berlin Set (JackieChanKids.com)

More shots from beach (Yahoo! News)

Pictures from the press conference in Cannes (Sina.com)

Great thanks to Marie M and Mary D

By far the most complete collection of stills extracted from the film.