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Chinese title |
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Wu Ji |
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Literal title |
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Infinity |
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English title |
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The Promise |
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a love story between a royal concubine and a slave. |
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Chen Kaige interview
(AICN)
By "Capone"
There are actually days when I feel like I have the best job in the
world, and the day I interviewed one of my heroes, the great Chinese
director Chen Kaige, was one of those days...
Review
(AP
via Yahoo! News)
By "Capone"
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here...
DVD review
(DVD
Talk)
By Joshua Zyber
Review
(Los
Angeles Times)
By Kevin Thomas
The resonant, romantic martial arts tale, by Chen Kaige, is China's
worthy submission for the Academy Awards...
Poor 'Promise' for Chen Kaige clunker
(The Hollywood Reporter)
By Kirk Honeycutt
Chen Kaige's epic fantasy "The Promise" (Mo gik), reputed to be China's
most expensive movie yet at $35 million, arrives here in a
disappointingly off-handed manner...
HuaYi slates 'Love,' 'Promise' - Pix include Chen's
Oscar contender 'Promise'
(Variety)
By Steven Schwankert
The four are "Perhaps Love," helmed by Peter Chan and starring Jacky
Cheung; director Chen Kaige's "The Promise," also China's entry in the
foreign-language Oscar race; "Hero" helmer Zhang Yimou's "Riding Alone
for Thousands of Miles," starring Jiang Wen; and Jeffrey Lau's "A
Chinese Tall Story," with Nicholas Tse...
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The Tomato Matter of WU JI / THE PROMISE
(RottenTomatoes.com) |
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May
7
2006 |
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(WIP) |
19 out of 65 reviews included at RottenTomatoes.com are recommending
this movie. The freshness is 29%, which is much lower than those of
other Chinese martial-art movies, like
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (96%),
Hero (94%) and
House of Flying
Daggers (88%). The international version, about 20
minutes shorter than the original version has been shown in Asia, was released in North America by
Warner Independent Pictures this weekend at a limited scale.
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Title |
Freshness |
#
of reviews |
Fresh |
Rotten |
Average rating |
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The
Promise |
29% |
65 |
19 |
46 |
5.1
/ 10 |
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
96% |
139 |
134 |
5 |
8.5
/ 10 |
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Hero |
94% |
178 |
168 |
10 |
8.2 / 10 |
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House of
Flying Daggers |
88% |
159 |
140 |
19 |
7.8 / 10 |
Click here for all 65 reviews of The Promise. |
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Internet
Filmmaker Hu Ge to Make Fun of Iraq War with THE LEGEND OF WMD
(MonkeyPeaches
Exclusive) |
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May 1,
2006 |
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Hu Ge (source unknown) |
Hu Ge, a young Chinese Internet filmmaker who has made director
Chen Kaige very mad, is making a new online film
Da Sha Qi Chuan Qi,
which can be loosely translated as The Legend of WMD.
Hu refused to reveal the plot but he said story of the short
film, which will only last for about 20 to 30 minutes, was
centered around the invention of a weapon. The characters
include George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein and a group of American
soldiers. Shot with money from the pockets of Hu Ge and some of
his friends, the short film will be made downloadable for free.
Even thought the shooting has already begun in China's southern
city of Shenzhen, Hu is still looking for sponsors to cover at
least a part of the production cost.
Hu suddenly became famous after his Internet short film
Bloody Case that Started from a Steamed Bun
became a hot download.
Steamed Bun is made as
a fictional episode of CCTV's news program Justice Online and the
content is about a series of murders based on the plot of
The Promise. It was
made with footages from
a DVD containing a
bootlegged video of
The Promise and
recorded videos of the real Justice Online. Majority of the Chinese, who
were disappointed by Chen's
The Promise, reacted
to
Steamed Bun
very positively but Chen Kaige were deeply upset at it. Out of rage,
Chen threatened to sue Hu but changed his mind recently. Earlier this
year, Hu made another short film, about the annual traveling rush during
the Chinese New Year, with footages from Zhang Yimou's
Hero. Popularity of
the new short film is low and director Zhang Yimou simplify ignored it.
Click here for several production stills
of The Legend of WMD.
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An Actual Positive Review of WU JI / THE PROMISE,
the International Version
(AICN) |
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April 20,
2006 |
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(WIP) |
Click here
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WU JI / THE PROMISE North American Trailer in
HD
(Apple.com) |
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March 24, 2006 |
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(WIP) |
Click here
(Thanks to "Yannina" from Warner Bros.)
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The Weinsteins
Abandoned Chen Kaige's WU JI / THE PROMISE
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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December 29, 2005 |
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(China
Film Group) |
The Weinstein
Co. has handed
back
the rights of the film in all major English speaking countries to its
producers, China Film Group Corp. and Moonstone Entertainment.
Reportedly, the producers of the film, including director Chen Kaige,
demand a wider released in the US and the Weinsteins are only willing to
give it a limited exposure. The Weinsteins get a full load of homemade
films ready to sell at the Oscar and promoting a foreign import is not
their priority. Producer Etchie Stroh will continue push the film with
his less known Moonstone Entertainment. The film's title will be changed
back to The Promise and Master of the Crimson Armor, the
title the Weinstines picked for English speaking countries, will no
longer be used. However, only the 102 minute version, rather than the
original 121 minute version, will be available to the market outside of
Asia.
(Thanks to PY
Kong.)
Related Stories:
Weinstein ends collaboration on release of Chinese movie, by
Robert W. Welkos, Patrick Frater, Los Angeles Times
"Promise" broken: Chen Kaige film in flux,
by Gregg Kilday, The Hollywood Reporter
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Just Like
the Old Weinsteins, The New Weinsteins Chops Chen Kaige's WU JI
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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December 28, 2005 |
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(China
Film Group) |
I knew it! I
have been expecting the news ever since I saw the full 2 hour version of
Wu Ji. I knew 2 hours are too long to be accepted by the
Weinsteins, especially the action only count less than one hour of the
film. I knew the Weinsteins would shorten it to make it more an actioner
than a melodrama. The question is - when.
Now it is
official. according to a Variety article by Patrick Frater, the
Weinstein Co. has chopped off 24 minutes of the film and, allegedly,
director Chen Kaige's had the honor of actually doing the chopping. The
slimmed version version will be only thing officially available outside
of Asia. In this case, the Weinsteins are again acted as businessmen,
and if the report of that Chen Kaige did the final cut of the slimmed
version was true, Chen should also be considered as a businessman rather
than a filmmaker. There is absolutely nothing wrong about maximizing
profit out of the investment. But should the people lose the right to
decide which version is better?
(Thanks to PY
Kong.)
Related Stories:
Studios hope leaner means greener, by
Patrick Frater, Varity
Weinsteins cut The Promise, Kaiju
Shakedown
The slimmed version are showing at
Fairfax 3 in LA. (Thanks to PY
Kong.)
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WU JI / THE PROMISE / MASTER OF THE CRIMSON
ARMOR Performes Strong in China
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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December 22,
2005 |
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(China
Film Group) |
According to Shanghai based Jiefang Daily, the box-office revenue
of Chen Kaige's fantasy epic Wu Ji / The Promise / Master of the Crimson
Armor just passed 100 million yuans (US$12.38) today. Zhang Yimou's
Hero
reached the number in seven days, one day shorter than
Wu Ji
did. The film's distributor China Film Group Corp. estimated the film
would continue doing well for a while. However, its market share will
shrink with release of two new titles today, Zhang Yimou's low-budget
drama
Riding Along for Thousands of Miles
and Hong Kong director Jeffrey Lau's wacky action
A Chinese Tall Story.
Several bootlegged versions of Wu Ji has already shown up in
China's underground DVD market and at least one of them contains a video
converted directly from a copy of the film distributed to a movie
theater. A TV station operated at a coal mining company even broadcasted
the pirated video as a pay-per-view. Three years ago, Hero
remained un-pirated for almost two months until being released on DVD
and VCD legally, due to some very costly security measure.
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WU JI / THE PROMISE / MASTER OF THE CRIMSON
ARMOR Set New Records in China
(MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) |
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December
16, 2005 |
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(China
Film Group) |
Chen Kaige's fantasy epic Wu Ji / The Promise / Master of the Crimson
Armor has created the strongest opening ever in the mainland China. The revenue from
the pre-release screening day (Wednesday) is about 8 million yuans (US$
0.99 million), breaking the old record of 2.1 million (US$ 0.26 million)
set by Hero; the revenue from the opening day (Thursday) is 21.14 million yuans
(US$2.62 million), breaking the old record of 18 million yuans (US$ 2.23
million) set by Titanic; the revenue from the first weekend
(Thursday - Sunday) is 81 million yuans (US$10.03 million), breaking the
old record of 50 million yuans (US$ 6.19 million) set by Hero and
Kung Fu Hustle; the highest
single-day revenue is generated on Friday,
about 25 million yuans (US$ 3.10 million), breaking the old record of 22
million yuans (US$ 2.73 million). Wu Ji was the only movie
released this weekend, and reportedly, most screens were arranged to
screen the movie.
In Hong Kong, the revenue is rather weaker. The number for the first
weekend (Thursday - Sunday) is only about HK$ 2.39 million (US$ 0.31
million), behind the numbers by
King Kong
(HK$ 10.44 million / US$ 1.35 million)
and
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(HK$ 3.72 million / US$ 0.48 million).
However, only about half movie theaters in Hong Kong were showing
Wu Ji.
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