Defending the Great Wall from monsters & other movies

[Randy W]

in the Shanghaiist and the SCMP

 

Matt Damon will be defending the Great Wall from monsters in new Chinese blockbuster

 

The Great Wall, China's most expensive movie, has Hollywood in its sights

 

The trailer for Zhang Yimou's latest film, revolving around one of China's most well-known wonders and starring one of America's biggest stars, was released yesterday.

 

 

The Great Wall, which will be Zhang's first mostly English-language movie, is China's latest effort to make its presence and influence felt in the global entertainment industry. In February, for the first time, the country generated a higher monthly box office than the US, US$650 million to US$640.

The movie is also China's latest attempt to exert its "soft power", edging into a territory that thus far has been dominated by Western pop culture.

 

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Legendary and Universal Pictures is producing the film with a budget of $135 million, making it China's most expensive film of all-time. The cast unites stars from both the East and West, including Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones), Hong Kong star Andy Lau, EXO band member Luhan, TFBOYS bandleader Wang Junkai, and Chen Xuedong (Tiny Times). This is the first English-language film for the legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou, who is very well-known in China for works including Hero, To Live and Red Sorghum.

 

[tsap seui]

We saw the trailer last night at our local yokel theater where the popcorn is good and the coke is pepsi. Being a fan of Zhang Yimou movies, and knowing that Quentin Tarrantino loves his work so much as to mention his name often, and even take the time to introduce some of his movies on DVD....we'll be there. In the theater with it's big woofers and Dolby-87 or whatever is the current DOlby these dayz....the movie looked and sounded pretty dang gud.

 

I liked what we saw last night too....Mat Demon in his current Jason Borne movie. I liked the crash scenes and the bad guys were gud enough for me to give the movie a Hustler movie rating of "3/4 of an erection". Sittin' right beside of me the whole time, Madam Nhu said the action scenes were too quick for her to follow and she only gave it a "flaccid penis" rating. Oh well, there you have our movie revue from the purple mountain majesty of the rural south central Pennsyltuckly mountains where our amber waves of grain bend oh so softly in the gentle breeze.

[Randy W]

"They can get bums on seats"

 

[jonathantwu]

with an annual limit of 20(?) imported movies for its domestic market, it is crazy for Hollywood not to cater to the will of Chinese market when it accounts for more than half of the box office revenue with movie gems like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jack Chang

Even tho two white faces on the great wall of china fighting monsters is nauseating to think about. Hey, I guess I am not their "targeted audience."

 

Hope it bombs.

Edited September 1, 2016 by jonathantwu (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Matt Damon's defense may be too late for some sections

 

Section of China’s Great Wall ‘paved over’ by local heritage bureau

 

It survived centuries of onslaught, but the fortification is no match for government restoration experts, who reportedly approved heavy use of lime to hold together loosening bricks

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

People's Daily, China added 2 new photos.

14 hrs ·

 

Initial Investigation Shows the Cement-like Pavement on Great Wall "Life-saving"

 

Local Administration of Cultural Heritage investigated into the highly-debated renovation of a section of Great Wall in Suizhong, northeast China’s Liaoning. Investigators have given their initial report, citing the renovation work as “life-saving”.

Though the pavement on the worn Great Wall looks like cement, it is actually lime earth, which forms a shell for protection. Additionally, the pavement will be worn away in three to five years, according to the report released on Friday.

“[The renovation work] doesn’t have be restore the exact original look. This one is actually life-saving, and it has to follow the principle of minimum intervention” said the expert investigator.

 

(The first picture shows the paved Great Wall in Suizhong, and the second shows its original look.)

 

 

That should keep the monsters away until the movie gets here.

[Randy W]

Next up is Arnie! (sigh) from the Shanghaiist . . .

Arnold Schwarzenegger set to star in 3D blockbuster about ancient Chinese kingdom

Quote

The mysterious film is titled The Guest of Sanxingdui, referencing the ancient Sanxingdui ruins near the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province.

this future 3D blockbuster is set to begin filming in March 2017 with an initial investment of $200 million, and be released in 2019. James Cameron's team will be invited to manage the film's post-production work, People's Daily reports.

According to Xinhua, Schwarzenegger said that the movie will be an "international story in order to introduce a global audience to the culture of Sanxingdui."

It's unclear whose film it is, Chinese or American - I don't see a clue, beyond this

Quote

Schwarzenegger will also act in and produce a film for Sanxingdui. The film will utilize photography techniques from Hollywood. James Cameron's team will be invited to manage the film's post-production work.

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

More on Arnie's movie

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Making A 3D Blockbuster In China And It Sounds Massive

 

The deal, which was announced by film investment company Beijing Ajimo, and reported by CRI, will have Arnold Schwarzenegger both producing and starring in the film which will begin production in March with an eye on a 2019 release. While the production will be Chinese, it's being promoted as an "international story." One would assume that the idea is to attract the west to the movie so that it can act as an introduction to Sanxingdui, a set of Chinese ruins that is believed to have belonged to the Shu kingdom which vanished 3,000 years ago. The ruins will feature prominently in the film, though no plot synopsis was released so exactly what the story will be, or how the ruins will fit in is not clear.

 

. . .

 

While China wants this new project to be successfully globally, it certainly needs to be a hit in the homeland as well, and using Schwarzenegger is a good way to help ensure that.

 

[Randy W]

in the Shanghaiist

 

"Zhang Yimou has died," wrote one popular Chinese movie critic.

 

 

'The Great Wall' rakes in $67.4 million at Chinese box office on opening weekend despite negative reviews

 

 

In response, LeVision CEO Zhang Zhao sent the critic an angry legal letter accusing him of defamation. Meanwhile, Zhang Yimou's wife also responded, posting on her own Weibo account: "The director worked very hard for the film and isn’t bothered about any unfair treatment. But he doesn't deserve the curses and personal attacks like this without any bottom line. He just made a film. Where is your conscience?"

"The Great Wall" will be coming to theaters around the world over the next few month, culminating in a February 17th release in North America. If you miss it, don't worry, there will be more just like it.

 

 

[Randy W]

. . . and the Pacific Rim opens up again! from the Guardian

 

Qingdao in the spotlight: Hollywood descends on China's east coast city

The coastal home of Tsingtao beer is building the world’s largest movie production facility, with the latest Pacific Rim film blockbuster now wrapping up shooting.

 

 

John Boyega on the set of Pacific Rim: Uprising in Qingdao. Photograph: JohnBoyega/Twitter

 

 

Now the focus is on the construction of the Qingdao Movie Metropolis in Huangdao district: a massive film-production facility and theme park that is hoped will make the city, in the words of the giant hànzi on the overlooking hill, “Movie Metropolis of the East”.

 

. . .

 

Pacific Rim: Uprising, starring the Force Awakens’ John Boyega, has just finished shooting at the partially completed $8.2bn movie metropolis. Projected to open officially in August next year, it will contain the world’s largest production facility: 400 acres, 45 sound stages, one a record-breaking 10,000 sq metres. It’s an attempt by Wang Jianlin – China’s richest man and the founder of the overarching Dalian Wanda group – to steal some of Hollywood’s thunder. Whether demand exists for such Ozymandean facilities is open to question. So far the only big budget takers have been Legendary Entertainment’s (owned by Wang) – the Pacific Rim sequel and the Matt Damon co-production The Great Wall.

Steve Dickinson, a 63-year-old lawyer who lived in Qingdao for a decade until last year, has his doubts: “If you talk to a Qingdao person about it, they’ll say: what?” He thinks the project’s real raison d’etre may be the horde of property construction – a neighbouring artificial island, apartment blocks, hotels, marina and hospital – surrounding the studios. “They’re building condos on an incredibly beautiful strip of beaches, where they shouldn’t be permitted to build them,” he says. “But that’s the concession for doing the movie thing.”

 

[Randy W]

‘Shang-Chi’ Wins a Warm Asia Greeting. Then There’s China.
Marvel’s first Asian superhero movie has yet to be released in the mainland amid fierce debate over its back story and star.

Michelle Yeoh and Simu Liu in a scene from "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."Credit...Marvel Studios/Disney-Marvel Studios, via Associated Press

Tony Leung, a legend in Hong Kong cinema, plays Shang-Chi’s father.Credit...Marvel Studios/Disney-Marvel Studios, via Associated Press

Quote

 

Worldwide, the movie has earned more than $250 million, all but guaranteeing audiences will be seeing more of Shang-Chi, the title character. Big sales in Asia helped: “Shang-Chi” earned more than $23 million in the Asia Pacific region and debuted at the top of the charts in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It also set an industry record for a September weekend debut in Hong Kong.

The movie is a retelling of the story of a little-known Marvel character created in 1973 — 16 years before Mr. Liu was born — and updated for today’s audiences. It centers on Shang-Chi, a young man working as a valet who is reluctantly drawn into his father’s deadly criminal organization, known as the Ten Rings.

 . . .

Despite its absence, the film has generated spirited debate on the Chinese internet. Global Times, a nationalist tabloid controlled by the Communist Party, published commentary that cited the racist origin of the character.

Readers of Shang-Chi comic books in the 1970s saw Asian faces colored in unnatural oranges and yellows. They saw the main character shirtless and shoeless, spouting “fortune-cookie platitudes in stilted English,” The New York Times noted recently. And then there was Shang-Chi’s father in the comics: He was named Fu Manchu and caricatured as a power-hungry Asian man, an image that harks back to the stereotypes first pressed upon Asian immigrants a century ago.

“How can Chinese people be insulted like this,” the Global Times commentary asked, “while at the same time we let you take our money?”

 . . .

Others, including some who said they had seen the movie, leapt to its defense.

“There is nothing wrong with the film and half of its dialogue is in Mandarin Chinese,” wrote a Weibo user. “Those who said it insulted China before were too irresponsible.”

 . . .

The trouble in China may have unintentionally helped sales in other markets in Asia, where Beijing’s increasing bellicosity with its neighbors has hurt public perceptions of the country.

 . . .

“It’s amusing,” said Ms. Yang, the film producer, “that it’s Americans’ turn to read subtitles in a Marvel film.”

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Luisa Tam explains one of the lines in the movie "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/49227-those-chinese-videos/?do=findComment&comment=648057

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)