Entertainment

Same old journey

As latest flick underperforms, fans ask is Stephen Chow out of ideas?
Feb 17, 2017 (WiC 354)

For Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chow the 500 year-old Chinese novel Journey to the West is an inspiration that keeps on giving. As a movie actor Chow played the Monkey King twice in the mid-1990s. Two decades later the 54 year-old is ...

Laughing stock

Can comedy genre bring joy to China’s box office?
Jan 27, 2017 (WiC 353)

She’s most well known for her role as ‘Little Swallow’ in the 1998 historical drama My Fair Princess, but actress Zhao Wei has come a long way since then. She has directed several box office hits, launched her own wine label and ...

Money for nothing

Audiences debate the sky-high wages of TV actors
Jan 20, 2017 (WiC 352)

In Hollywood, good looks don’t always work to one’s advantage. Take the genetically blessed Charlize Theron. In an interview with British GQ, she lamented that being beautiful was an unwelcome distraction. “How many [great] roles are out ...

Wall of worry

LeEco’s latest problem: will its Matt Damon blockbuster pay?
Jan 6, 2017 (WiC 350)

Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC) first ordered the construction of the Great Wall to protect against attackers from the Steppe. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) – the period in which the wall took its definitive form – it also played a ...

Another Wong move?

Pop fans irked by diva’s high-priced performance
Jan 6, 2017 (WiC 350)

Last June news leaked that pop diva Faye Wong, 47, had agreed to perform at a concert – and only at one concert – scheduled for the end of the year in Shanghai. Fans were reasonably excited – the event would mark the first time the ...

A Flaubert flop

Why is Feng Xiaogang’s latest film underperforming at the box office?
Dec 2, 2016 (WiC 348)

Feng Xiaogang has been lauded for his Midas touch. Virtually every film he has directed has been a box office success. Even when he took time away from the director’s chair to star in the little-known crime drama Mr Six, Feng was still ...

Full-speed ahead

Lee Ang's Iraq War-inspired film has a better reception in China
Nov 25, 2016 (WiC 347)

Lee Ang’s new film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was controversial even before it was released. The movie tells the story of a young soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the war in Iraq (he’s played by ...

Marvel at it

Chinese fans flock to see Cumberbatch in new superhero flick
Nov 11, 2016 (WiC 345)

China’s box office revenues fell in October, sliding 19% on last year, according to data from Ent Group. It was the fifth month this year that sales have come in lower than 2015. Industry bosses have been looking for a saviour – and they may ...

Projected losses

China’s cinema slowdown is going to hit some stars in the pocket
Oct 28, 2016 (WiC 344)

Last week Tom Cruise was in China for a week of promotional work for his latest feature Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The Hollywood superstar was spotted at the Forbidden Palace in Beijing and then he flew to Shanghai and ...

Popular propaganda

A movie made by public security ministry proves a surprise box office hit
Oct 21, 2016 (WiC 343)

The latest remake of the Ben Hur epic proved such a disaster that interest was limited even in China, where big-budget Hollywood fare generally brings in significant audiences. The film, which cost Paramount Pictures and ...