EMPEROR MOTION PICTURES ANNOUNCES MULTI-GENRE FILM SLATE FOR 2016
2016-03-15
Hong Kong – Action auteur Yuen Woo-ping and Hong Kong heart-throb Nicholas Tse head a slate of multi-genre productions for Emperor Motion Pictures in 2016, it was announced at a press conference during the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) 2016.
“EMP’s vision has always been to produce a versatile and diverse range of Chinese language films that appeals to both Chinese audiences as well as foreign audiences. This year’s slate is very representative of that objective,” said EMP Chief Executive Officer Mr Albert Lee.
Yuen Woo-ping, the fight choreographer behind the exciting action scenes of The Matrix trilogy and the director of the much-awaited sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will return to familiar grounds with Hand Over Fist. The actioner sweeps modern-day protagonists in Hong Kong into a 600-year feud between rivalling kung fu masters of yesteryear.
Riding on his recent television success Chef Nic, Chinese heart-throb Nicholas Tse will showcase his culinary talent in Cook Up A Storm as a Cantonese street cook who crosses spatulas with a French-trained Michelin-starred chef at a culinary competition. Directed by Raymond Yip (The House That Never Dies), the film also stars South Korean idol, the pop rock band CN BLUE lead vocalist, Jung Yong Hwa.
Shaolin helmer Benny Chan takes a playful look at social media’s favourite subject – cats – with Meow, in which Louis Koo and Ma Li discover that their domesticated pets are really aliens come to domesticate them!
EMP also renews their collaboration with Hong Kong director Fruit Chan (Kill Time) and mainland Chinese director Snow Zou (But Always). Chan takes on the dance genre with Shining Moment, a redemption movie about a gymnast (Hins Cheung) who tries to reinvent himself as a latin dance instructor to a group of kids.
Zou goes on a road trip with I Love That Crazy Little Thing, which takes a fledgling director (William Chan) on an adventure from Beijing to a Chinese desert and a Hawaiian volcano in his search for an elusive songwriter to clear copyright issues for his new movie.
Malaysia director Ho Yu-hang, who helmed multiple award-winner At The End of Daybreak, reprises his successful collaboration with Kara Wai with Mrs K, a thriller about a housewife whose idyllic life is shattered when an old enemy forces her to desperate measures to protect her family.
The Sleep Curse, directed by Herman Yau and starring Anthony Wong and Michelle Wai, rounds up the new productions. Completing production this year are Heaven in the Dark, a dark drama into the taboo world of sexual abuse; coming-of-age love story Never Said Goodbye (previously Love in Sicily); the magical world of Miracles of the Namiya General Store; and Happiness which delves into the scary world Alzheimer's disease – all announced last year.
ABOUT EMP
Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) was established in 2000 with a focus on the production, sales and distribution of quality motion pictures. Since then, EMP has grown into a leading player in the Chinese film production and distribution scene with one of the most active production schedules in the region.
In addition to producing award-winning movies and popular television dramas, EMP also distributes top Hollywood and Asian productions, as well as invests in both Asian and Hollywood productions.
Among the award-winning and critically-acclaimed movies produced and distributed by EMP are: ‘Shaolin’, ‘Stool Pigeon’, ‘Triple Tap’, ‘Shinjuku Incident’, ‘The Myth’, ‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘New Police Story’, ‘The Twins Effect’, ‘The Twins Effect II’, and ‘The Medallion’.
EMP was also an active investor in and distributor of some of the top bestselling movies in mainland China: Feng Xiaogang’s ‘Aftershock’, Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin’s ‘The Founding of the Republic’ and ‘Beginning of the Great Revival’, as well as Jiang Wen’s record-breaking ‘Let the Bullets Fly’, which ranks as the top Chinese language box office hit ever in the country.
In 2007, EMP also made its first foray into the Hollywood blockbuster world with a significant investment in ‘W’, for which director Oliver Stone won an Academy Award.
EMP has built a library of quality feature films and handles its own sales and distribution through an international network of distributors and licensees. Also in 2007, EMP also joined forces with various local partners to distribute a slate of hits which include the Oscar-winner ‘Departures’, ‘Sex in the City: The Movie’, and ‘The Hunger Games’.
With an eye on the mainland Chinese market, EMP set up its first office in Beijing in 2007 to actively look for opportunities. In 2014, EMP launched its first cinema in Foshan, Emperor UA Vivo City, under a joint venture with UA Cinemas. A second Emperor UA was opened in Zhuhai in 2015, another to be rolled out in Shanghai end of March 2016. The first cinema fully owned by EMP was officially opened in Hefei in December 2015. Other upcoming sites will be announced in the near future.
