Cashing in on the karate kid name? i think so, which is what companys normally do to sell more dvds.

PLOT
A 15-year-old Chinese boy spends his days dreaming of what it would be like to meet his idol, martial arts superstar, Jackie Chan. Unable to concentrate in school he heads to his grandparents in the city and devotes himself to tracking down the Kung Fu legend. On his epic journey of discovery, our want-to-be karate kid learns the fighting skills he desires, but also valuable lessons in life from the different people and strange places he finds himself in. The biggest test awaits however, when he is kidnapped by a torn apart family that has suffered a tragic loss. Can the dreamer become a Kung Fu hero himself? And can Jackie Chan rescue him from his nightmares?

The dvd will be released on the 9th August, 2010 through Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

Sources:fareastfilms

The anime has been scheduled for a big winter release in February 2012.  Hurrah!

The plot: it is loosely based on the childhood adventures of a real-life 15^th century Zen Buddhist monk Ikkyu Soujun during his training days at Ankokuji Temple.  This mischievous young monk, despite a bit of a troublemaker, is always able to use his intelligence and wit to solve all types of problems and to help others while outsmarting his frustrated teachers.

The animation film is a Sino-Japanese joint-collaboration between Toei Animation Co. of Tokyo and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and SMG’s Toonmax channel (children channel). Toei will handle mainly pre-production work with story concept, character design and background art.  Chinese studios will provide the majority of the animation.

While a waning trend for the anime boom has been recognized in recent years, the new interest and ambition shown by China and Korea in making inroads into the anime industry is a hopeful and promising sign.  Healthy competition to rival the Japanese anime domination will eventually bring in rigor, unique talents, and high quality anime productions.  For now, partnership between the market leader Japan and China is certainly the best step forward to revive the anime industry.

Sources:

ASAHI Shimbun: South Korea, China overtaking Japan in ‘cool’ culture battle

Japan Today: China making anime push as Japan hits slump

AnimeNation Anime News Blog: New Ikkyu-san movie in development

Toei Animation

There has been some buzz since Martain Scorsese’s successful (and more boring, that’s right I said it) version of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, retitled The Departed, that another project that Warner Bros wanted to undertake was a remake of the South Korean film The Chaser.  In fact Warner Bros purchased the remake rights of the film for $1 millions dollars.  There has not been any recent news on this project and IMDB has it slated for a 2013 release.  I for one could care less about an American remake of this films as The Chaser is a top notch thriller that needs no improvement or revisions.

Now those of you with a Netflix account can watch this top notch Korean gem.  The movie was released on the Netflix “Watch It Now” selection earlier this month, be sure to check it out if you have yet to see this great film.

Read the review here.

About Daimajin
“The Daimajin is a daikaiju (giant monster) from the Daimajin trilogy created by Daiei. All three movies in the trilogy — Daimajin, Return of Daimajin (Daimajin ikaru), and Wrath of Daimajin (Daimajin gyakushu) — were made in 1966, and were released months apart. Daimajin Kanon a new television drama based on the films premered in Japan in 2010. It features a new Daimajin and takes place in modern-day Japan”.

PLOT
“During Japan’s Warring States period, the kindly Lord Hanabusa is overthrown by the wicked Samanosuke, a tyrant who enslaves his subjects to build an immense fortress from which he will conquer the neighboring domains. A faithful samurai and a Shinto priestess hide Hanabusa’s children Tadafumi and Kozasa in a mountain shrine to Majin, a giant stone statue worshipped by the local peasants as a god. Once the children come of age, Tadafumi and his friends plot to depose Samanosuke. As the struggle for control of the Hanabusa lands comes to a head, Samanosuke’s evil ways anger Majin. The stone giant stirs to life, and only Kozasa has the power to check its rampage of destruction”.

The dvd will be released on 23rd July, 2010.

Sources:Wikipedia, fareastfilms

Directed by Benny Chan (New Police Story/Rob-B-Hood), which is probably one of his best movies to date, bringing action and martial arts to the big screen.

DVD Details
Special Features include: audio commentary by stars Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan; ‘Orchestrated Mayhem: The Making Of Invisible Target’ featurette; interview gallery (Benny Chan, Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Wu Jing, Philip Ng, Vincent Sze, Andy On); deleted and extended scenes with commentary by director Benny Chan; ‘Fight For Glory: Constructing The Action Sequences Of Invisible Target’ featurette; storyboard comparisons; Gala Premier footage; trailer gallery; Cantonese 5.1 and English 5.10 audio options; optional English subtitles.

Invisible Target is out on UK DVD and Blu-ray through Cine Asia on 2nd August 2010

Sources:Twitch Film

PLOT
“Life appears to be rosy for Teiko (Hirosue Ryoko) as she looks forward to beginning a new life with her new husband Kenichi (Nishijima Hidetoshi). Just after their honeymoon, Kenichi goes off to Kanezawa for what he promises to be brief business trip. However, he ends up going missing without a word. Worried, Teiko goes to Kanazawa to investigate her husband’s disappearance, meeting wealthy socialite Sachiko (Nakatani Miki) and receptionist Hisako (Kimura Tae) along the way. Soon, Teiko realizes how little she really knows about her husband, and what these two women have to do with his disappearance”.

Zero Focus will be released on 20th July, 2010.

Sources:Far East films

PLOT
“Set in China during the warring 1920s, notorious bandit chief Zhang descends upon a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, an identity that he had hijacked from Old Tang, himself a small-time imposter. Hell-bent on making a fast buck, Zhang soon meets his match in the tyrannical local gentry Huang as a deadly battle of wit and brutality ensues”.

Cast :
Jiang Wen
Chow Yun Fat
Ge You
Carina Lau Kar Ling
Hu Jun
Chen Kun
Liao Fan
Zhou Yun
Feng Xiaogang
Shao Bing

The movie has a budget of $18 million and is scheduled to open across China on 1st October 2010.

Sources: Film Smash

Byung-Hun Lee (Good, The Bad, The Weird, GI Joe)

PLOT
“Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state.

Her fiance Dae-hoon, a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer”.

The movie is due for release in August.

Soucres:/www.slashfilm.com

Bayside Shakedown originally started as a TV police comedy/drama series in 1997.  Its popularity led to the first BS feature film released in 1998 grossing $100 million. The second BS film in 2000 pulled in even more – $172 million and has become the number 1 highest grossing live-action film of all time in Japan. Distributor Toho is confident BS３will break the 10 billion yen (US$114 million) barrier.

For those who are not familiar with this cult drama, Bayside Shakedown has its setting in the fictional Wangan Precinct of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.  Rather than depicting the usual and trite plots on hunting down bad guys, the TV series focuses on police work that is infested by office politics, interference from politicians, bureaucratic red tape, lethargic civil servants and bosses who show greater interest in goofing off than solving crimes. All these contribute to comic stories about the dysfunctional police force that may have a parallel in the real world, i.e. Japan or elsewhere.

Yuji Oda plays the main lead as the young and idealistic detective Shunsuke Aoshima in both the TV series and film. In BS 3, he has been promoted to Chief Detective and tasked to deal with eight challenging cases including murder, burglary, serial bomber, etc. – all at the same time! Directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, the film also stars Eri Fukatsu, Yusuke Santamaria, and Atsushi Ito.

Sources:

Asia Media Wiki: Bayside Shakedown: Set the Guys Loose

THR.Asia: Third ‘Bayside’ film opens strong

Donnie Yen will play the well known character, he will be joined by Japanese-Chinese actor Jing Chengwu.

Yen is also choreographing the movies fight scenes and there are plans to start  Jing Chengwu training before shooting begins later this year.
Donnie is set to play a brutal and cruel character who is on the run, but undergoes a transformation by Jing Chengwu when he is captured.

Shooting begins next month.

Sources:http://www.chinesefilms.cn