TigerPaw

Someone needs to tell Simu Liu to keep quiet if he wants the movie to be shown in China. He has no EQ or what. The interview is going viral in China.. i know it may not be recent but he has to be careful with his words. If anyone has any doubts about China, go down to China today and see how much she has advanced. I am from Singapore and when I visited Shang Chi in 2016... I was freaking amazed.

Yeah. Exactly. Thank you. Raya claims it is Southeast Asian culture... there is no Southeast Asian culture - Southeast Asia is made up of different cultures; Singapore and Thailand is different, Indonesia and Vietnam is different etc... Lumping us altogether is crazy. But Asian Americans loved it. Similar to Shang Chi, i genuinely think reception in China.. even if it opens will be so-so, as can be seen in reception in some other parts of Asia. It is for Asian Americans, not really like East Asians living in Asia. I mean as a mandarin speaker watching the show; i feel the accent is all over the place - there is no way some of these actors can be related in real life. I.e. Father and Son. 😅 Mulan would have easily done USD100m in China IMO without PA or piracy even with the weak reception. Before it is released, HD links on China video hosting sites were everywhere, thousands of weibo posts showing people reviewing after watching it on their TV at home.. If Great Wall can do such good numbers, i dont think Mulan cannot do half or 3/4 of that without piracy. Plus Mulan had crazy number of trailer views in China - Jet / Donnie / Gong Li in a movie...everyone was curious and wanted to watch. But... they found a different method.

Yeah not talking about the quality of their films; just their political stance. Have you watched Dynasty Warriors by any chance.. Carina Lau is in there. Haha. 😅 Yeah; just reinforcing your words with the latest example. Haha.

Haha - no hard feelings at all! Didn't think your comment was directed at me. It was a fair point brought up and since i sort of know what happened i thought i could share some context. 🙂

Hehe. You think Disney didn't do background check on Tony Leung's political stance before hiring him? Tony and his wife Carina Lau are known CCP supporters, his wife higher profile supporter due to activeness on Weibo - can always see her wishing the state bday or anniversary of CCP etc. Simu Lui also smartly opened a weibo acct in May and say he is practicing Mandarin and hopes to go to China soon. I am actually quite surprised the boycotters didn't pick up on these like Mulan. Haha. Ya but i don't want to make this post political just some food for thought. Yup cause 30% of Cinemas was closed in the weeks of August due to COVID, olympics also distracted some audiences as well as floods in some parts of China. High profile films all moved away. I.e. Battle of Lake Changjin which was estimated to earn at least USD400m moved from 12th Aug to 30th Sep.

Yeah i saw that. LOL. No1. China doesn't need a Hollywood film. No.2. Even IF China needs a Hollywood film; it will not be Shang Chi.. it will be Venom for all we know. You are assuming SC will do well there and reception will be great, for all we know - G.A reception might be average (similar to HK) or it may be another case of Monster Hunter - you know what happened right? You want (need) Shang Chi to open there.. they don't need Shang Chi even if they need a high profile Hollywood film. Lol.

I spoke to Gavin. In terms of distributor, Free Guy is from Fox technically and not Disney - in some overseas markets the distribution arm have not merged.. While Jungle Cruise and Shang Chi are both Disney distributed. China does not need foreign movies... oh gosh, i cringe when I see such statements from you about China needing Holluwood. People in China can survive with their own films; just like how Hollywood don't particularly care for overseas film. People here (in this forum) care more about Hollywood films being released there so it gets a good gross compared to Chinese themselves who are okay without Hollywood. Haha. Raging Fire just did c. USD180m in China alone. Chinese Doctor just did more than USD200m. Battle of Lake Changjin which opens 30th Sep will do around USD400m at least in China alone IMO. There are a lot of Chinese films waiting to be released and just picking good dates .. they don't need a "high profile" Hollywood film.. @Gavin Feng

We will see. I mean Space Jam and Jungle Cruise are long overdue.. they should be dated first. Not forgetting Dune has passed censorship but still awaiting a date.. I was hoping next week. All in all, it is not just Shang Chi...

Competiton breeds excellence. This will make rankings overseas interesting, and we will see how loss of screens and competiton impact legs - a good contrast against domestic where there is literally no competiton for a month.

I heard that Malaysia cinemas may reopen at 50% capacity for fully vaxxed individuals starting from 9th Sept. Waiting for official announcements.

And led by Razor Fist which has the worst acting in the whole film; or is his role the typical big Caucasian villain without brains..in an Asian led film.. The fight in the village has nothing at stake, no one was injured or killed or anything. They can just "release" each other and work together after that... that was the worst part IMO. Didn't Wenwu say burn them down? Not "spar with them" right?

It is chicken and egg IMO, demand comes from marketing and people actually knowing that the movie exists and is shown in theaters, and putting it in theaters that has some footfall… and not those 1.5 - 2 hours drive away from the city. You put up a movie without posters, or any actual marketing; and even fans of the actor does not know the movie has been released… then there is a mismatch. There is a demand but the demand is not met due to lack of marketing / awareness.

There is a streaming deal for all WGU’s distributed films.. it will be in theaters 2 - 3 months and then on streaming via HiyahTV which is WGU’s streamer (only cost $2.99 per month, not sure how much they are earning from that…) this is similar to studio films where it plays exclusively in theaters for weeks before showing up on their streaming platforms… but issue is WGU is unable to distribute to more theaters in those theatrical-exclusive weeks..

Truth is - because it is only released in 59 theaters, marketing efforts or budget by WellGo is almost non existent and restricted only to online. like if you go to Donnie Yen’s Facebook page where he shared the trailer, you see North American audiences commenting asking when it will be released there… when it has already been released for a month. Those 59 theaters didn’t give it a lot of showtimes as well, and the locations of some of these theaters are really not accessible… And due to lack of marketing, even people staying near the theaters may not know the movie is out; most of these theaters doesn’t even have a poster of this movie which they are showing. Spoke to a few guys and that is the feedback which they have given me…

Yea, they just released Raging Fire in what - like 59 theaters on 13th August. Raging Fire is a Donnie Yen movie, and the last directorial work of Benny Chan who passed away last year. It has grossed almost USD180m in China alone; doing well in HK and Singapore as well. RT critics score at 92%, audience score at 100%. I have watched it and it is easily the best movie of 2021 so far. (I have almost never seen a movie with a 5x OW multiple in China before…and this film is doing it!) And guess what, Thanks to WGU’s limited distribution - it won’t even come close to grossing USD1m in domestic theaters…

There is no denying Tony Leung is a great choice; no one is ever disputing that. Especially after watching the movie, it is hard to see someone else play the role. But do take a look at Jet Li’s performance in The Warlords (where he won best actor at the HK film awards), that acting performance was superb and subtle. Jet Li’s command of Mandarin is also one of the best out of all actors; as he is from Mainland and not Hong Kong. Donnie Yen’s subtle performance in the first and third Ip Man film were also terrific. I mean if there is a sequel and they need bigger names; there are a few that they can look for; without a dent in quality in the acting department.

Even from the trailer you could see the Kungfu Hustle poster in SC's room; haha. And you will also notice the 10 rings resemble the weapon that one of the characters in KF hustle uses. I mean not going into spoiler territory; but yeah there are quite a few references to KF hustle. I am not surprised when i heard from some insiders in China that they wanted Stephen Chow. Stephen Chow is genuinely the GEM that Hollywood or the world has not discover; box office draw and talent wise - he is same league as Jackie / Jet / Donnie easily. Not sure whether it will be opened there but if you have seen the film, while the action scenes is a big improvement for Hollywood standards, it is still a distance from the movies from HK legends like Stephen Chow, Donnie Yen etc. I am not sure reception will be as good as in the West. I mean for reference - reviews in Hong Kong so far has been pretty average per Wmoov and HKmovie6

Yeah i heard that too - I heard Stephen Chow and Donnie Yen both turned the role down; i think mainly due to the history of Shang Chi's actual dad Fu Manchu and some of them doesn't wish to take on Villain roles, and to be fair Stephen and Donnie doesn't need Hollywood.. Just look the box office of their most recent 5 films in China alone. 😆 But you know if SC turns out to be a big success; with more budget for a next film and new characters worthy of their time - never say never. I mean - imagine Donnie Yen's action choreography in SC2; his choreography in recent years is really 2nd to none.

If Disney wants more international box office, quickly announce SC2 with either Jackie Chan / Jet Li / Donnie Yen; haha. Or even Wujing.. Then it will probably not just open in China but do well. Haha. Not just in China, these names are big in most parts of Asia. Haha.

Yeah but his argument is that the biggest opener had extra revenues from PA while this doesn't. SC needs more theatrical revenue than BW to cover up for the difference in PA. Yes BW is obviously a much well know character; but i think he only looks at numbers and disregarded that. Of course there are also impact to PVOD, VOD, Bluray sales that the day-and-date PA brings which he is not taking into account.

There is a cam version around; seen on some Chinese sites while scrolling. Cam version doesn't impact box office much + without subtitles; people who are not Mandarin speakers will not understand many parts of the movie. Lol.

I didn't want to be rude. 🤣

It killed the movie for me, 1st 2 acts were good. 3rd act was atrocious.. Felt like i was watching Monster Hunter.

You genuinely didn't get my point or my initial tone in my first reply to you. I did not expect you to be so defensive. Was not being condescending, in fact I was promoting Leung my way.. Truth is Tony Leung is great; but his best movies were mostly from a decade ago or longer. And i always keep expectations in check especially when recommending filmography to people new to a particular actor; like i would highlight the best movies of a actor's career and would of course urge them to skip some of the worse ones. Everyone has hits and misses and there are films that Tony just couldn't get to showcase his great acting. I wouldn't want a new fan to stumble upon Europe Raiders (which is his most recent film before SC)...ever...! I would recommend Infernal Affairs, In the Mood of Love, Red Cliff and keep it at that. Anyone following Asian cinema knows Tony Leung is unfortunately not exactly going uphill unlike his peers like Andy Lau or Aaron Kwok (just comparing peers in the acting department); and I genuinely hope Shang Chi is a turning point with Golden Finger as a follow-up later this year.

Was not being condescending. Can see that you are a big fan; but important for us to have an open minded discussion here. Tony Leung IS a great actor; but in recent times (last 10 yrs) he has taken roles that he could not showcass that good acting. In fact i wasn't a big fan of The Grandmaster let alone Monster Hunt 2 or Europe Raiders. Pretty much good in anything he has done is a generalisation.... because like I said; we have seen films where he wasn't at his best or took those roles to return a favours to studios / directors. At his best, he is a legend BUT everyone has hits and misses - that is all i am saying; not dissing anyone here. For example: RDJ is an excellent actor but i didn't like him in Dolittle... is that condescending or offensive? No...