Let’s face it, all we really want is a Wu Jing vs Jackie Chan fight.
Ma Li will star in buddy comedy written by Karen McCullah (Legally Blond, Ella Enchanted, She’s the Man) . Eva Jin (Sophie’s Revenge) will direct. (Deadline)
The story centers on an unlikely pair of alpha females — Zoe, an American tech entrepreneur who relocates her company to China, and Maylin (Ma), a local female bodyguard who is hired to protect her. When Zoe’s life is threatened, the odd couple must put aside differences and join forces in order to survive.
Gong Li signed on to star as volleyball legend Lang Ping in upcoming film. (SCMP)
Hu Ge signed on to play coach and husband Jiang Shan in upcoming Li Na epic by Peter Chan. Poster below the cut. (Sina)
Avengers and I, Tonya star Sebastian Stan will star in 355, the spy-thriller starring Fan Bingbing, Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o and Penélope Cruz. Marion Cortillard has dropped out due to personal reasons. Filming is expected to begin in July (The Hollywood Reporter)
Fan Bingbing tops the Forbes China Celebrity List for the second year in a row, which means I get to reuse the same photo as last year.
Riding on her foray into Hollywood, actress Fan Bingbing has retained her top-ranking position on the Forbes China Celebrity List. The list, which ranks the top 100 Chinese celebrities based on media exposure and income, sees more Mainland stars this year than ever before, with 60 (or so) of the listees basing their careers in Mainland China. Aside from a handful of actors, however, the biggest A-listers were overwhelming from Hong Kong or Taiwan, with 14 of the top 20 hailing from either of the two islands.
According to Forbes, Fan raked in nearly $20 million last year, putting her on par with Jennifer Aniston and Kanye West. The celebrity with the deepest pockets, Jay Chou, banked $25 million, around the same as Ben Affleck or Buffy creator and Avengers director Joss Whedon.
Despite the success of China’s biggest stars (this year’s top 10 took home $20 million more than last year’s), the overall earnings of the Celebrity 100 decreased for a second consecutive year, accumulating $65 million less wealth than the year before. However, the celebrities still managed to bring home more than half a billion dollars between them.
Actors and actresses made up the bulk of the list, accounting for 72 of the celebrities. It is common for celebrities to both sing and act in the Chinese entertainment industry, however, and several were identified as both.
Of the 29 singers and musical groups on the list, only six were from Mainland China. Of those six, five were involved in reality television singing competitions, with the exception of Hong Kong-launched Faye Wong.
Mainland Pianists Lang Lang and Li Yundi maintained their presence on the list, with Li (ranked 56) overtaking Lang Lang (57) for the first time.
New entrants to the list include Tiny Times author Guo Jingming who debuted at 27, model Zhang Liang of Where Are We Going, Dad? fame, and I Am A Singer runner-up G.E.M and Taiwanese actor Kai Ko just sneaking onto the list at 91 and 97 respectively.
Meanwhile, notable dropouts include Taiwanese film director Ang Lee (previously ranked 29), Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow (24), Jet Li (41), Nobel laureate Mo Yan (16), Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang (31), former Super Junior member Han Geng (87), and Super Girls Chris Li (15) and Jane Zhang (45).
The world seems to be concerned that Hollywood films are no longer beating the domestic films in China, read about it from the New York Times and the Guardian. Is this a temporary phenomenon or a lasting trend?
How quickly do cultural works depreciate in value? The Slate does an economic analysis here.
Tennis player Li Na chosen for one of the seven covers of Times 100.
Dreamworks Oriental, the Shanghai-based offshoot of the animation company that’s partly owned by the Shanghai Media Group, has announced Tibet Code as one of its first projects. More from Variety here. Continue reading →
“I jump, you jump. ” – actual words Tian Liang used to convince Twins to jump. Except this time, the male’s probably the one to survive.
What other show would have divers Tian Liang and Li Na as the the coaches, gymnast Li Xiaopeng and diver Zhou Jihong as the judges, and badminton player Lin Dan* as a guest? That’s a total of fourteen Olympic medals, not to mention the fact that since Zhou Jihong is responsible for all of China’s diving medals as the head coach of the Chinese diving coach since the 2000 Olympics.
“Spash 中国星跳跃,” one of the two celebrity diving shows airing this week, will also feature Charlene Choi, who was going to do a synchronised dive with fellow Twins member Gillian Chung before Gillian had to pull out because of a heart condition, philanthropist Chen Guangbiao, actress Eva Huang Shengyi, actor Gao Hu, actress Liu Xinyu (BuBuJingXin), actor ShiXiaolong, singer Chae Yeon, singer Xuan Zi, etc.
Watch Tian Liang’s ad for “Splash” below.
*unconfirmed, but not unlikely since the gymnastics-diving-badminton teams are managed by the same company, a seed company of Li-Ning that’s headed by the now-retired Li Xiaopeng.
