National Day Film Round-Up

Abominable is the first animated film available with Chinese dubs across all theaters in the U.S.

The themes of this National Day week-long break are unsurprisingly patriotism and surprisingly Mount Everest. Here’s the slate of films trying to beat Ne Zha and The Wandering Earth‘s record-breaking numbers this year. All four are available in limited theaters in the U.S. and Canada (and probably New Zealand and Australia).

Abominable, the love letter to Chinese scenery that’s the first film from Pearl Studio, a venture between DreamWorks Animation, China Media Capital, and the Shanghai Media Group. I’ve seen it in English and definitely recommend it. The main characters are very shippable in an Asian drama way, and the imagery is super imaginative.

Note that if you’re in the U.S., you can watch the film with Chinese dubs in theaters by using the Theater Ears app.
Voice actors: Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai, Tenzing Norgay Trainor in English; Zhang Zifeng, Arthur Chen Feiyu, Wan Qian, Cai Qin in Chinese

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Chen Kaige, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, Wen Muyu, Xue Xiaolu, Zhang Yibai, Wen Yan team up for National Day film project

I don’t usually post these type of patriotic films since they’re usually just bad films, but the trailer for  this actually looks really good.  Me and My Motherland 我的我的祖国, a film celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October, consists of eight parts separately shot by eight directors, ranging from veterans like Chen Kaige to rising talents like Wen Yan. Here’s what  we know of the cast so far for each part:

  1.  Guan Hu (Mr. Six)– Ou Hao, Huang Bo, Wang Qianyuan
  2. Zhang Yibai (Fleet of Time) – Zhang Jiayi, Zhang Ze
  3.  Xu Zheng (Lost in Thailand)  –   Liu Tao, Xu Zheng
  4. Xue Xiaolu (Finding Mr. Right).- Du Jiang, Zhu Yilong, Gao Yalin
  5. Ning Hao (Let the Bullets Fly) – Ge You
  6. Wen Muye (Dying to Survive) – Tong Liya, Song Jia, Lei Jiayin
  7. Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine)  – Liu Haoran, Chen Feiyu, Tian Zhuangzhuang
  8. Wen Yan (Angels Wear White) – Andy Lau, Zhuang Yinan

Trailer:

“Finding Mr.Right” breaks record for highest box office for a rom-com

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La Queen Tang Wei strouts her stuff. Bets on how long it’ll take before this record’s broken?

This has not been a happy year for “Love is not blind.” Not only did its record for highest grossing mainland film got broken by both “Journey to the West” and “Lost in Thailand,” but even in the rom-com category, it got overtaken by “Finding Mr.Right/Beijing meets Seattle,” the second project by director-writer Xue Xiaolu (Ocean Heaven).  The new film starring Tang Wei, Wu Xiubo and Haiqing. has so far amassed 400 million RMB (over $ 60 million), and is still on the trajectory to grow with its position as the highest selling film of the day.

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