This year the season is even more heated than ever, jammed with at least eight tentpole competitors. Top comedians of the nation such as Stephen Chow, Shen Teng and Huang Bo will vie with each other, while also on offer there is a milestone Chinese sci-fi production, a Jackie Chan fantasy adventure, an anti-corruption crime film and two major animated features hugely popular among children.
"Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past"
In every Spring Festival of recent years, small children have been able to look forward to a Boonie Bears film. The sixth installment, directed by Ding Liang and Lin Huida, is a thrilling adventure of the three protagonists Briar, Bramble, and Vick traveling back to primitive times. A new character is being introduced -- a small pig in celebration of 2019, which is the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Pig. This is the sixth episode produced by Fantawild, the franchise becoming one of the most loved animation brands in China. The two most recent - "Boonie Bears: Fantastica" and Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink" screened during the past two Spring Festival holidays yielded revenue of more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$174 million). Also, in recent years, Fantawild has made considerable progress in its global distribution, enjoying a thriving international market while promoting Chinese culture. Currently Boonie Bears animated programs have been distributed to 82 countries and regions including the U.S., Italy and Mexico. "Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past" could reach new heights due to its large, growing fanbase and the fact that it is a good family entertainment.
"Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year"
The Boonie Bears film has a strong rival this year. As hundreds of Chinese children cheered their hero - Peppa Pig - at a recent premiere in Beijing, the upcoming "Peppa Celebrates Chinese New Year", mixing live action and animation, is an ideal fit for celebration of the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Pig as its protagonists are family of world-famous pigs. Peppa Pig has a large fanbase in China since it was introduced by China Central Television in 2015, while this big movie, a joint venture of Entertainment One (eOne) and China's Alibaba Pictures Group, could reach far beyond its usual targeted audiences. A touching and independently-made trailer entitled "What is Peppa?" went viral online to become a pop culture phenomenon, winning the hearts of numerous enthusiasts and homesick people alike during this season of family reunion.
"The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang"
Iconic kung fu star Jackie Chan is back for the Spring Festival as he has done for the last 24 years, with his new fantasy family film, a genre he'd never tried before. The film is a brand-new adaptation drawn from classic "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", published in 1740 by Pu Songling, with newbie B-movie director Yan Jia taking the helm and star-studded cast, including Chan, Ethan Ruan, Elane Zhong, and the triplet stars, the Luu Brothers. In the original fantasy book, Pu Songling collected more than 490 Chinese exorcist legends and ghost stories. Jackie Chan will play the writer as well as a fantasy world detective, and retell some selected stories, including a human-ghost romance. "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang" looks like a Jackie Chan-version of "Monster Hunt" judging from the trailers, designs and promotional photos already released. It will be filled with visual effects, hilarious comic scenes and Jackie Chan's kung fu routines.
"Integrity"
Hong Kong's veteran crime filmmakers Alan Mak and Felix Chong reunite for a new trilogy based on outstanding cases from Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), with "Integrity" being the first installment. As the duo's "Infernal Affairs" trilogy and "Overheard" trilogy have been widely viewed as one of all -time crime film classics by the Chinese film industry, "Integrity" is expected to become new classic. The new film focuses on a true ICAC case involving the selling of smuggled cigarettes and the killing of a high-profile prosecution witness, with strong cast of award-winning actors, Sean Lau, Nick Cheung and Karena Lam, taking the leading roles. An anti-corruption film may not fit the celebratory atmosphere of the Spring Festival, but the filmmakers believe people will still enjoy this production in this season due to its excellent quality.
"Pegasus"
Writer-turned-director Han Han's new film "Pegasus" is one of the most anticipated film for this Spring Festival. As Han is also a professional rally car driver, he wrote and directed the film based on his own racing experiences. It is filled with exciting race scenes and witty exchanges. "Pegasus" tells a story about how a former racer, played by China's top comedian Shen Teng, who decides to return and try and recreate past successes. To make the film more attractive to the audience, Han even drove the race car himself as stunt man for the leading role on a "dangerous road" on the verge of cliff forming part of a plateau in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The versatile director's previous films, "The Continent" (2014) and "Duckweed" (2017) has won decent applauds from critics and were both box office success, with the latter even grossing beyond 1-billion-yuan (US$148.31 million) mark. The new film could likely demonstrate his talents again and his growth in film career.
"The New King of Comedy"
Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow has created a new comedy to inspire losers and those who start their movie careers as bit-part extras. Chow's most famous comedy drama "King of Comedy", in which he starred and co-directed with Lee Lik-chi, in 1999, is now lauded as an all-time classic, is a semi-autobiographical portrayal of Chow's early life when he worked an extra fighting for recognition. With Wang Baoqiang and rising actress E Jingwen and many other lesser known or even unknown actors, and with laughter and tears, Chow wanted to retain the philosophy of "working hard to succeed" and to present many new ideas, including his condensed reflections on life for the last 20 years, to give everyone hope and inspiration. Chow is the King of the Spring Festival Film Season, as his "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" raked in US$205 million during the 2013 holiday and "The Mermaid" grossed US$525 million at the same time in 2016. Both films are among the highest grossing Chinese films of all time. The new film could be another peak in his directorial career.
"Crazy Alien"
Starring the country's three most popular comedians, Huang Bo, Shen Teng and Xu Zheng, black humor blockbuster director Ning Hao's "Crazy Alien" is the front runner of the Spring Festival film season, with expectations audiences will love this crazy, funny blockbuster. Except for Shen, the other actors are the director's long-time collaborators for many film projects and they have certain tacit understanding among themselves. The film is a loose adaptation from the sci-fi short story of "A Village Teacher" by China's most prestigious sci-fi writer Liu Cixin ("The Three-Body Problem" novel series) and could serve as the final curtain for Ning's loosely connected "Crazy" trilogy with the first two installments "Crazy Stone" and "Crazy Racer" raking in both critic and commercial triumphs. The sci-fi comedy tells of two buddies who hope to make a fortune from the unexpected arrival of an alien visitor, and Xu Zheng has the surprising and unprecedented role in the production as the alien, with the help of special effects. "Crazy Alien" has become the best performer in terms of advanced box office sales, so far surpassing the 100-million-yuan (US$14.83 million) mark. The golden team of director and cast speak for themselves. Even its rival "The New King of Comedy" leading actor Wang Baoqiang believes the film will gross beyond 2.8 billion yuan (US$415.27 million) so he put a financial bet in advance through his company to guarantee certain profits for the film project before its opening on Feb. 5. People just can't wait to see how creative Ning Hao has been in this film after so many years of developing his unique style, talents and artistry that never failed to please audiences.
"The Wandering Earth"
The interstellar sci-fi spectacular "The Wandering Earth," directed by Frant Gwo, could set a milestone on the path when China is developing its own science fiction blockbusters. The film is based on a story by China's Hugo Award-winning author Liu Cixin about how the human race build giant planet thrusters to move the Earth out of its current orbit and into a new star system in a 2,500-year odyssey journey as the Sun is dying and about to explode. For the first time, the film shows the Chinese people's feelings toward their homeland as well as their emotion for family on a galactic scale, and the audience should easily be able to feel the charm of Chinese science fiction and the grandeur of this film. For a sci-fi production of this scale, the visual effects are of a high quality alongside those of Hollywood, thanks to the work of many top domestic and international special effects companies, including Weta Workshop, Base FX and More VFX. To make this film work, Gwo and his team spent four years shaping an imagined timeline of events as well as drawing 3,000 pages of conceptual designs, 8,000 pages of storyboard designs and making over 10,000 props. Around 7,000 people joined the crew including four scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as consultants, and Wu Jing, the renowned director and actor whose "Wolf Warrior 2" remains the highest grossing Chinese film of all time. "The Wandering Earth" had advanced screenings before its official release for the Spring Festival and received rave reviews.
Source: china.org by zhang rui