It’s brief news, but Wilson Yip’s upcoming retelling of Ching Siu-tung’s classic A Chinese Ghost Story is getting a 2010 makeover.

Casting news has hit the Chinese entertainment sites with Louis Koo, Liu Yifei, and Yu Shaoqun, making up the cast, with a May 2010 start date announced.  

When the project was first announce last March, about this very same time, Many fans were not happy about this.  Even with the huge leap in special effects in this day and age, A Chinese Ghost Story is just one of those classics best left as is.

Before jumping the gun, I guess we have to wait a few months after the announced May start date for onset and promo stills to get a feel for the remake.

The project is definitely in capable hands with Wilson Yip.  He has been knockout some pretty tight action films lately.  SPL: Sha Po Lang, Dragon Tiger Gate, Flash Point, and  Ip Man have all become hits with fans old and new.

With Ip Man 2 due to drop in a few months, He is sure to have another hit on his hands.  I know many fans are a little upset with news that Donnie Yen might not be interested in a third installment , but I think this could be a nice change for  Wilson Yip.  Though not actually new, it is a step away from the types of films he has been make the past few years.

Happy Killers - Yu Oh Seong, Kim Dong-Wook

Bestseller - Uhm Jung-hwa

Welcome To Shama Town - Lin Chi-ling, Sun Honglei

Go Lala Go! - Stanley Huang, Xu Jinglei

BOX! - Hayato Ichihara, Kengo Kora, Yu Kashii

Zatoichi THE LAST - Shingo Katori

Zebraman 2 Show Aikawa, Kankuruo Kudo

Kon Tai Ting Pandin aka The Edge of Empire

Bang Rajan 2

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Future X-Cops - Andy Lau, Jiao Xu, Barbie Hsu

Ex - Gillian Chung, William Chan, Michelle Wai

Shaolin Temple - Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse

Du Lala’s Promotion - Stanley Huang, Xu Jinglei

The Child’s Eye - 3D - Elanne Kwong, Rainie Young

Moss - Jeong Jae-yeong,Park Hae-il,

Full Autum - Tang Wei, Hyun Bin

Café Noir - SHIN Ha-kyun, MOON Jeong-hee

Trick: The Movie 3 - Yukie Nakama, Hiroshi Abe

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Cha Seung-won , Hwang Jeong-min, Baek Seong-hyeon, Han Ji-hye.

Two legendary swordsmen in the 16th century are destined to cross paths in the vortex of war.

An anticipated new film by LEE Joon-ik from KING AND THE CLOWN.
Two swordsmen, once a comrade who resisted against the corrupted government, now go their separate ways.
One raises his ambition to become a king, the other insists to remain a swordsman itself.
The fatal yet sad destiny leads them to the inevitable fight..

 Bestseller - Uhm Jung-hwa

Late Night FM - Su-Ae(Soo Ae), Ji-tae Yu

The Legend of Chen Zhen

ALONE SCALPEL - SHINICHI TSUTSUMI

Zebraman 2 Show Aikawa, Kankuruo Kudo

Au revoir Taipei - Amber Kuo, Jack Yao

Amphetamine - Thomas Price, Byron Pang

Perfect Wedding - Miriam Yeung, Chrissie Chau

Barefoot Dreams - Park Hee-Soon, Ko Chang-seok

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The news is all over the web right now about Stephen Chow’s upcoming 60 million budget Tai Chi, a updated of Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon.  A Hollywood update at that with the likes of Jack Black and Anne Hathaway in the line-up.  

A June shooting date has been mentioned for this project that he has been working hard on for two years, reworking the script and fine tuning it to his liking. 

If the budget alone doesn’t throw you off, how about the cast for this project that was reported by Channelnewsasia.com.  Just a few months ago he was doing an web talent search for is upcoming King of the Comedy 2.  Now we get breaking news, with no solid sources from any online Chinese news sites, or Stephen Chow’s camp on this new project.

But is this a new project at all?  Well no, if we go back to just a little over a year to a report made by China.org.cn, this seems like a update to the very same article.  Funny thing is the Channelnewsasia.com article is only a few weeks off to this day from the original China.org.cn report.

I guess we will have to see what happens in the next couple of days or weeks. To see if anyone from his camp or himself gives us solid confirmation on this year old rumor.  

If this doesn’t happen, lets not forget about the animated CJ7(Sequel-Producing), Journey To The West, King Of Comedy 2, and  Kungfu Hustle 2 that have been mentioned also.  These projects I can say I am looking forward to seeing before this.  In closing, something just to think about.  Who thinks Hollywood would give Stephen Chow full control over a 60 million dollar project?

Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, who recently was Executive Producer on that little James Cameron film Avatar, recently talked about the upcoming Live Action Ghost In The Shell she is currently writing for Dreamworks.  

Laeta Kalogridis is also the screenwriter and executive producer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Shutter Island due out this Firday, based on the 2003 Dennis Lehane novel.

News of Masamune Shirow’s manga getting live action treatment broke early in 2008 when DreamWorks acquired the rights to the manga.  

But lets go back to 1999 when another little film by The Watchowski Brothers called The Matrix came out.  A film heavily influenced by Masamune Shirow’s manga/anime in style and visual.

Many consider The Matrix basically a live action version of Ghost In The Shell.  There are a handful of sites online that show the similarities between the two.  

Huge fan of the manga, Laeta Kalogridis is shooting for three two hour films to do Masamune Shirow’s classic justice.  

With the 3D craze happening now, it will be interesting to see how this turns out.  Plus of course who will take on the directing duties, and the cast.  Could Dreamworks bring in The Watchowski Brothers for this? 

Laeta Kalogridis has also been reworking Battle Angel Alita for sometime now.  Well, since 2007 when it was first announced.  James Cameron put this on hold to work on Avatar for he wanted to make sure the technology was good enough to bring it to the big screen. With the success of Avatar, hopefully Laeta Kalogridis can convince James Cameron that it is time to do Battle Angel Alita now.

Full Laeta Kalogridis Interview

Laeta Kalogridis On Ghost In The Shell Interview

We have been hearing about a live action version of Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic manga Akira for sometime now. The way Hollywood has been treating these types of films lately, this was the worse news possible for any fan of the manga and anime feature film.

Heated debate among fans has only come to one solution, Leave this classic be.  Has Hollywood listened?  Well, this is Hollywood we are talking about here.  

Interesting enough it looks like Warner Brothers are putting some thought into this with the writing team behind Iron Man and writer of  Book Of Eli working on the script.  Instead of cramping 6 volumes into a 2 or 3 hour movie, plans are to have 2 parts.

With the success of Book Of Eli, Warner Brothers are now in talks with directing twins Hugh Brothers to helm the project.

Plans are already set to release the first film that will cover the first 3 volumes next year.  

Now the questions on everyones mind is …. The cast, how Americanized will the cast be?  Can we expect any Japanese actors or actress?  The Setting… New York, California maybe?  Hopefully these questions will be answered very soon once everything is finalized.  

With this news, Hopefully James Cameron will put Avatar 2 on hold and get Battle Angel Alita moving forward.  One can only hope.

Like the Moon Escaping from the Clouds

Bestseller - Uhm Jung-hwa

Abduction - Anthony Wong, Janice Man, Richie Jen

Frozen -Janice Man, Janice Vidal, Leon Lai

Incredible Couple - Sandra Ng, Louis Koo

Kimi ga Odoru, Natsu (Summer Dancing You)

Live-Action Space Battleship Yamato

Influence - Lee Byung-hun, Han Chae-young

The Destroyed Man - Uhm Ki Joon, Park Joo Mi

Flirting Scholar 2 (PREQUEL)

Loups-Garous

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We have a few forum updates today we would like to present.  We will first start with Inseparable with Daniel Wu, Beibi Gong, and Kevin Spacey, directed by Dayyan Eng. We have up some new onset photos with Kevin Spacey now on the set.  

Johnnie To’s Death of a Hostage with Lau Ching Wan, Richie Jen, and Denise Ho have recently had their opening ceremony for filming.  

I know this doesn’t mean much being Johnnie To, but if he sticks to just filming one movie at a time, this could see a 2010 release date.  Let’s hope we don’t see a repeat of Sparrow which took way over 2 years to complete.  

Chen Kaige recently held a press conference for his upcoming Zhao’s Orphan which stars Ge You, Wang Xuegi, and Song Hye-kyo.  We have up videos from the press conference.   Plans are moving ahead for Hua Mulan 2 right now.  Still in the planning stages, without even a script yet, a 2010 film start has been mentioned by an Starlight International Media rep.

Yes… We save the best for last.  We have up the second teaser poster and official site for  Ip Man 2.

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