Film Business Asia：Ablaze picks up Black & White action sequel

Ablaze picks up Black & White action sequel

By Stephen Cremin
Tue, 11 March 2014, 18:00 PM (HKT)

Sales News
Action sequel Black & White: The Dawn of Justice 痞子英雄　黎明再起 will headline the international sales lineup of Ablaze Image Ltd 光在影像股份有限公司 at Hong Kong FilMart (24-27 Mar 2014). The Taipei-based company, founded last year, will screen a promo reel at the market.

The new film is set three years after Black & White Episode I: The Dawn of Assault 痞子英雄首部曲：全面開戰 (2012), a prequel to the hit television series. In Justice, the fictional Harbour City is under a series of terrorist attacks, from a suicide bomber and destructive EMP pulse to a deadly virus.

Mark CHAO 趙又廷 resumes his role as maverick cop Hero Wu. The Taiwan actor is one of China’s most bankable stars after major roles in last year’s So Young 致我們終將逝去的青春 and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon 狄仁杰之神都龍王. The two films had a combined China box office of RMB1.32 billion (US$215 million).

In the sequel, Hero Wu partners with a new character played by China’s Kenny LIN 林更新, Chao’s co-star on Young Detective Dee. The previous film’s co-star, HUANG Bo 黃渤, returned to Taiwan for three days to shoot a cameo appearance, with Terri KWAN 關穎 reappearing as his pregnant partner.

New cast members in Justice include Ning CHANG 張鈞甯, a member of the films’ original television series, Singapore’s Christopher LEE 李銘順, Taiwan’s HSIU Chieh-kai 修杰楷 and Uyghur model Gulinazha 古力娜扎, who recently had a cameo in Police Story 2013 警察故事２０１３.

The new film was shot for NT$400 million (US$13.2 million) in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City from September through January. Director TSAI Yueh-hsun 蔡岳勳’s Prajna Works Entertainment Co Ltd 普拉嘉國際意像影藝股份有限公司 built three green-screen sets at their production base for the film’s major set-pieces.

Signalling that the second film is significantly upping the first’s production quality, Prajna hired European VFX company BUF who supervised the shoot. The French company recently won a Golden Horse Award for its work on WONG Kar-wai 王家衛’s The Grandmaster 一代宗師.

Two years ago, The original film made RMB91.5 million (US$14.9 million) at the China box office through Edko (Beijing) Films Ltd 安樂（北京）電影發行有限公司, representing the majority of its revenue. It was only moulded into a co-production in the months after its Taiwan release.

Prajna’s China partners are Beijing HualuBaina Film & TV Co Ltd 北京華錄百納影視股份有限公司 and Gravity Films 引力影視投資有限公司. The latter, which has China distribution rights, was founded by Wayne JIANG 姜偉 after leaving Edko Beijing. The film is currently scheduled for a theatrical release in China and Taiwan in the autumn.

At FilMart, Ablaze will also be representing YEE Chih-yen 易智言’s contemporary ensemble comedy Meeting Dr. Sun 行動代號孫中山, Umin Boya 馬志翔’s period baseball epic KANO ＫＡＮＯ, and CHO Li 卓立’s political drama The Rice Bomber 白米炸彈客.

Original Article